meteor build

Build your Meteor application for deployment

The meteor build command packages your Meteor project for deployment, creating builds for all configured platforms.

Usage

meteor build <output-path> [options]

Basic Usage

Build your app for deployment:

meteor build ../output

This creates a directory with builds for all platforms in your project.

Output

The command outputs:

• A tarball containing everything necessary to run the application server (see README in the tarball for details)
• If you’ve added mobile platforms with meteor add-platform:
  • android/ subdirectory with the AAB/APK bundle and Android project source
  • ios/ subdirectory with the Xcode project source (macOS only)

Options

--debug · boolean · default: "false"

Build in debug mode (don’t minify, etc)

--directory · boolean · default: "false"

Output a directory (rather than a tarball) for the application server bundle. If the output location exists, it will be recursively deleted first.

--server-only · boolean · default: "false"

Skip building mobile apps even if mobile platforms have been added. Still builds the ‘web.cordova’ client target so the server can support hot code push for Cordova apps.

--mobile-settings · string

Set optional data for the initial value of Meteor.settings in your mobile application. A new value for Meteor.settings can be set later by the server as part of hot code push. Provide a path to a JSON file.

--server · string

Location where mobile builds connect to the Meteor server. Defaults to localhost:3000. Can include a URL scheme (e.g., --server=https://example.com:443).

--architecture · string

Build the server for a different architecture than your developer machine’s architecture. Valid architectures include:

• os.osx.x86_64
• os.linux.x86_64
• os.linux.x86_32
• os.windows.x86_32
• os.windows.x86_64

Note: This option selects the architecture of binary-dependent Atmosphere packages you would like bundled. If your project doesn’t use any Atmosphere packages with binary dependencies, --architecture has no effect.

--allow-incompatible-update · boolean · default: "false"

Allow packages in your project to be upgraded or downgraded to versions that are potentially incompatible with the current versions, if required to satisfy all package version constraints.

--platforms · string

Build only the specified platforms (when available). Comma-separated list.

--packageType · string · default: "bundle"

Choose between apk or bundle for Android builds

--verbose · boolean · default: "false"

Print detailed build output

--headless · boolean · default: "false"

Run in headless mode (no progress indicators), useful for CI environments

--cordova-server-port · string

Specify the Cordova server port

Examples

Build for production deployment:

meteor build ../output

Build in debug mode:

meteor build ../output --debug

Build as a directory instead of tarball:

meteor build ../output --directory

Build server only (skip mobile apps):

meteor build ../output --server-only

Build with mobile settings:

meteor build ../output --mobile-settings settings.json --server https://example.com

Build for a specific architecture:

meteor build ../output --architecture os.linux.x86_64

Build only Android:

meteor build ../output --platforms android

Build Android APK instead of bundle:

meteor build ../output --packageType apk

Build in headless mode for CI:

meteor build ../output --headless

Mobile Builds

For mobile builds, you must specify the server URL using the --server option:

meteor build ../output --server https://myapp.com

This tells the mobile app where to connect to your Meteor server.

Deployment

After building, the output directory will contain:

• <app-name>.tar.gz - Server bundle (or a bundle/ directory if using --directory)
• android/ - Android build artifacts (if Android platform added)
• ios/ - iOS project (if iOS platform added, macOS only)

To deploy the server bundle:

1. Extract the tarball on your server
2. Read the README file in the bundle for deployment instructions
3. Set up environment variables (MONGO_URL, ROOT_URL, etc.)
4. Run node main.js

See the Deployment Guide for more details.

Deprecated: bundle Command

The meteor bundle command is deprecated in favor of meteor build:

# Deprecated
meteor bundle output.tar.gz

# Use instead
meteor build ../output