As creating for the web has gotten more complex, build tools have become an essential part of my workflow. These tools are usually used to automate repetitive tasks such as pre-processing CSS stylesheets from Sass or Less, or compiling JavaScript from many smaller files. They can also reload browsers when files change -- not having to constantly mash reload is a significant productivity boost. Working without auto-refresh now feels like trying to type in mittens.
[Gulp][] and [Grunt][] run from the Terminal, [CodeKit][] and [LiveReload][] are standalone Mac apps. Gulp is relatively new, is very fast and its task definition files are written in JavaScript. Grunt is more established, works well and has a ton of people using it, but can be slower and requires a lot more configuration using verbose JSON files. CodeKit and LiveReload help with common workflows, Gulp and Grunt can do just about anything imaginable.
I’d been happily using Grunt for a while, but increasing buzz a