Deploy static view files
In addition to the command arguments described in this topic, see Common arguments.
Run all Magento CLI commands as the Magento file system owner.
Overview of static view files deployment
The static view files deployment command enables you to write static files to the Magento file system when the Magento software is set for production mode.
The term static view file refers to the following:
- “Static” means it can be cached for a site (that is, the file is not dynamically generated). Examples include images and CSS generated from LESS.
- “View” refers to the presentation layer (from MVC).
Static view files are located in the <your Magento install dir>/pub/static directory, and some are cached in the <your Magento install dir>/var/view_preprocessed directory as well.
Static view files deployment is affected by Magento modes as follows:
- Default and developer modes: Magento generates them on demand, but the rest are cached in a file for speed of access.
- Production mode: Static files are not generated or cached.
You must write static view files to the Magento file system manually using the command discussed in this topic; after that, you can restrict permissions to limit your vulnerabilities and to prevent accidental or malicious overwriting of files.
Developer mode only: When you install or enable a new module, it might load new JavaScript, CSS, layouts, and so on. To avoid issues with static files, you must clean the old files to make sure you get all the changes for the new module.
You can clean generated static view files in several ways. Refer to Clean static files cache topic for details for more information.
Deploy static view files
To deploy static view files:
- Log in to the Magento server as, or switch to, the Magento file system owner.
- Delete the contents of
<your Magento install dir>/pub/static. -
Run the static view files deployment tool
<your Magento install dir>/bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy.If you enable static view file merging in the Magento Admin, the
pub/staticdirectory system must be writable.
Command options:
magento setup:static-content:deploy [<languages>] [-t|--theme[="<theme>"]] [--exclude-theme[="<theme>"]] [-l|--language[="<language>"]] [--exclude-language[="<language>"]] [-a|--area[="<area>"]] [--exclude-area[="<area>"]] [-j|--jobs[="<number>"]] [--no-javascript] [--no-css] [--no-less] [--no-images] [--no-fonts] [--no-html] [--no-misc] [--no-html-minify] [-d|--dry-run]
The following table explains this command’s parameters and values.
| Option | Description | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| <languages> | Space-separated list of ISO-639 language codes for which to output static view files. (Default is You can find the list by running |
No |
| --language (-l) | Generate files only for the specified languages. The default, with no option specified, is to generate files for all ISO-636 language codes. You can specify the name of one language code at a time. For example, |
No |
| --exclude-language | Generate files for the specified language codes. The default, with no option specified, is to exclude nothing. You can specify the name of one language code or a comma-separated list of language codes. |
No |
| --theme <theme> | Themes for which to deploy static content. For example, |
No |
| --exclude-theme <theme> | Themes to exclude when deploying static content. For example, |
No |
| --area (-a) | Generate files only for the specified areas. The default, with no option specified, is to generate files for all areas. Valid values are For example, |
No |
| --exclude-area | Do not generate files for the specified areas. The default, with no option specified, is to exclude nothing. |
No |
| --jobs (-j) | Enable parallel processing using the specified number of jobs. The default is 4. To cause the task to run in one process (for example, if your system does not support process forking), use |
No |
| --no-javascript | Do not deploy JavaScript files |
No |
| --no-css | Do not deploy CSS files. |
No |
| --no-less | Do not deploy LESS files. |
No |
| --no-images | Do not deploy images. | No |
| --no-fonts | Do not deploy font files. |
No |
--no-html |
Do not deploy HTML files. |
No |
| --no-misc | Do not deploy other types of files (that is |
No |
| --no-html-minify | Do not minify HTML files. |
No |
| --dry-run (-d) | Include to view the files output by the tool without outputting anything. |
No |
- If you specify values for both
<languages>and--language,<languages>takes precedence. - The following parameters were added in version 2.1.1:
--exclude-language,--theme <theme>,--exclude-theme <theme>,--area (-a),--exclude-area,--jobs (-j),--no-javascript,--no-css,--no-less,--no-images,--no-fonts,--no-html,--no-misc,--no-html-minify.
Deploy static view files without installing Magento
We regret that this information was added in error. You cannot yet deploy static view files without a connection to the Magento database. We expect this ability will be added in a future release. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.
You should be able to compile code without a connection to the Magento database.
Troubleshooting the static view files deployment tool
Install the Magento software first; otherwise, you cannot run the static view files deployment tool.
Symptom: The following error is displayed when you run the static view files deployment tool:
ERROR: You need to install the Magento application before running this utility.
Solution:
Use the following steps:
- Install the Magento software in any of the following ways:
- Log in to the Magento server as, or switch to, the Magento file system owner.
- Delete the contents of
<your Magento install dir>/pub/staticdirectory.
Tip for developers customizing the static content deployment tool
When creating a custom implementation of the static content deployment tool, use only atomic file writing for files that should be available on the client. If you use non-atomic file writing, those files might be loaded on the client with partial content.
One of the options for making it atomic is to write to files stored in a temporary directory and copying or moving them to the destination directory (from where they are loaded to client) after writing is over. For details about writing to files, see http://php.net/manual/en/function.fwrite.php.