fail.js

var gulp = require('gulp')
var browserify = require('browserify')
var brfs = require('brfs')
var source = require('vinyl-source-stream')


gulp.task('browserify-release', ['clean-release'], function () {
  return browserify('./index.js')
    .add(brfs()) // this is me not knowing how to use browserify off the top of my head
    .bundle()
    .pipe(source('./bundle.js'))
    .pipe(gulp.dest('./build/release'))
})

// fails silently

success.js

var gulp = require('gulp')
var browserify = require('browserify')
var brfs = require('brfs')
var source = require('vinyl-source-stream')


gulp.task('browserify-release', ['clean-release'], function () {
  return browserify('./index.js')
    .transform(brfs) // this is actually correct and works as expected
    .bundle()
    .pipe(source('./bundle.js'))
    .pipe(gulp.dest('./build/release'))
})

// completes successfully