Chiral effective field theory (EFT) provides a solid foundation for understanding low-energy interactions between pions, nucleons and external electroweak sources using the symmetry properties of QCD. Combined with ab-initio methods for solving the quantum many-body problem, chiral EFT has proven remarkably efficient and successful in describing nuclear structure and reactions. In this talk, I will outline the foundations of this method, review the state-of-the-art in this field and discuss some of the remaining challenges. I will also present our recent work on merging chiral EFT with the symmetry-preserving gradient flow method, which opens an avenue for high-accuracy calculations beyond the two-nucleon system.