Drush

Drush, short for Drupal Shell, is a command-line utility providing developers a speedier way to manage and perform tasks in Drupal. Employing a command-line tool such as Drush can be an essential contributor to the efficiency of developers, saving enormous amounts of time in executing mundane or repetitive tasks.

One of the most common uses for Drush is downloading and installing Drupal modules. Previously, web developers had to manually download these modules, unpack them, and place them in the correct directories. Drush simplifies this process significantly with commands such as drush dl (to download modules) and drush en (to enable modules).

drush dl module_name
drush en module_name

Upon using these, Drush will systematically download the designate module and put it in the correct directory, then enable it in the Drupal administration with no requirement for further engagement.

Another benefit of using Drush includes the ability to clear caches swiftly. Instead of manually navigating to the performance page on a Drupal site clicking “Clear all caches”, developers can simply execute the drush cr command from the terminal.

drush cr

This command will clear all caches and ensure that your site reflects the most recent changes, changes that often include code alterations or updates to templates or modules.

What’s more, Drush allows optimizing the database directly from the terminal using the drush sql-optimize command. Manually doing this would involve logging in to the database through PhpMyAdmin (or similar), which can often prove to be a longer process.

drush sql-optimize

The command line utility will optimize the tables in your Drupal site’s database, helping to enhance your site’s overall performance and speed.

Much like Git, Drush also allows for updating your Drupal site. The drush up command first checks for updates, then backs up your project prior to the update, and finally updates Drupal, contributed projects, and their associated libraries.

drush up

This command is especially useful for maintaining your site safety and ensuring that your Drupal site has the most recent stable release of each module and theme.

In terms of website project management, Drush plays an undeniably crucial role, simplifying the process significantly. With powerful commands that handle tasks ranging from downloading, enabling and updating modules, to clearing caches and optimizing a database - Drush has all the tools a Drupal developer needs to ensure their process is not only expedited but is conducted efficiently and systematically.