Angular CLI Builders

What are Builders?

Builders are the underlying execution engine for Angular CLI commands. They are part of the Angular Architect API and define how commands like ng build, ng test, and ng serve actually work. Each builder is a function that performs a specific task according to a target configuration defined in angular.json.

Builders are similar to webpack plugins or Gulp tasks - they’re modular units that perform specific build operations.

Builder Architecture

The Angular CLI uses the Architect system to run builders:

Key Concepts

Target

A named builder configuration in angular.json (e.g., “build”, “test”)

Builder

The actual implementation that performs the work

Options

Configuration parameters passed to the builder

Configurations

Named option overrides (e.g., “production”, “development”)

Official Builders

Angular provides several official builders:

Application Builders

@angular/build:application
@angular-devkit/build-angular:browser

The modern application builder (Angular v17+) using esbuild and Vite.

{
  "architect": {
    "build": {
      "builder": "@angular/build:application",
      "options": {
        "outputPath": {
          "base": "dist",
          "browser": ""
        },
        "index": "src/index.html",
        "browser": "src/main.ts",
        "polyfills": ["zone.js"],
        "tsConfig": "tsconfig.app.json",
        "assets": ["src/favicon.ico", "src/assets"],
        "styles": ["src/styles.css"],
        "scripts": []
      }
    }
  }
}

Features:

Fast builds with esbuild
Improved development server
Better optimization
SSR/SSG support out of the box

Traditional browser application builder using webpack.

{
  "architect": {
    "build": {
      "builder": "@angular-devkit/build-angular:browser",
      "options": {
        "outputPath": "dist/my-app",
        "index": "src/index.html",
        "main": "src/main.ts",
        "polyfills": "src/polyfills.ts",
        "tsConfig": "tsconfig.app.json",
        "assets": ["src/favicon.ico", "src/assets"],
        "styles": ["src/styles.css"],
        "scripts": []
      }
    }
  }
}

Use cases:

Legacy projects
Custom webpack configurations
Specific webpack plugins required

Angular v17+ recommends using @angular/build:application for new projects.

Development Server Builders

@angular/build:dev-server

Development server for the application builder:

{
  "architect": {
    "serve": {
      "builder": "@angular/build:dev-server",
      "options": {
        "buildTarget": "my-app:build"
      },
      "configurations": {
        "production": {
          "buildTarget": "my-app:build:production"
        },
        "development": {
          "buildTarget": "my-app:build:development"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Key Options:

buildTarget: Which build configuration to serve
port: Development server port
host: Host address
ssl: Enable HTTPS
proxyConfig: API proxy configuration

Test Builder

@angular-devkit/build-angular:karma

Runs unit tests with Karma:

{
  "architect": {
    "test": {
      "builder": "@angular-devkit/build-angular:karma",
      "options": {
        "polyfills": ["zone.js", "zone.js/testing"],
        "tsConfig": "tsconfig.spec.json",
        "karmaConfig": "karma.conf.js",
        "assets": ["src/favicon.ico", "src/assets"],
        "styles": ["src/styles.css"],
        "scripts": []
      }
    }
  }
}

Options:

karmaConfig: Path to Karma configuration
watch: Watch files for changes
codeCoverage: Generate coverage reports
browsers: Browsers to run tests in

The Angular team uses Karma 6.4.0 for testing in the source repository.

Internationalization Builder

@angular/build:extract-i18n

Extracts i18n messages from templates:

{
  "architect": {
    "extract-i18n": {
      "builder": "@angular/build:extract-i18n",
      "options": {
        "buildTarget": "my-app:build"
      }
    }
  }
}

Lint Builder

@angular/build:tslint

Runs TSLint on the project:

{
  "architect": {
    "lint": {
      "builder": "@angular/build:tslint",
      "options": {
        "tsConfig": [
          "tsconfig.app.json",
          "tsconfig.spec.json"
        ],
        "exclude": ["**/node_modules/**"]
      }
    }
  }
}

TSLint is deprecated. Consider migrating to ESLint with @angular-eslint.

