Building applications

This guide covers how to build each Bitwarden client application, including development builds, production builds, and watch mode for active development.

Before building, ensure you’ve completed the installation steps and have all dependencies installed.

Using Nx

The repository uses Nx for build orchestration. While each app has npm scripts, you can also use Nx directly:

# Build using Nx
npx nx build browser
npx nx build desktop
npx nx build web
npx nx build cli

# Build only affected projects (after changes)
npx nx affected:build

# View dependency graph
npx nx graph

Nx caches build outputs. If you need a clean build, use npx nx reset to clear the cache.

Browser extension

The browser extension must be built for each target browser.

Development builds

Chrome
Firefox
Safari
Edge
Opera

Build for Chrome and Chromium-based browsers:

cd apps/browser
npm run build:chrome

Output: apps/browser/build/Load in Chrome:

Navigate to chrome://extensions/
Enable “Developer mode”
Click “Load unpacked”
Select the build/ directory

Build for Firefox:

cd apps/browser
npm run build:firefox

Output: apps/browser/build/Load in Firefox:

Navigate to about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox
Click “Load Temporary Add-on”
Select manifest.json from the build/ directory

Build for Safari:

cd apps/browser
npm run build:safari

Output: apps/browser/build/Convert to Safari extension:

Use Xcode to create Safari Web Extension
Point to the build/ directory
Build and run from Xcode

Build for Microsoft Edge:

cd apps/browser
npm run build:edge

Output: apps/browser/build/Load using the same process as Chrome.

Build for Opera:

cd apps/browser
npm run build:opera

Output: apps/browser/build/

Watch mode

For active development, use watch mode to automatically rebuild on file changes:

cd apps/browser

# Watch mode for Chrome
npm run build:watch:chrome

# Watch mode for Firefox
npm run build:watch:firefox

# Watch mode for Safari
npm run build:watch:safari

After the extension rebuilds, you’ll need to reload it in your browser (click the reload button in the extensions page).

Production builds

Production builds are optimized and minified:

cd apps/browser

# Production build for Chrome
npm run build:prod:chrome

# Production build for Firefox
npm run build:prod:firefox

# Production build for Safari
npm run build:prod:safari

Distribution packages

Create distributable packages:

cd apps/browser

# Create .zip for Chrome Web Store
npm run dist:chrome
# Output: apps/browser/dist/dist-chrome.zip

# Create .zip for Firefox Add-ons
npm run dist:firefox
# Output: apps/browser/dist/dist-firefox.zip

# Package Safari extension
npm run dist:safari

Build configuration

Builds use environment variables:

BROWSER=chrome|firefox|safari|edge|opera - Target browser
MANIFEST_VERSION=3 - Manifest version (Chrome uses MV3)
NODE_ENV=production - Production optimization
NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=8192" - Allocate 8GB for build

Desktop application

The desktop app requires building three components: main process, renderer process, and preload scripts.

Development build

Build all components:

cd apps/desktop
npm run build:dev

This runs three builds in parallel:

build:main:dev - Main process (Electron)
build:renderer:dev - Renderer process (Angular)
build:preload:dev - Preload scripts

Output: apps/desktop/build/

Run the application

After building:

cd apps/desktop
npm run electron

Or run with certificate errors ignored (for local testing):

npm run electron:ignore

Watch mode

For active development, run watch mode in separate terminals:

# Terminal 1: Watch main process
cd apps/desktop
npm run build:main:watch

# Terminal 2: Watch renderer process
npm run build:renderer:watch

# Terminal 3: Watch preload scripts
npm run build:preload:watch

# Terminal 4: Run Electron with auto-reload
npm run electron

The desktop app uses electron-reload to automatically restart when files change.

Production build

Production builds with optimization:

cd apps/desktop
npm run build

This builds all three components in production mode.

Platform packages

Create distributable packages for each platform:

Windows
macOS
Linux

cd apps/desktop

# Build installer and portable
npm run dist:win

# Output:
# - apps/desktop/dist/Bitwarden-Setup-{version}.exe
# - apps/desktop/dist/Bitwarden-Portable-{version}.exe

Creates installers for x64, x86, and ARM64.

cd apps/desktop

# Build universal .dmg
npm run dist:mac

# Output:
# - apps/desktop/dist/Bitwarden-{version}-universal.dmg

# With macOS extension (autofill)
npm run pack:mac:with-extension

# For Mac App Store
npm run dist:mac:mas

Creates universal binaries (x64 + ARM64).

cd apps/desktop

# Build AppImage, .deb, snap
npm run dist:lin

# Output:
# - apps/desktop/dist/Bitwarden-{version}-x64.AppImage
# - apps/desktop/dist/bitwarden_{version}_amd64.deb
# - apps/desktop/dist/bitwarden_{version}_amd64.snap

# ARM64 build
npm run dist:lin:arm64

Native modules

The desktop app includes Rust native modules:

cd apps/desktop

# Build native modules
npm run build-native

# macOS autofill provider (macOS only)
npm run build-native-macos

Web vault

The web vault can be built as open source (OSS) or commercial (bit).

