it is called 'build system'

so is gradle, maven, xcode, it does not matter what target is or what source is (as language, file etc)

they have tasks/recipes and dependencies/prerequistes imho JS's stack of build system still not good at all. changing to new system every 2-3 years. (note that i am not a js-dev, just outside point of view)

which is kind of a not-stable-ecosystem feeling. I see small agencies spending days maybe weeks to port their 'themes' to new stacks (long ago jquery, then gulp, now webpack) where as haven't encountered single "porting to new makefile format" case, because, of course solid history/background of make.