Builder Options

Common Options

These options are available across multiple builders:

Output Configuration

string | object

Where to write build output files

string

Hash output files for cache busting: none, all, media, bundles

Source Files

string

Path to index.html file

string

Main browser entry point (for application builder)

string

Main entry point (for browser builder)

string[]

Polyfills to include

TypeScript Configuration

string

Path to TypeScript configuration file

boolean

default:"true"

Enable Ahead-of-Time compilation

Assets & Resources

array

Static assets to copy

"assets": [
  "src/favicon.ico",
  "src/assets",
  {
    "glob": "**/*",
    "input": "src/assets/",
    "output": "/assets/"
  }
]

array

Global stylesheets to include

array

Global scripts to include

Optimization

boolean | object

Enable optimization (minification, tree-shaking)

"optimization": {
  "scripts": true,
  "styles": true,
  "fonts": true
}

boolean

Generate source maps

boolean

Use human-readable chunk names

boolean

Extract third-party licenses to separate file

Performance Budgets

array

Size budgets for application

"budgets": [
  {
    "type": "initial",
    "maximumWarning": "2mb",
    "maximumError": "5mb"
  },
  {
    "type": "anyComponentStyle",
    "maximumWarning": "6kb",
    "maximumError": "10kb"
  }
]

Build Configurations

Configurations are named sets of option overrides:

{
  "architect": {
    "build": {
      "builder": "@angular/build:application",
      "options": {
        "outputHashing": "none",
        "optimization": false,
        "sourceMap": true
      },
      "configurations": {
        "production": {
          "optimization": true,
          "outputHashing": "all",
          "sourceMap": false,
          "namedChunks": false,
          "extractLicenses": true,
          "budgets": [
            {
              "type": "initial",
              "maximumWarning": "2mb",
              "maximumError": "5mb"
            }
          ]
        },
        "development": {
          "optimization": false,
          "sourceMap": true,
          "namedChunks": true
        }
      },
      "defaultConfiguration": "production"
    }
  }
}

Using Configurations

# Use production configuration
ng build --configuration=production
ng build -c production

# Use development configuration
ng build --configuration=development

Custom Builders

You can create custom builders for specialized build tasks.

Creating a Custom Builder

Create Builder Package

ng generate library my-builder

Define Builder Schema

Create schema.json:

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "option1": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "An example option"
    }
  },
  "required": ["option1"]
}

Implement Builder

import { BuilderContext, BuilderOutput, createBuilder } from '@angular-devkit/architect';
import { JsonObject } from '@angular-devkit/core';

interface Options extends JsonObject {
  option1: string;
}

async function myBuilder(
  options: Options,
  context: BuilderContext
): Promise<BuilderOutput> {
  context.reportStatus(`Running with option: ${options.option1}`);
  
  // Perform build tasks
  try {
    // Your build logic here
    return { success: true };
  } catch (error) {
    context.reportStatus('Error: ' + error.message);
    return { success: false };
  }
}

export default createBuilder(myBuilder);

Add to builders.json:

{
  "builders": {
    "my-builder": {
      "implementation": "./src/builder.ts",
      "schema": "./src/schema.json",
      "description": "My custom builder"
    }
  }
}

Use in angular.json

{
  "architect": {
    "custom": {
      "builder": "my-library:my-builder",
      "options": {
        "option1": "value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Running Custom Builder

ng run my-app:custom

Builder Context

Builders receive a BuilderContext with useful utilities:

interface BuilderContext {
  // Logging
  logger: Logger;
  reportStatus(status: string): void;
  reportProgress(current: number, total?: number, status?: string): void;
  
  // Workspace information
  workspaceRoot: string;
  currentDirectory: string;
  
  // Target information
  target?: Target;
  
