Running `ng build` in a specific directory

Question

I'm writing an automated build script that needs to run ng build in a specific directory. My project has the following structure:

project
├ build-script
└ project-client
  └ package.json

ng build is looking for the package.json file, but it can't find it in its current location. Is there a way I can direct ng build to the subdirectory without doing a cd (since bash is a bit wonky about changing directories)? Essentially, I just need a way to tell ng build to operate in a directory that I specify.

I have tried doing ng build ./project-client/ but it is giving the error that "You have to be inside an angular-cli project in order to use the build command"

Thanks.

Answer 1

When I need to go to certain directory just to run a script I usually use pushd and popd. Example:

pushd /path/to/dir
ng build
popd

After this snippet is run your working directory (pwd) will remain unchanged.

Answer 2

Note: This answer is specific to Angular commands

You can leverage the npm run command to run an Angular command while using the parameter --prefix to indicate the sub-directory.

---

Example 1: Original question (ng build)

Since Angular already has a shortcut for this command, you can simply run

npm run build --prefix path\to\Angular\project

---

Example 2: Custom command (Eg: ng build --prod)

First, create a shortcut for this command in your package.json file

{
    "scripts": {
        // "CMD-SHORTCUT": "custom-command"
        "prod-build": "ng build --prod"
    },
}

Then, run the new shortcut in the same way as example 1:

npm run prod-build --prefix path\to\Angular\project