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- Get Started
- Product
- Resources
- Tools & SDKs
- Framework
- Reference
7. Build Medusa Application
In this chapter, you'll learn how to create a production build of your Medusa application to be deployed to a hosting provider.
Next chapters explain how to deploy the Medusa application.
build Command#
The Medusa CLI tool has a build command which creates a standalone build of the Medusa application that:
- Doesn't rely on the source TypeScript files.
- Can be copied to a production server reliably.
So, to create the production build, run the following command in the root of your Medusa application:
Build Output#
The build
command outputs the production build in the .medusa/server
directory, and the admin dashboard build in the .medusa/server/public/admin
.
Separate Admin Build#
The build
command accepts a --admin-only
option that outputs the admin to the .medusa/admin
directory. This is useful when deploying the admin dashboard separately, such as on Vercel:
Start Built Medusa Application#
To start the Medusa application after running the build
command:
- Change to the
.medusa/server
directory and install the dependencies:
- When running the application locally, make sure to copy the
.env
file from the root project's directory. In production, use system environment variables instead.
NODE_ENV=production
, the Medusa application loads the environment variables from .env.production
. Learn more about environment variables in this guide.- In the system environment variables, set
NODE_ENV
toproduction
:
- Use the
start
command in the.medusa/server
directory to run the application:
Deploying Production Build#
The next chapter covers how you generally deploy the production build.
You can also refer to the deployment how-to guides for platform-specific how-to guides.