  // Schedule other builders
  scheduleBuilder(builder: string, options: JsonObject): Promise<BuilderRun>;
  scheduleTarget(target: Target, overrides?: JsonObject): Promise<BuilderRun>;
  
  // Get target options
  getTargetOptions(target: Target): Promise<JsonObject>;
  
  // Validate options
  validateOptions<T extends JsonObject>(options: JsonObject, builderName: string): Promise<T>;
}

File Replacements

Replace files during build based on configuration:

{
  "configurations": {
    "production": {
      "fileReplacements": [
        {
          "replace": "src/environments/environment.ts",
          "with": "src/environments/environment.prod.ts"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Useful for environment-specific configurations.

Build Optimization Strategies

Code Splitting

{
  "optimization": true,
  "namedChunks": false,
  "commonChunk": true
}

Tree Shaking

Enabled automatically with optimization:

{
  "optimization": {
    "scripts": true
  }
}

Differential Loading

Generate separate bundles for modern and legacy browsers:

{
  "tsConfig": "tsconfig.app.json",
  "browserslist": ".browserslistrc"
}

Performance Budgets

Set size limits to maintain performance:

Initial Budget
Component Styles
All Scripts
Lazy Bundles

{
  "type": "initial",
  "maximumWarning": "2mb",
  "maximumError": "5mb"
}

Total size of initial bundle.

{
  "type": "anyComponentStyle",
  "maximumWarning": "6kb",
  "maximumError": "10kb"
}

Size of individual component styles.

{
  "type": "allScript",
  "maximumWarning": "500kb",
  "maximumError": "1mb"
}

Total size of all scripts.

{
  "type": "anyComponentStyle",
  "maximumWarning": "100kb",
  "maximumError": "200kb"
}

Size of lazy-loaded bundles.

Proxy Configuration

Configure API proxying for development: proxy.conf.json:

{
  "/api": {
    "target": "http://localhost:3000",
    "secure": false,
    "changeOrigin": true,
    "pathRewrite": {
      "^/api": ""
    }
  }
}

angular.json:

{
  "serve": {
    "options": {
      "proxyConfig": "proxy.conf.json"
    }
  }
}

Build Events

Builders emit events during execution:

import { BuilderOutput } from '@angular-devkit/architect';
import { Observable } from 'rxjs';

function myBuilder(options: Options): Observable<BuilderOutput> {
  return new Observable(subscriber => {
    // Emit progress
    subscriber.next({ success: false, progress: 0.5 });
    
    // Complete build
    subscriber.next({ success: true });
    subscriber.complete();
  });
}

​What are Builders?

​Builder Architecture

​Key Concepts

Target

Builder

Options

Configurations

​Official Builders

​Application Builders

​Development Server Builders

​@angular/build:dev-server

​Test Builder

​@angular-devkit/build-angular:karma

​Internationalization Builder

​@angular/build:extract-i18n

​Lint Builder

​@angular/build:tslint

​Builder Options

​Common Options

​Build Configurations

​Using Configurations

​Custom Builders

​Creating a Custom Builder

​Running Custom Builder

​Builder Context

​File Replacements

​Build Optimization Strategies

​Code Splitting

​Tree Shaking

​Differential Loading

​Performance Budgets

​Proxy Configuration

​Build Events

​Next Steps

Schematics

CLI Commands

​Resources

Architect API

Builder Examples

What are Builders?

Builder Architecture

Key Concepts

Official Builders

Application Builders

Development Server Builders

@angular/build:dev-server

Test Builder

@angular-devkit/build-angular:karma

Internationalization Builder

@angular/build:extract-i18n

Lint Builder

@angular/build:tslint

Builder Options

Common Options

Build Configurations

Using Configurations

Custom Builders

Creating a Custom Builder

Running Custom Builder

Builder Context

File Replacements

Build Optimization Strategies

Code Splitting

Tree Shaking

Differential Loading

Performance Budgets

Proxy Configuration

Build Events

Next Steps

Resources