Build Tools

Top 23 Build Tool Open-Source Projects

Build Tools
  1. create-react-app

    Set up a modern web app by running one command.

    Project mention: Create React App is now deprecated | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-02-02
  2. CodeRabbit

    CodeRabbit: AI Code Reviews for Developers. Revolutionize your code reviews with AI. CodeRabbit offers PR summaries, code walkthroughs, 1-click suggestions, and AST-based analysis. Boost productivity and code quality across all major languages with each PR.

    CodeRabbit logo
  3. vite

    Next generation frontend tooling. It's fast!

    Project mention: Matanuska ADR 017 - Vitest, Vite, Grabthar, Oh My! | dev.to | 2025-02-09

    I began searching for a new test framework, and at the recommendation of Nuck, I gave Vitest a shot. It's by the developers of Vite, which I loved. I don't do a lot of frontend development, but when I do, Vite is often my choice. Unlike many other solutions to frontend builds I've tried in the past, Vite "just works" and involves minimal baggage (looking at you, Angular).

  4. parcel

    The zero configuration build tool for the web. 📦🚀

    Project mention: Bun 1.2 Is Released | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-01-23

    From its documentation [1] it looks a lot like a parceljs replacement [2], i.e. a zero config bundler which processes and bundles the dependencies in .html pages. So great for simple websites, not for replacing an entire Vite stack.

    [1] https://bun.sh/docs/bundler/fullstack

    [2] https://parceljs.org

  5. gulp

    A toolkit to automate & enhance your workflow

    Project mention: Task Runners for Projects | dev.to | 2024-12-26

    Gulp

  6. grunt

    Grunt: The JavaScript Task Runner

    Project mention: Matanuska ADR 017 - Vitest, Vite, Grabthar, Oh My! | dev.to | 2025-02-09

    This name has a funny background. Many years ago, I was in an IRC conversation with a developer who began describing a build tool he was making. I was a jerk and scoffed at the API, and began sketching out my own build tool. I named it grabthar after my favorite joke from Galaxy Quest. It didn't go anywhere, but I kept the source around. When it came time to write a tool for Matanuska, I decided to reuse the name. But anyway, it turns out I was talking to the author of Grunt, and boy did I look silly.

  7. ninja

    a small build system with a focus on speed

    Project mention: The Success and Failure of Ninja (2020) | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-11-28

    > Ninja is pretty easy to implement for the fun 20% of it and the remaining 80% is "just" some fiddly details.

    There are many ninja generators out there already [1] but writing a simple, custom one shouldn't be too hard [2] and could make sense for some projects.

    BTW, ninja is great but I wish the configuration file had used a more standard format, easier to parse and generate from any language. JSON would have been a better option I think, given the abundance of tooling around it.

    --

    1: https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/wiki/List-of-generators...

    2: https://ninja-build.org/manual.html#ref_ninja_file

  8. InversifyJS

    A powerful and lightweight inversion of control container for JavaScript & Node.js apps powered by TypeScript.

    Project mention: InversifyJS VS vorarbeiter - a user suggested alternative | libhunt.com/r/InversifyJS | 2025-02-02
  9. SaaSHub

    SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives

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  10. PlatformIO

    Your Gateway to Embedded Software Development Excellence :alien:

    Project mention: PlatformIO: A Better Way to Code for STM32 Microcontrollers | dev.to | 2024-12-05

    PlatformIO

  11. web-skills

    A visual overview of useful skills to learn as a web developer

  12. meson

    The Meson Build System

    Project mention: cargo-c common questions | dev.to | 2024-09-02

    With cargo-c I try to use the best practices to support as many platform as possible, trying to stay in sync with what meson does. Sadly what is conceptually trivial, installing a package, has lots of details that are platform-specific.

  13. spack

    A flexible package manager that supports multiple versions, configurations, platforms, and compilers.

    Project mention: Persistent packages on Steam Deck using Nix | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-02-09

    Just out of curiosity, have you checked out Spack, https://github.com/spack/spack, which has a lot of HPC users. Support for mixing and matching both system and from source dependencies has been extremely useful in my work.

  14. Invoke

    Pythonic task management & command execution.

  15. pants

    The Pants Build System

    Project mention: Go 1.24's go tool is one of the best additions to the ecosystem in years | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-01-27

    https://somesocks.github.io/dryad/

    One other alternative I know of that's multi-language is Pants(https://www.pantsbuild.org/), which has support for packages in several languages, and an "ad-hoc" mode which lets you build packages with a custom tool if it isn't officially supported. They've added support for quite a few new tools/languages lately, and seem to be very much an active project.

  16. Broccoli

    Browser compilation library – an asset pipeline for applications that run in the browser

  17. setup-php

    GitHub action to set up PHP with extensions, php.ini configuration, coverage drivers, and various tools.

  18. scons

    SCons - a software construction tool

    Project mention: Tired of Makefiles | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-05-13

    Has anyone tried SCONS? Came across someone using it in a place where I worked earlier.

    Python-based make-like tool.

    https://scons.org/

  19. PyBuilder

    Software build automation tool for Python.

  20. Rebar3

    Erlang build tool that makes it easy to compile and test Erlang applications and releases.

    Project mention: Ask HN: What is the best way to learn Erlang? | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-10-01

    In recent years there has been some improvement with the available tooling with the likes of rebar3[1] and just a few months ago WhatsApp released ELP (Erlang Language Platform)[2] which integrates with your IDE as a language server that provides really nice support when working with Erlang.

    [1]: https://www.rebar3.org/

    [2]: https://whatsapp.github.io/erlang-language-platform/

  21. Nox

    Flexible test automation for Python

  22. Phing

    PHing Is Not GNU make; it's a PHP project build system or build tool based on Apache Ant.

  23. FlubuCore

    A cross platform build and deployment automation system for building projects and executing deployment scripts using C# code.

  24. bloop

    Bloop is a build server and CLI tool to compile, test and run Scala fast from any editor or build tool. (by scalacenter)

  25. RocketX

    🔥🔥 android 端编译加速插件🚀 动态识别未改动 module 并在编译流程中替换为 aar ,只编译改动模块,加速 Android apk 的编译速度。

  26. SaaSHub

    SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives

    SaaSHub logo
NOTE: The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars. The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or since we started tracking (Dec 2020).

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Index

What are some of the best open-source Build Tool projects? This list will help you:

# Project Stars
1 create-react-app 103,091
2 vite 70,498
3 parcel 43,626
4 gulp 33,053
5 grunt 12,262
6 ninja 11,534
7 InversifyJS 11,511
8 PlatformIO 8,107
9 web-skills 7,074
10 meson 5,820
11 spack 4,540
12 Invoke 4,465
13 pants 3,406
14 Broccoli 3,327
15 setup-php 2,982
16 scons 2,151
17 PyBuilder 1,763
18 Rebar3 1,716
19 Nox 1,359
20 Phing 1,160
21 FlubuCore 912
22 bloop 911
23 RocketX 866

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