How to compile SASS in Sails without Ruby

Build: Sails 0.10.x

This tasks differs from sails101/using-sass in that it uses libsass, a C/C++ port of the Sass engine. This removes the need to have Ruby installed to use Sass. This does, however, lack features like Compass support

Sass task

Run this task with the grunt sass command.

Sass is a preprocessor that adds nested rules, variables, mixins and functions, selector inheritance, and more to CSS. Sass files compile into well-formatted, standard CSS to use in your site or application.

NOTE: Above text taken from grunt-contrib-sass

libsass.. is a Sass compiler in C++. In contrast to the original Ruby compiler, this one is much faster, but is missing some features, though improving quickly. It also doesn't support Compass. Check out grunt-contrib-sass if you prefer something more stable, but slower.

NOTE: Above text taken from grunt-sass

Set up and Configure

• Create a new Sails app: sails new path_to_app
• Install dependency: npm install --save grunt-sass
• Add importer.scss file to the assets > styles

/**
 * importer.scss
 *
 * By default, new Sails projects are configured to compile this file
 * from SASS to CSS.  Unlike CSS files, SASS files are not compiled and
 * included automatically unless they are imported below.
 *
 * The SASS files imported below are compiled and included in the order
 * they are listed.  Mixins, variables, etc. should be imported first
 * so that they can be accessed by subsequent SASS stylesheets.
 *
 * (Just like the rest of the asset pipeline bundled in Sails, you can
 * always omit, customize, or replace this behavior with SASS, SCSS,
 * or any other Grunt tasks you like.)
 */

@import 'styles.scss';

// For example:
//
// @import 'foundation.scss';
//
// etc.

• Add sass.js file to tasks > config, add config settings for SASS:

module.exports = function(grunt) {

	grunt.config.set('sass', {
		dev: {
			files: [{
				expand: true,
				cwd: 'assets/styles/',
				src: ['importer.scss'],
				dest: '.tmp/public/styles/',
				ext: '.css'
			}]
		}
	});

	grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-sass');
};

• Edit copy.js in tasks > config, add file copy exclusions for SASS and SCSS:

module.exports = function(grunt) {

	grunt.config.set('copy', {
		dev: {
			files: [{
				expand: true,
				cwd: './assets',
				// Before: src: ['**/*.!(coffee|less)'],
				src: ['**/*.!(coffee|less|scss|sass)'],
				dest: '.tmp/public'
			}]
		},
		build: {
			files: [{
				expand: true,
				cwd: '.tmp/public',
				src: ['**/*'],
				dest: 'www'
			}]
		}
	});

	grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-copy');
};

• Add line sass:dev to register > compileAssets.js:

module.exports = function (grunt) {
	grunt.registerTask('compileAssets', [
		'clean:dev',
		'jst:dev',
		'less:dev',
		'sass:dev', <-- Add that
		'copy:dev',
		'coffee:dev'
	]);
};

• Add line 'sass:dev' to register > syncAssets.js:

module.exports = function (grunt) {
	grunt.registerTask('syncAssets', [
		'jst:dev',
		'less:dev',
		'sass:dev', <-- Add that
		'sync:dev',
		'coffee:dev'
	]);
};

Done!

That's it! On server start with sails lift, the SCSS imported to importer.scss will compile and create importer.css:

/* importer.scss
 *
 * By default, new Sails projects are configured to compile this file
 * from SASS to CSS.  Unlike CSS files, SASS files are not compiled and
 * included automatically unless they are imported below.
 *
 * The SASS files imported below are compiled and included in the order
 * they are listed.  Mixins, variables, etc. should be imported first
 * so that they can be accessed by subsequent SASS stylesheets.
 *
 * (Just like the rest of the asset pipeline bundled in Sails, you can
 * always omit, customize, or replace this behavior with SASS, SCSS,
 * or any other Grunt tasks you like.)
 */
body {
  font: 100% Helvetica, sans-serif;
  color: #333333; }