Project organization

Considering my target organization:

    app/
        assets/
            images/
                ...
            downloads/
                ...
        module1/
            *.coffee
            *.jade
            *.less
        module2/
            ...
        ...
        app.coffee
        app.(less|saas)
        index.jade
    build/
        gulpfile.coffee
    config/
        parameters.coffee
    vendor/
        lib1.js
        lib2.js
        ...
    bower.json
    gulpfile.js
    package.json
    node_modules/
        ...
    bower_components/
        ...
    _public/
        images/
            ...
        downloads/
            ...
        css/
        js/
            app.js
            vendor.js
            bower-vendor.js
        index.html

Let's start writing the Gulpfile!

Using CoffeeScript for the Gulpfile

Following this Gulp recipe:

gulpfile.js:

require('coffee-script/register');
require('./build/gulpfile.coffee');

build/gulpfile.coffee:

gulp = require 'gulp'

App specific variables

To let app's specific parameters live in a separate config file:

build/gulpfile.coffee:

parameters    = require '../config/parameters.coffee'

config/parameters.coffee:

app_path = 'app'

config =

  app_path: app_path
  web_path: '_public'
  vendor_path: 'vendor'
  assets_path: app_path + '/assets'

  app_main_file: 'app.js'
  css_main_file: 'app.css'
  styles_main_file: app_path + '/app.less' # or app.sass if you prefer Sass
  templates_file: 'app.templates.js'
  templates_module: 'myapp'
  vendor_main_file: 'vendor.js'
  bower_main_file: 'bower-vendor.js'
  manifest_file: 'myapp.appcache'

module.exports = config