# Angular Workspace Configuration

A file named `angular.json` at the root level of an Angular [workspace](guide/glossary#workspace) provides workspace-wide and project-specific configuration defaults for build and development tools provided by the Angular CLI.
Path values given in the configuration are relative to the root workspace folder.

## Overall JSON structure

At the top level of `angular.json`, a few properties configure the workspace, and a `projects` section contains the remaining per-project configuration options. CLI defaults set at the workspace level can be overridden by defaults set at the project level, and defaults set at the project level can be overridden on the command line.

The following properties, at the top level of the file, configure the workspace.

* `version`: The configuration-file version.
* `newProjectRoot`: Path where new projects are created. Absolute or relative to the workspace folder.
* `defaultProject`: Default project name to use in commands, where not provided as an argument. When you use `ng new` to create a new app in a new workspace, that app is the default project for the workspace until you change it here.
* `schematics` : A set of [schematics](guide/glossary#schematic) that customize the `ng generate` sub-command option defaults for this workspace. See [Generation schematics](#schematics) below.
* `projects` : Contains a subsection for each project (library or application) in the workspace, with the per-project configuration options.

The initial app that you create with `ng new app_name` is listed under "projects":

<code-example language="json">

"projects": {
  "app_name": {
    ...
  }
  ...
}

</code-example>

Each additional app that you create with `ng generate application` has a corresponding end-to-end test project, with its own configuration section.
When you create a library project with `ng generate library`, the library project is also added to the `projects` section.

<div class="alert is-helpful">

  Note that the `projects` section of the configuration file does not correspond exactly to the workspace file structure.
  * The initial app created by `ng new` is at the top level of the workspace file structure.
  * Additional applications and libraries go into a `projects` folder in the workspace.

  For more information, see [Workspace and project file structure](guide/file-structure).

</div>

## Project configuration options

The following top-level configuration properties are available for each project, under `projects:<project_name>`.

<code-example language="json">

    "my-app": {
      "root": "",
      "sourceRoot": "src",
      "projectType": "application",
      "prefix": "app",
      "schematics": {},
      "architect": {}
    }

</code-example>

| PROPERTY | DESCRIPTION |
| :-------------- | :---------------------------- |
| `root`          | The root folder for this project's files, relative to the workspace folder. Empty for the initial app, which resides at the top level of the workspace. |
| `sourceRoot`    | The root folder for this project's source files. |
| `projectType`   | One of "application" or "library". An application can run independently in a browser, while a library cannot.|
| `prefix`        | A string that Angular prepends to generated selectors. Can be customized to identify an app or feature area. |
| `schematics`    | A set of schematics that customize the `ng generate` sub-command option defaults for this project. See [Generation schematics](#schematics) below.  |
| `architect`     | Configuration defaults for Architect builder targets for this project. |

{@a schematics}

## Generation schematics

Angular generation [schematics](guide/glossary#schematic) are instructions for modifying a project by adding files or modifying existing files.
Individual schematics for the default Angular CLI `ng generate` sub-commands are collected in the package `@angular`.
Specify the schematic name for a subcommand in the format `schematic-package:schematic-name`;
for example, the schematic for generating a component is `@angular:component`.

The JSON schemas for the default schematics used by the CLI to generate projects and parts of projects are collected in the package [`@schematics/angular`](https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/blob/7.0.x/packages/schematics/angular/application/schema.json).
The schema describes the options available to the CLI for each of the `ng generate` sub-commands, as shown in the `--help` output.

The fields given in the schema correspond to the allowed argument values and defaults for the CLI sub-command options.
You can update your workspace schema file to set a different default for a sub-command option.

{@a architect}

## Project tool configuration options

Architect is the tool that the CLI uses to perform complex tasks, such as compilation and test running.
Architect is a shell that runs a specified [builder](guide/glossary#builder) to perform a given task, according to a [target](guide/glossary#target) configuration.
You can define and configure new builders and targets to extend the CLI.
See [Angular CLI Builders](guide/cli-builder).

{@a default-build-targets}

### Default Architect builders and targets

Angular defines default builders for use with specific CLI commands, or with the general `ng run` command.
The JSON schemas that the define the options and defaults for each of these default builders are collected in the [`@angular-devkit/build-angular`](https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/blob/8.0.x/packages/angular/cli/lib/config/schema.json) package.
The schemas configure options for the following builders.

* app-shell
* browser
* dev-server
* extract-i18n
* karma
* protractor
* server
* tslint

### Configuring builder targets

The `architect` section of `angular.json` contains a set of Architect targets.
Many of the targets correspond to the CLI commands that run them.
Some additional predefined targets can be run using the `ng run` command, and you can define your own targets.

Each target object specifies the `builder` for that target, which is the npm package for the tool that Architect runs.
In addition, each target has an `options` section that configures default options for the target, and a `configurations` section that names and specifies alternative configurations for the target.
See the example in [Build target](#build-target) below.

