Package.json

• Minimal package.json

{
  "name": "my-project-name",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "devDependencies": {
    "grunt": "~0.4.5",
    "grunt-contrib-jshint": "~0.10.0",
    "grunt-contrib-nodeunit": "~0.4.1",
    "grunt-contrib-uglify": "~0.5.0"
  }
}

or

npm install grunt --save-dev
npm install grunt-contrib-jshint --save-dev
npm install grunt-contrib-uglify --save-dev
...

Gruntfile

This file is named Gruntfile.js or Gruntfile.coffee and is used to configure or define tasks and load Grunt plugins.

Plugins:

• config: Most Grunt tasks rely on configuration data defined in an object passed to the grunt.initConfig method.
• must be specified in package.json as a dependency.

module.exports = function(grunt) {
   "use strict";
   
  // Do grunt-related things in here
  
  // Project configuration.
  grunt.initConfig({
    pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
    uglify: {
      options: {
        banner: '/*! <%= pkg.name %> <%= grunt.template.today("yyyy-mm-dd") %> */\n'
      },
      build: {
        src: 'src/<%= pkg.name %>.js',
        dest: 'build/<%= pkg.name %>.min.js'
      }
    }
  });

  // Load the plugin that provides the "uglify" task.
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-uglify');

  // Default task(s).
  // It will run the uglify task
  // same as
  // grunt uglify 
  // or 
  // grunt default
  grunt.registerTask('default', ['uglify']);

  // A very basic custom default task.
  grunt.registerTask('default', 'Log some stuff.', function() {
    grunt.log.write('Logging some stuff...').ok();
  });
  
};

Custom project-specific tasks don't need to be defined in the Gruntfile; they may be defined in external .js files and loaded via the grunt.loadTasks method.