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This guide explains how to build Anubis and its dependencies.

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Understanding the Build Process

Anubis embeds JavaScript and CSS assets directly into the Go binary. This means you must build assets before any Go build or test operation.

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Build Order

  1. Generate code from templ templates and other generators
  2. Build frontend assets (JavaScript and CSS)
  3. Compress assets (gzip, zstd, brotli variants)
  4. Build Go binary with embedded assets

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Build Assets

Build all frontend assets (required before any Go build): 
npm run assets
This script runs:
  • go generate ./... - Generates Go code from .templ files
  • ./web/build.sh - Builds and bundles JavaScript from web/js/
  • ./xess/build.sh - Builds CSS from the xess framework
  • Creates compressed variants (.gz, .zst, .br) for all static assets
CRITICAL: Always run npm run assets before go build or go test. The Go binary embeds these assets. If you skip this step, your build will use stale or missing assets.

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Build the Binary

Build the complete Anubis binary: 
npm run build
This runs npm run assets followed by: 
go build -o ./var/anubis ./cmd/anubis
The compiled binary is written to ./var/anubis.

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Run Locally

Run Anubis in development mode: 
npm run dev
This builds assets and runs Anubis with:
  • --use-remote-address flag (uses the client’s real IP)
  • --target http://localhost:3000 (proxies to local dev server)
Equivalent to: 
npm run assets && go run ./cmd/anubis --use-remote-address --target http://localhost:3000

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Available Build Scripts

From package.json:
ScriptCommandDescription
npm run assetsgo generate ./... && ./web/build.sh && ./xess/build.shBuild all frontend assets
npm run buildnpm run assets && go build -o ./var/anubis ./cmd/anubisFull production build
npm run devnpm run assets && go run ./cmd/anubis --use-remote-address --target http://localhost:3000Run in dev mode
npm run containernpm run assets && go run ./cmd/containerbuildBuild container image
npm run formatprettier -w . && go run goimports -w .Format all code

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Build Artifacts

After building, you’ll find:
  • ./var/anubis - Main binary
  • web/static/ - Bundled JavaScript and CSS with compressed variants
  • Generated Go files from .templ templates

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Code Generation

Anubis uses go generate for:
  • Templ templates: web/*.templ files generate Go code
  • Stringer: Enum types generate String() methods
Manually run code generation: 
go generate ./...
Generated files are committed to the repository, so you typically only need to regenerate after modifying .templ files or enum definitions.

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Troubleshooting

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Assets Not Found at Runtime

If you see errors about missing assets:
  1. Ensure you ran npm run assets before building
  2. Check that web/static/ contains .js and .css files
  3. Rebuild completely: npm run build

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Stale Assets

If your changes aren’t appearing: 
rm -rf web/static/*.js web/static/*.css
npm run assets

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Build Fails

Ensure all prerequisites are installed: 
go version  # Should be 1.24.2+
node --version
esbuild --version

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