Jade was a popular templating engine for Node.js, known for its concise syntax and emphasis on readability. It allowed developers to generate HTML markup using indentation instead of verbose tags. Features included template inheritance, mixins, and client-side compilation. While formally deprecated in favor of Pug, Jade's influence on modern templating remains significant. Still used in legacy projects, understanding Jade can be beneficial for maintaining older codebases. Its simplicity streamlined front-end development.