<code-example language="json">

      "architect": {
        "build": { },
        "serve": { },
        "e2e" : { },
        "test": { },
        "lint": { },
        "extract-i18n": { },
        "server": { },
        "app-shell": { }
      }

</code-example>

* The `architect/build` section configures defaults for options of the `ng build` command.
See [Build target](#build-target) below for more information.

* The `architect/serve` section overrides build defaults and supplies additional serve defaults for the `ng serve` command.  In addition to the options available for the `ng build` command, it adds options related to serving the app.

* The `architect/e2e` section overrides build-option defaults for building end-to-end testing apps using the `ng e2e` command.

* The `architect/test` section overrides build-option defaults for test builds and supplies additional test-running defaults for the `ng test` command.

* The `architect/lint` section configures defaults for options of the `ng lint` command, which performs code analysis on project source files.  The default linting tool for Angular is [TSLint](https://palantir.github.io/tslint/).

* The `architect/extract-i18n` section configures defaults for options of the `ng-xi18n` tool used by the `ng xi18n` command, which extracts marked message strings from source code and outputs translation files.

* The `architect/server` section configures defaults for creating a Universal app with server-side rendering, using the `ng run <project>:server` command.

* The `architect/app-shell` section configures defaults for creating an app shell for a progressive web app (PWA), using the `ng run <project>:app-shell` command.

In general, the options for which you can configure defaults correspond to the command options listed in the [CLI reference page](cli) for each command.
Note that all options in the configuration file must use [camelCase](guide/glossary#case-conventions), rather than dash-case.

{@a build-target}

## Build target

The `architect/build` section configures defaults for options of the `ng build` command. It has the following top-level properties.

| PROPERTY | DESCRIPTION |
| :-------------- | :---------------------------- |
| `builder`       | The npm package for the build tool used to create this target. The default builder for an application (`ng build myApp`) is `@angular-devkit/build-angular:browser`, which uses the [webpack](https://webpack.js.org/) package bundler. Note that a different builder is used for building a library (`ng build myLib`). |
| `options`       | This section contains default build target options, used when no named alternative configuration is specified. See [Default build targets](#default-build-targets) below. |
| `configurations`| This section defines and names alternative configurations for different intended destinations. It contains a section for each named configuration, which sets the default options for that intended environment. See [Alternate build configurations](#build-configs) below. |


{@a build-configs}

### Alternate build configurations

By default, a `production` configuration is defined, and the `ng build` command has `--prod` option that builds using this configuration. The `production` configuration sets defaults that optimize the app in a number of ways, such as bundling files, minimizing excess whitespace, removing comments and dead code, and rewriting code to use short, cryptic names ("minification").

You can define and name additional alternate configurations (such as `stage`, for instance) appropriate to your development process. Some examples of different build configurations are `stable`, `archive` and `next` used by AIO itself, and the individual locale-specific configurations required for building localized versions of an app. For details, see [Internationalization (i18n)](guide/i18n#merge-aot).

{@a build-props}

### Additional build and test options

The configurable options for a default or targeted build generally correspond to the options available for the [`ng build`](cli/build), [`ng serve`](cli/serve), and [`ng test`](cli/test) commands. For details of those options and their possible values, see the [CLI Reference](cli).

Some additional options can only be set through the configuration file, either by direct editing or with the [`ng config`](cli/config) command.

| OPTIONS PROPERTIES | DESCRIPTION |
| :------------------------- | :---------------------------- |
| `assets`                   | An object containing paths to static assets to add to the global context of the project. The default paths point to the project's icon file and its `assets` folder.  See more in [Assets configuration](#asset-config) below. |
| `styles`                   | An array of style files to add to the global context of the project. Angular CLI supports CSS imports and all major CSS preprocessors: [sass/scss](http://sass-lang.com/), [less](http://lesscss.org/), and [stylus](http://stylus-lang.com/). See more in [Styles and scripts configuration](#style-script-config) below. |
| `stylePreprocessorOptions` | An object containing option-value pairs to pass to style preprocessors. See more in [Styles and scripts configuration](#style-script-config) below. |
| `scripts`                  | An object containing JavaScript script files to add to the global context of the project. The scripts are loaded exactly as if you had added them in a `<script>` tag inside `index.html`. See more in [Styles and scripts configuration](#style-script-config) below. |
| `budgets`                  | Default size-budget type and threshholds for all or parts of your app. You can configure the builder to report a warning or an error when the output reaches or exceeds a threshold size. See [Configure size budgets](guide/build#configure-size-budgets). (Not available in `test` section.) |
| `fileReplacements`         | An object containing files and their compile-time replacements. See more in [Configure target-specific file replacements](guide/build#configure-target-specific-file-replacements).|

{@a complex-config}

## Complex configuration values

The options `assets`, `styles`, and `scripts` can have either simple path string values, or object values with specific fields.
The `sourceMap` and `optimization` options can be set to a simple Boolean value with a command flag, but can also be given a complex value using the configuration file.
The following sections provide more details of how these complex values are used in each case.

