---
description: |
    The `packer build` command takes a template and runs all the builds within it
    in order to generate a set of artifacts. The various builds specified within a
    template are executed in parallel, unless otherwise specified. And the
    artifacts that are created will be outputted at the end of the build.
layout: docs
page_title: 'packer build - Commands'
sidebar_current: 'docs-commands-build'
---

# `build` Command

The `packer build` command takes a template and runs all the builds within it
in order to generate a set of artifacts. The various builds specified within a
template are executed in parallel, unless otherwise specified. And the
artifacts that are created will be outputted at the end of the build.

## Options

-   `-color=false` - Disables colorized output. Enabled by default.

-   `-debug` - Disables parallelization and enables debug mode. Debug mode
    flags the builders that they should output debugging information. The exact
    behavior of debug mode is left to the builder. In general, builders usually
    will stop between each step, waiting for keyboard input before continuing.
    This will allow the user to inspect state and so on.

-   `-except=foo,bar,baz` - Run all the builds and post-processors except those
    with the given comma-separated names. Build and post-processor names by
    default are their type, unless a specific `name` attribute is specified
    within the configuration. Any post-processor following a skipped
    post-processor will not run. Because post-processors can be nested in
    arrays a different post-processor chain can still run. A post-processor
    with an empty name will be ignored.

-   `-force` - Forces a builder to run when artifacts from a previous build
    prevent a build from running. The exact behavior of a forced build is left
    to the builder. In general, a builder supporting the forced build will
    remove the artifacts from the previous build. This will allow the user to
    repeat a build without having to manually clean these artifacts beforehand.

-   `-on-error=cleanup` (default), `-on-error=abort`, `-on-error=ask` - Selects
    what to do when the build fails. `cleanup` cleans up after the previous
    steps, deleting temporary files and virtual machines. `abort` exits without
    any cleanup, which might require the next build to use `-force`. `ask`
    presents a prompt and waits for you to decide to clean up, abort, or retry
    the failed step.

-   `-only=foo,bar,baz` - Only run the builds with the given comma-separated
    names. Build names by default are their type, unless a specific `name`
    attribute is specified within the configuration. `-only` does not apply to
    post-processors.

-   `-parallel=false` - /!\ Deprecated, use `-parallel-builds=1` instead,
    setting `-parallel-builds=N` to more that 0 will ignore the `-parallel`
    setting. Set `-parallel=false` to disable parallelization of multiple
    builders (on by default).

-   `-parallel-builds=N` - Limit the number of builds to run in parallel, 0
    means no limit (defaults to 0).

-   `-timestamp-ui` - Enable prefixing of each ui output with an RFC3339
    timestamp.

-   `-var` - Set a variable in your packer template. This option can be used
    multiple times. This is useful for setting version numbers for your build.

-   `-var-file` - Set template variables from a file.