Building your app

To build your application without starting the development server, run:

au build

You can also specify an environment:

au build --env stage

This command creates optimized bundles of your app, ready for deployment.

Build Environments

The --env flag determines which environment configuration is used and what optimizations are applied:

au build              # Development build (default)
au build --env dev    # Explicit development build
au build --env stage  # Staging build with minification
au build --env prod   # Production build with full optimization

In stage and prod environments, the build process automatically minifies your code and generates source maps (based on your aurelia.json configuration).

Build Output

By default, built files are placed in the scripts/ directory (or the output path configured in aurelia.json). The output typically includes:

• app-bundle.js — Your application code

• vendor-bundle.js — Third-party dependencies

If your project uses Webpack instead of the built-in bundler, the build output location and file names are determined by your webpack.config.js.

Watch Mode

To rebuild automatically when files change without starting a server:

au build --watch

This is useful when you're serving your app through an external server but still want the CLI to handle bundling.

Troubleshooting

If builds fail, common causes include:

• Missing dependencies — Run npm install to ensure all packages are installed

• TypeScript errors — Check for type errors in your source files

• Bundle configuration — Verify that third-party dependencies are correctly listed in aurelia.json

See Recipes & known issues for solutions to common build problems.