{@a asset-config}

### Assets configuration

Each `build` target configuration can include an `assets` array that lists files or folders you want to copy as-is when building your project.
By default, the `src/assets/` folder and `src/favicon.ico` are copied over.

<code-example language="json">

"assets": [
  "src/assets",
  "src/favicon.ico"
]

</code-example>

To exclude an asset, you can remove it from the assets configuration.

You can further configure assets to be copied by specifying assets as objects, rather than as simple paths relative to the workspace root.
A asset specification object can have the following fields.

* `glob`:  A [node-glob](https://github.com/isaacs/node-glob/blob/master/README.md) using `input` as base directory.
* `input`: A path relative to the workspace root.
* `output`: A path relative to `outDir` (default is `dist/`*project-name*). Because of the security implications, the CLI never writes files outside of the project output path.
* `ignore`: A list of globs to exclude.

For example, the default asset paths can be represented in more detail using the following objects.

<code-example language="json">

"assets": [
  { "glob": "**/*", "input": "src/assets/", "output": "/assets/" },
  { "glob": "favicon.ico", "input": "src/", "output": "/" }
]

</code-example>

You can use this extended configuration to copy assets from outside your project.
For example, the following configuration copies assets from a node package:

<code-example language="json">

"assets": [
 { "glob": "**/*", "input": "./node_modules/some-package/images", "output": "/some-package/" },
]

</code-example>

The contents of `node_modules/some-package/images/` will be available in `dist/some-package/`.

The following example uses the `ignore` field to exclude certain files in the assets folder from being copied into the build:

<code-example language="json">

"assets": [
 { "glob": "**/*", "input": "src/assets/", "ignore": ["**/*.svg"], "output": "/assets/" },
]

</code-example>

{@a style-script-config}

### Styles and scripts configuration

An array entry for the `styles` and `scripts` options can be a simple path string, or an object that points to an extra entry-point file.
The associated builder will load that file and its dependencies as a separate bundle during the build.
With a configuration object, you have the option of naming the bundle for the entry point, using a `bundleName` field.

The bundle is injected by default, but you can set `inject` to false to exclude the bundle from injection.
For example, the following object values create and name a bundle that contains styles and scripts, and excludes it from injection:

<code-example language="json">

   "styles": [
     { "input": "src/external-module/styles.scss", "inject": false, "bundleName": "external-module" }
   ],
   "scripts": [
     { "input": "src/external-module/main.js", "inject": false, "bundleName": "external-module" }
   ]

</code-example>

You can mix simple and complex file references for styles and scripts.

<code-example language="json">

"styles": [
  "src/styles.css",
  "src/more-styles.css",
  { "input": "src/lazy-style.scss", "inject": false },
  { "input": "src/pre-rename-style.scss", "bundleName": "renamed-style" },
]

</code-example>

{@a style-preprocessor}

#### Style preprocessor options

In Sass and Stylus you can make use of the `includePaths` functionality for both component and global styles, which allows you to add extra base paths that will be checked for imports.

To add paths, use the `stylePreprocessorOptions` option:

<code-example language="json">

"stylePreprocessorOptions": {
  "includePaths": [
    "src/style-paths"
  ]
}

</code-example>

Files in that folder, such as `src/style-paths/_variables.scss`, can be imported from anywhere in your project without the need for a relative path:

```ts
// src/app/app.component.scss
// A relative path works
@import '../style-paths/variables';
// But now this works as well
@import 'variables';
```

Note that you will also need to add any styles or scripts to the `test` builder if you need them for unit tests.
See also [Using runtime-global libraries inside your app](guide/using-libraries#using-runtime-global-libraries-inside-your-app).


{@a optimize-and-srcmap}

### Optimization and source map configuration

The `optimization` and `sourceMap` command options are simple Boolean flags.
You can supply an object as a configuration value for either of these to provide more detailed instruction.

* The flag `--optimization="true"` applies to both scripts and styles. You can supply a value such as the following to apply optimization to one or the other:

<code-example language="json">

   "optimization": { "scripts": true, "styles": false }

</code-example>

* The flag `--sourceMap="true"` outputs source maps for both scripts and styles.
You can configure the option to apply to one or the other.
You can also choose to output hidden source maps, or resolve vendor package source maps.
For example:

<code-example language="json">

   "sourceMap": { "scripts": true, "styles": false, "hidden": true, "vendor": true }

</code-example>

<div class="alert is-helpful">

   When using hidden source maps, source maps will not be referenced in the bundle.
   These are useful if you only want source maps to map error stack traces in error reporting tools,
   but don't want to expose your source maps in the browser developer tools.

   For [Universal](guide/glossary#universal), you can reduce the code rendered in the HTML page by
   setting styles optimization to `true` and styles source maps to `false`.

</div>