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Build tools

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A build tool takes source files such as JavaScript, TypeScript and CSS, resolves their imports, bundles and minifies them, and writes files a browser can load. Most add a development server that reloads on change, and many frameworks and site generators use one underneath. A record carries this category when building assets is the software’s own purpose rather than a side feature. Build tools run on a developer machine or in CI and add nothing to what the live server needs. Vite and esbuild are examples.

30 projects are build tools, listed alphabetically. Written in 5 languages, most of them open source. Counts only projects with momentum; the full list has the rest.

A

  • Autoprefixer

    PostCSS plugin that parses CSS and adds vendor prefixes to rules, using browser support data from Can I Use.

B

  • Babel

    JavaScript compiler that rewrites next-generation JavaScript into code that runs in the browsers and runtimes a project targets.

  • Beasties

    Build plugin that inlines a page's critical CSS and lazy-loads the rest of its stylesheets.

  • Browserify

    Bundler that lets browser code use Node.js-style require() calls to load npm modules into a single script.

  • Bun

    Fast all-in-one JavaScript and TypeScript runtime that also ships a package manager, test runner and bundler as one executable.

C

  • cssnano

    Modular CSS minifier, built on the PostCSS ecosystem, that compresses stylesheets with a set of optimizations and presets.

E

  • esbuild

    JavaScript and TypeScript bundler and minifier, shipped as a native binary with a JavaScript API.

G

  • gulp

    JavaScript toolkit that automates build and workflow tasks by composing single-purpose tasks and plugins into streaming pipelines defined in a gulpfile.

L

  • Laravel Vite Plugin

    Vite plugin that configures Vite for use with a Laravel backend server.

  • Lightning CSS

    CSS parser, transformer, bundler and minifier written in Rust, usable from JavaScript, Rust or a standalone CLI.

M

  • Metro

    JavaScript bundler for React Native projects, with a development server and a build API.

N

  • Nx

    Monorepo task runner and build system for TypeScript and polyglot codebases, with caching and affected-only runs.

R

  • Rolldown

    JavaScript and TypeScript bundler written in Rust with a Rollup-compatible API, designed as the bundler of Vite.

  • Rollup

    JavaScript module bundler that compiles ES module source into bundles for browsers, Node.js and other platforms.

  • Rsbuild

    Build tool for modern web applications that runs on Rspack and supports React, Vue, Svelte and other frameworks.

  • Rspack

    Fast Rust-based bundler for the web with a modernized webpack API.

S

  • sharp

    Node.js module that resizes and converts JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF and other image formats, using the libvips image library.

  • Style Dictionary

    Build system that exports design tokens defined once in JSON or JavaScript to platform formats such as CSS, iOS, Android and JavaScript.

  • SVGO

    Node.js library and command-line application that optimizes SVG files by removing redundant information, with a browser bundle and a webpack loader.

  • SWC

    Rust-based platform that compiles, bundles and minifies JavaScript and TypeScript, with npm packages for its JavaScript APIs.

  • Symfony AssetMapper

    Symfony component that maps asset directories to versioned public files and loads JavaScript through browser importmaps, without a bundler.

T

  • Terser

    JavaScript minifier and compressor for ES6+ code, used from the command line or through the Node.js API.

  • tsdown

    Bundler for TypeScript and JavaScript libraries that emits ESM, CJS, IIFE or UMD bundles and declaration files, built on Rolldown.

  • Turbopack

    Incremental bundler for JavaScript and TypeScript, written in Rust, that ships inside Next.js.

  • Turborepo

    Build system written in Rust that runs the package.json scripts of JavaScript and TypeScript monorepos with caching and parallel execution.

  • TypeScript

    Programming language that adds static types to JavaScript, with a compiler (tsc) that converts its code to JavaScript.

V

  • Vite

    Frontend build tool and dev server for web applications, with a development server and a production bundler.

W

  • wasm-pack

    Command-line tool that builds Rust crates into WebAssembly packages for JavaScript, with npm publishing support.

  • WebOptimizer

    ASP.NET Core middleware that bundles and minifies CSS and JavaScript files at runtime and keeps the output in memory.

  • webpack

    JavaScript module bundler that packs application modules and assets into optimized output for browsers and other runtimes.

What is the best build tool?

We can't tell from here. What suits an editor-heavy marketing site can be wrong for a static documentation site. The list is alphabetical and nobody paid for a place on it.