Build Command

build is the main cr4te command. It reconciles metadata and renders the static site.

cr4te build -i path/to/Creators -o path/to/site

Common Examples

cr4te build -i path/to/Musicians -o path/to/site --domain music
cr4te build -i path/to/Artists -o path/to/site --domain art
cr4te build -i path/to/Creators -o path/to/site --strict
cr4te build -i path/to/Creators -o path/to/site --clean --force
cr4te build -i path/to/Creators -o path/to/site --open

Required Options

• -i, --input: path to the creator folder.
• -o, --output: path to the generated site folder.

The input and output paths must be different. The output path cannot be inside the input path, and the input path cannot be inside the output path.

Config Options

• --config: load a JSON config file.
• --domain: apply a domain preset.
• --image-sample-strategy: choose none, spread, head, or all.
• --portrait-strategy: choose none, named, or auto.

Custom Themes

• --themes-dir: include custom theme CSS files from the selected folder.

Relative paths resolve from the current working directory. The folder must exist and be a directory; otherwise the build aborts before changing metadata or output files.

See Custom Themes for theme file rules and examples.

Build Behavior Options

• --strict: fail immediately on invalid metadata instead of skipping/reporting invalid entries.
• --open: open index.html after a successful build.
• --force: skip confirmation prompts.
• --clean: when clearing an existing output folder, also delete thumbnails.

Existing Output Folder

If the output folder already exists, cr4te asks before clearing it.

By default, it preserves the thumbnails folder so rebuilds can reuse generated thumbnails. Use --clean to remove thumbnails too.

Use --force when running non-interactively:

cr4te build -i path/to/Creators -o path/to/site --force

Build Summary

At the end of a build, cr4te logs a summary:

Build summary: creators=15, projects=17, errors=0, warnings=0

If best-effort mode encountered issues, they are listed with severity, scope, relative path, issue code, and message.

Render-time asset problems also appear in this summary. Recoverable asset failures do not leave known-broken references in the generated site:

• Missing media and unreadable text or gallery images are omitted.
• Failed portrait and cover thumbnails use generated defaults.
• Unavailable optional inspection data, such as audio duration, uses a safe fallback and produces a warning.

Repeated failures with the same asset path and issue code are reported once per build.

Best-Effort vs Strict

Default behavior is best-effort:

• Invalid creator metadata skips that creator.
• Invalid project metadata skips only that project.
• Recoverable asset failures use safe fallbacks or omit the affected media item.
• Warnings, such as unknown collaboration references, are reported.

Strict behavior:

cr4te build -i path/to/Creators -o path/to/site --strict

With --strict, metadata and asset errors fail immediately. Asset warnings continue.

Other Commands

Print the resolved config:

cr4te print-config
cr4te print-config --domain music

Delete metadata files:

cr4te clean-json -i path/to/Creators --dry-run
cr4te clean-json -i path/to/Creators --force

Use --dry-run before deleting metadata files.