Development build

Open source build:

cd apps/web
npm run build:oss

Commercial build:

cd apps/web
npm run build:bit

Output: apps/web/build/

Development server

Run with live reload:

cd apps/web

# OSS development server
npm run build:oss:watch

# Commercial development server
npm run build:bit:dev:watch

Access at: http://localhost:8080

The dev server includes hot module replacement for faster development.

Production builds

Optimized builds for different environments:

# Open source self-hosted
npm run build:oss:selfhost:prod

# Commercial self-hosted
npm run build:bit:selfhost:prod

# Output: apps/web/build/

Environment configuration

Builds use environment variables:

ENV=development|qa|production|selfhosted|cloud
NODE_ENV=production - Enable production optimization
NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=8192" - Memory allocation

Command-line interface

The CLI can be built as a Node.js script or packaged as a native executable.

Development build

cd apps/cli
npm run build:oss

Output: apps/cli/build/bw.js Run the CLI:

node build/bw.js --help

Watch mode

cd apps/cli
npm run build:oss:watch

Automatically rebuilds on file changes.

Production build

cd apps/cli
npm run build:oss:prod

Optimized and minified output.

Native executables

Create standalone binaries with no Node.js requirement:

Windows
macOS
Linux

cd apps/cli
npm run dist:oss:win

# Output: apps/cli/dist/oss/windows/bw.exe

Creates a standalone .exe (x64).

cd apps/cli

# x64 build
npm run dist:oss:mac
# Output: apps/cli/dist/oss/macos/bw

# ARM64 build
npm run dist:oss:mac-arm64
# Output: apps/cli/dist/oss/macos-arm64/bw

cd apps/cli

# x64 build
npm run dist:oss:lin
# Output: apps/cli/dist/oss/linux/bw

# ARM64 build
npm run dist:oss:lin-arm64
# Output: apps/cli/dist/oss/linux-arm64/bw

Native executables are created using @yao-pkg/pkg.

Debug mode

Run with Node.js inspector:

cd apps/cli
npm run build:oss:debug

# Or debug after building
npm run debug

Attach a debugger on chrome://inspect or VS Code.

Build optimization

Parallel builds

Build multiple apps simultaneously using Nx:

# Build all apps
npx nx run-many --target=build --all

# Build specific apps
npx nx run-many --target=build --projects=browser,desktop

Incremental builds

Nx caches build outputs. Subsequent builds are much faster:

# First build: ~5 minutes
npx nx build browser

# Cached build: ~1 second
npx nx build browser

# Clear cache if needed
npx nx reset

Build only changed projects

# Build only projects affected by your changes
npx nx affected:build --base=main

# See what would be built
npx nx affected:build --base=main --dry-run

Troubleshooting

Build fails with memory errors

Browser/Web builds already allocate 8GB:

# If still failing, manually increase:
export NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=12288"
npm run build

TypeScript errors

# Check TypeScript version
npx tsc --version  # Should be 5.8.3

# Clean and rebuild
rm -rf build dist
npm run build

Webpack cache issues

# Clear webpack cache
rm -rf node_modules/.cache

# Rebuild
npm run build

Native module errors (Desktop)

cd apps/desktop

# Rebuild Electron native modules
npm run postinstall

# Or manually
npx electron-rebuild

Permission errors on build output

# Make output directories writable
chmod -R u+w build dist

# Remove and rebuild
rm -rf build dist
npm run build

Next steps

Contributing

Learn the development workflow

Architecture

Understand the codebase structure

Requirements

Platform-specific requirements

Testing

Run tests and write new ones

Getting Started

Development Setup

​Building applications

​Using Nx

​Browser extension

​Development builds

​Watch mode

​Production builds

​Distribution packages

​Build configuration

​Desktop application

​Development build

​Run the application

​Watch mode

​Production build

​Platform packages

​Native modules

​Web vault

​Development build

​Development server

​Production builds

​Environment configuration

​Command-line interface

​Development build

​Watch mode

​Production build

​Native executables

​Debug mode

​Build optimization

​Parallel builds

​Incremental builds

​Build only changed projects

​Troubleshooting

​Build fails with memory errors

​TypeScript errors

​Webpack cache issues

​Native module errors (Desktop)

​Permission errors on build output

​Next steps

Contributing

Architecture

Requirements

Testing

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Building applications

Using Nx

Browser extension

Development builds

Watch mode

Production builds

Distribution packages

Build configuration

Desktop application

Development build

Run the application

Watch mode

Production build

Platform packages

Native modules

Web vault

Development build

Development server

Production builds

Environment configuration

Command-line interface

Development build

Watch mode

Production build

Native executables

Debug mode

Build optimization

Parallel builds

Incremental builds

Build only changed projects

Troubleshooting

Build fails with memory errors

TypeScript errors

Webpack cache issues

Native module errors (Desktop)

Permission errors on build output

Next steps