bazel

Build the specified target in the workspace

$ bazel build [target]

$ bazel clean

$ bazel shutdown

$ bazel info

$ bazel help

$ bazel version

bazel [global-options] <command> [<subcommand-options>] [<targets>]

--help
    Display help for command or option

--version
    Print Bazel version

--bazelrc=FILE
    Load specific bazelrc config file

--batch
    Run in batch mode without daemon

--nocheck_visibility
    Skip visibility checks

--compilation_mode=(dbg|opt|fastbuild)
    Select debug, optimized, or fastbuild mode

--config=NAME
    Apply config section from bazelrc

--define=NAME=VALUE
    Set make variable for build

--distinct_host_configuration
    Use separate config for host tools

--keep_state_after_build
    Retain state post-build

--output_base=PATH
    Set output directory base

--output_user_root=PATH
    Set user root output directory

--platform_suffix=STR
    Suffix for target platforms

--symlink_prefix=PATH
    Prefix for output symlinks

--workspace_status_command=FILE
    Command for workspace status

Bazel is an open-source build and test system developed by Google for handling massive, multi-language codebases with high performance and reproducibility. It scales to millions of source files and thousands of engineers, using a declarative configuration language called Starlark to define build rules in BUILD files.

Key features include incremental builds that only rebuild changed files, remote caching and execution for distributed teams, and support for languages like Java, C/C++, Python, Go, Android, Node.js, and more. Bazel hermetically seals builds, ensuring identical outputs across environments by downloading exact tool versions.

Workflows start with bazel build //path/to:target for compilation, bazel test //... for unit tests, and bazel run //app:main for deployment. It analyzes dependencies upfront for parallel execution and caching, minimizing build times even on clean checkouts.

Requires JDK 11+; large initial download (~2GB); steep learning curve for BUILD files and Starlark; not ideal for small projects.

build: Compile targets.
test: Execute tests.
run: Run binaries.
query: Analyze dependency graph.
coverage: Generate coverage reports.
shutdown: Stop Bazel server.

Targets like //package:target or //... for recursive; use bazel query to explore.

Developed at Google as Blaze (2006); open-sourced as Bazel in 2015 under Apache 2.0; actively maintained with versions up to 7.x; widely used in monorepos like Google, Facebook.

make(1), ninja(1), cmake(1)