The alab CLI is installed locally in your project. Run it via your package manager's script runner or node_modules/.bin/alab.

Commands

alab dev

Starts the development server with hot module replacement.

alab dev
alab dev --port 4000
alab dev --host 0.0.0.0

Flag	Default	Description
--port	3000	Port to listen on
--host	localhost	Host to bind

The dev server:

• Compiles TypeScript with the Rust/oxc compiler
• Runs Vite HMR for instant CSS and component updates
• Streams SSR using renderToPipeableStream
• Enforces server/client boundaries at dev time
• Shows rich error overlays with Rust-sourced line numbers

---

alab build

Builds the app for production.

alab build
alab build --mode spa
alab build --analyze
alab build --skip-typecheck

Flag	Default	Description
--mode	ssr	Build mode: ssr or spa
--analyze	false	Open bundle size treemap after build
--skip-typecheck	false	Skip tsc --noEmit

SSR mode (default): Outputs a Node.js server bundle to .alabjs/dist/. Requires a Node.js runtime to serve.

SPA mode: Outputs a static index.html + hashed assets to .alabjs/dist/spa/. Deployable to any CDN. Server functions become fetch calls to /_alabjs/fn/* — point these at a separate API server.

The --analyze flag requires rolldown-plugin-visualizer or rollup-plugin-visualizer to be installed:

pnpm add -D rolldown-plugin-visualizer

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alab start

Serves the production build.

alab start
PORT=8080 alab start

Environment Variable	Default	Description
PORT	3000	HTTP port
HOST	0.0.0.0	Bind address
PUBLIC_URL	—	Public base URL (for sitemap + CSRF)

Must run alab build before alab start.

---

alab ssg

Pre-renders static routes to HTML files.

alab ssg

SSG renders all routes without dynamic segments. For dynamic routes, export generateStaticParams from the page:

// app/posts/[slug]/page.tsx
export async function generateStaticParams() {
  const posts = await db.posts.findMany({ select: { slug: true } });
  return posts.map((p) => ({ slug: p.slug }));
}

---

alab test

Runs tests with Vitest.

alab test
alab test --watch
alab test --ui

Flag	Default	Description
--watch	false	Re-run tests on file changes
--ui	false	Open the Vitest UI in the browser

You can also pass file paths to run a subset of tests:

alab test src/utils.test.ts

---

alab info

Prints the route manifest, server functions, and boundary violations for the current project.

alab info

Output includes:

• Route manifest — all discovered routes, their kind (page / api / layout), and SSR status
• Server functions — every defineServerFn export and its generated POST endpoint
• Boundary violations — client files that illegally import server modules at runtime

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Global flags

Flag	Short	Description
--cwd <path>	-C	Set the project root — useful in monorepos
--help	-h	Show help
--version	-v	Show version

--cwd is resolved relative to the directory where the CLI is invoked, so both absolute and relative paths work:

# From the monorepo root
alab dev --cwd apps/marketing
alab build -C apps/dashboard
alab start --cwd /absolute/path/to/app

---

Environment variables

Variable	Commands	Description
PORT	dev, start	HTTP port
HOST	dev, start	Bind address
NODE_ENV	All	development in dev, production in start
PUBLIC_URL	start, ssg	Canonical base URL for sitemap + CSRF cookie
ALAB_TYPECHECK	build	Set to 0 to skip typecheck (same as --skip-typecheck)

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Programmatic API

The CLI commands are also exported as functions for use in custom scripts:

import { build, dev, ssg } from "alabjs/commands";

await build({ cwd: process.cwd(), mode: "ssr", analyze: false });
await ssg({ cwd: process.cwd() });