Command-Line Reference

bazel [<startup options>] <command> [<args>]

Option Syntax

Options can be passed to Bazel in different ways.

Commands

build Builds the specified targets.
test Builds and runs the specified test targets.

Startup Options

Options that appear before the command and are parsed by the client:
--[no]batch default: "false"

If set, Bazel will be run as just a client process without a server.

Tags: loses_incremental_state, deprecated

--connect_timeout_secs=<an integer> default: "30"

The amount of time the client waits for each attempt to connect to the server

Tags: bazel_internal_configuration

--bazelrc=<path> multiple uses are accumulated

The location of the user .bazelrc file.

Tags: changes_inputs

--host_jvm_debug

Convenience option to add some additional JVM startup flags.

Expands to:
  --host_jvm_args=-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,address=5005

--digest_function=<hash function> default: see description

The hash function to use when computing file digests.

Tags: loses_incremental_state

--io_nice_level={-1,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7} default: "-1"

Only on Linux; set a level from 0-7 for best-effort IO scheduling.

Tags: host_machine_resource_optimizations

Options Common to all Commands

Verbosity options:
--[no]verbose default: "false"

If true, enable verbose output.

Tags: affects_outputs

Build Options

Inherits all options from common_options.

Build-specific options:
--jobs=<an integer> [-j] default: "auto"

The number of concurrent jobs to run. Takes an integer, or "auto".

Tags: execution

Option Effect Tags

loses_incremental_state This option affects the incremental state.
affects_outputs This option affects the outputs.

Option Metadata Tags

deprecated This option is deprecated.