grunt-browser-sync madness: opening multiple instances of the browser over and over again

I'm close to making grunt-browser-sync work, but still not quite there yet.

I came up with this Gruntfile:

module.exports = function(grunt) {    
    grunt.initConfig({
        pkg : grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
        concat : {
            dist : {
                src : ['js/libs/*.js', 'js/custom/*.js'],
                dest : 'js/build/production.js',
            }
        },
        uglify : {
            dist : {
                src : 'js/build/production.js',
                dest : 'js/build/production.min.js'
            }
        },
        sass : {
            dist : {
                options : {
                    style : 'compressed',
                    compass : 'true',
                },
                files : {
                    'css/main.css' : 'sass/main.scss'
                }
            }
        },
        autoprefixer : {
            options : {
                browsers : ['> 5%', 'last 2 version', 'ie 8', 'ie 9']
            },
            dist : {
                files : {
                    'css/main.css' : 'css/main.css'
                }
            }
        },
        watch : {
            options : {
                livereload : true

            },
            content : {
                files : '*.html',
                tasks : ['browserSync']

            },
            scripts : {
                files : ['js/libs/*.js', 'js/custom/*.js'],
                tasks : ['concat', 'uglify', 'browserSync'],
                options : {
                    spawn : false,
                },
            },
            css : {
                files : ['sass/**/*.scss'],
                tasks : ['sass', 'autoprefixer', 'browserSync'],
                options : {
                    spawn : false,
                }
            }
        },
        browserSync : {
            files : {
                src : ['css/*.css', 'images/*.*', 'js/build/production.min.js', '*.html'],
            },
            options : {     
                server: {
                    baseDir: "./",
                },  
                watchTask : true
            }
        }
    });
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-browser-sync');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-sass');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-concat');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-uglify');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-autoprefixer');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-newer');
    grunt.registerTask('newer', ['browserSync', 'sass', 'autoprefixer', 'concat', 'uglify']);
};

What I want is the following:

  1. Type grunt watch on the terminal and automatically have my index.html opened in a static server page on my browser.
  2. The page to live reload when CSS, JS, or images change.

What happens with my configuration is the following:

  1. A new browser window is opened only when I save a file
  2. Every time I save something, multiple browsers window open and the localhost number keeps changing rendering the plugin totally useless

The output from the Grunt watch task

I'm aware i've registered tasks : ['browserSync'] in every possible place on the file, but that's the only way browser-sync does something. I expected this to be enough:

grunt.registerTask('newer', ['browserSync', 'sass', 'autoprefixer', 'concat', 'uglify']);

But I've no luck with that. browser-sync triggers but no static server is opened.

BrowserSync author here.

The problem is that you're starting the BrowserSync task multiple times - this is not the correct way to use it.

Check the examples at http://www.browsersync.io/docs/grunt/ - you should start BrowserSync independently (and before) any other watch tasks like this.

// This shows a full config file!
module.exports = function (grunt) {
    grunt.initConfig({
        watch: {
            files: "assets/scss/**/*.scss",
            tasks: ['compass']
        },
        compass: {
            dist: {
                options: {
                    sassDir: 'assets/scss',
                    cssDir: 'assets/css',
                    outputStyle: 'compressed'
                }
            }
        },
        browserSync: {
            dev: {
                bsFiles: {
                    src : 'assets/css/*.css'
                },
                options: {
                    watchTask: true // < VERY important
                }
            }
        }
    });

    // load npm tasks
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-compass');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-browser-sync');

    // start browsersync and then initiate the watch AFTER
    grunt.registerTask('default', ["browserSync", "watch"]);
};