# build

URL: /bengal/cli/build/
Section: cli
Description: Build your site

---

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Command

#
`bengal build`

Build your site

33Options

## Usage

```
bengal build [OPTIONS]
```

## Options

Option
Type
Description

`--all-versions`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Versioning] Build all versions in parallel (git mode)

`--assets-pipeline`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Force Node-based assets pipeline (default: auto-detect based on package.json)

`--build-version`

`STRING`

[Versioning] Build only a specific version (git mode)

`--clean-output`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Delete output directory before building

`--config`

`STRING`

Path to config file (default: bengal.toml)

`--continue-on-error`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Render error placeholders for failed pages and continue; exit 1 if any errors

`--debug`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Debug] Show debug output and full tracebacks

`--dev`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Deprecated alias for --dev-profile

`--dev-profile`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Shorthand for --profile dev (full observability)

`--dry-run`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Preview what would be built without writing files to disk

`--environment`

`STRING`

Build environment: 'local' for dev defaults, 'preview' for staging, 'production' for live site

`--error-format`

`STRING`

Error output format for editor integrations: 'text' (default) or 'json'

`--explain`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Debug] Show why each page was rebuilt or skipped during incremental build

`--explain-json`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Debug] Output --explain results as machine-readable JSON

`--fast`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Output] Maximum speed: implies --quiet, disables live progress

`--full-output`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Output] Traditional line-by-line output instead of live progress bar

`--incremental`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Force incremental build using cache (default: auto-detect based on cache existence)

`--log-file`

`STRING`

[Debug] Write detailed logs to file

`--memory-optimized`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Streaming build for memory efficiency (5K+ pages)

`--no-assets-pipeline`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Disable Node-based assets pipeline (default: auto-detect)

`--no-incremental`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Force full rebuild ignoring cache (default: auto-detect)

`--no-parallel`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Force sequential processing (bypasses auto-detection)

`--perf-profile`

`STRING`

[Debug] Enable performance profiling, save to file

`--profile`

`STRING`

Build profile: writer, theme-dev, dev

`--profile-templates`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Debug] Profile template rendering times

`--quiet`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Output] Minimal output — only errors and final summary

`--source`

`STRING`

Source directory path

`--strict`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Fail on template errors (recommended for CI)

`--style`

`STRING`

[Output] Output style: dense, ascii, or ci

Default:`dense`

`--theme-dev`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Use theme developer profile

`--traceback`

`STRING`

[Debug] Traceback verbosity: 'full' shows complete stack, 'compact' one-line per frame, 'minimal' exception only, 'off' suppresses

`--validate`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

Validate templates before building

`--verbose`

flag

`BOOLEAN`

[Output] Show per-file build details (incompatible with --quiet, --fast)