Bob is a command line tool for building Defold projects outside of the normal editor workflow.
Bob is able to build data (corresponding to the build step of selecting the editor menu item Project ▸ Build), create data archives and create standalone, distributable application bundles (corresponding to the editor menu item Project ▸ Bundle ▸ ... options)
Bob is distributed as a Java JAR archive containing everything needed to build. You find the latest bob.jar distribution on the GitHub Releases page. Select a release, then download bob/bob.jar. You will need OpenJDK 25 to run it.
Compatible OpenJDK 25 mirrors:
If you are on Windows you want the .msi file installer for OpenJDK.
Bob is run from a shell or from the command line by invoking java (or java.exe on Windows) and providing the bob java archive as argument:
$ java -jar bob.jar --help
usage: bob [options] [commands]
-a,--archive Build archive
-ar,--architectures <arg> Comma separated list of
architectures to include for the
platform
--archive-resource-padding <arg> The alignment of the resources in
the game archive. Default is 4
-bf,--bundle-format <arg> Which formats to create the
application bundle in. Comma
separated list. (Android: 'apk'
and 'aab')
--binary-output <arg> Location where built engine
binary will be placed. Default is
"<build-output>/<platform>/"
-bo,--bundle-output <arg> Bundle output directory
-br,--build-report <arg> DEPRECATED! Use
--build-report-json instead
-brhtml,--build-report-html <arg> Filepath where to save a build
report as HTML
-brjson,--build-report-json <arg> Filepath where to save a build
report as JSON
--build-artifacts <arg> If left out, will default to
build the engine. Choices:
'engine', 'plugins', 'library'.
Comma separated list
--build-input <arg> Project resource path to build
instead of game.project. May be
specified more than once. More
than one occurrence is allowed
--build-input-file <arg> File containing project resource
paths to build instead of
game.project. May be specified
more than once. More than one
occurrence is allowed
--build-server <arg> The build server (when using
native extensions)
--build-server-header <arg> Additional build server header to
set. More than one occurrence is
allowed
-ce,--certificate <arg> DEPRECATED! Use --keystore
instead
-d,--debug DEPRECATED! Use --variant=debug
instead
--debug-ne-upload Outputs the files sent to build
server as upload.zip
--debug-output-glsl <arg> Force build GLSL shaders
--debug-output-hlsl <arg> Force build HLSL shaders
--debug-output-msl <arg> Force build Metal shaders
--debug-output-spirv <arg> Force build SPIR-V shaders
--debug-output-wgsl <arg> Force build WGSL shaders
--defoldsdk <arg> What version of the defold sdk
(sha1) to use
-e,--email <arg> User email
-ea,--exclude-archive Exclude resource archives from
application bundle. Use this to
create an empty Defold
application for use as a build
target
--exclude-build-folder <arg> DEPRECATED! Use '.defignore' file
instead
--experimental-path-minification Minimizes resource path names in
order to save bundle size.
-h,--help This help message
-i,--input <arg> DEPRECATED! Use --root instead
--identity <arg> Sign identity (iOS)
-kp,--key-pass <arg> Password of the deployment key if
different from the keystore
password (Android)
-ks,--keystore <arg> Deployment keystore used to sign
APKs (Android)
-ksa,--keystore-alias <arg> The alias of the signing key+cert
you want to use (Android)
-ksp,--keystore-pass <arg> Password of the deployment
keystore (Android)
-l,--liveupdate <arg> Yes if liveupdate content should
be published
--max-cpu-threads <arg> Max count of threads that bob.jar
can use
-mp,--mobileprovisioning <arg> mobileprovisioning profile (iOS)
--ne-build-dir <arg> Specify a folder with includes or
source, to build a specific
library. More than one occurrence
is allowed
--ne-output-name <arg> Specify a library target name
-o,--output <arg> Output directory. Default is
"build/default"
-p,--platform <arg> Platform (when building and
bundling)
-pk,--private-key <arg> DEPRECATED! Use --keystore
instead
-r,--root <arg> Build root directory. Default is
current directory
--resource-cache-local <arg> Path to local resource cache
--resource-cache-remote <arg> URL to remote resource cache
--resource-cache-remote-pass <arg> Password/token to authenticate
access to the remote resource
cache
--resource-cache-remote-user <arg> Username to authenticate access
to the remote resource cache
--settings <arg> Path to a game project settings
file. The settings files are
applied left to right. More than
one occurrence is allowed
--strip-executable Strip the dmengine of debug
symbols (when bundling iOS or
Android)
-tc,--texture-compression Use texture compression as
specified in texture profiles
-tp,--texture-profiles <arg> DEPRECATED! Use
--texture-compression instead
-u,--auth <arg> User auth token
--use-async-build-server DEPRECATED! Asynchronous build is
now the default
--use-lua-bytecode-delta Use byte code delta compression
when building for multiple
architectures
--use-uncompressed-lua-source Use uncompressed and unencrypted
Lua source code instead of byte
code
--use-vanilla-lua DEPRECATED! Use
--use-uncompressed-lua-source
instead
-v,--verbose Verbose output
--variant <arg> Specify debug, release or
headless version of dmengine
(when bundling)
--version Prints the version number to the
output
--with-sha1 Generate (and verify) sha1
signatures from build artifacts
(when bunding for web)
--with-symbols Generate the symbol file (if
applicable)
--texture-compression is a switch with no value. Include it to enable the compression selected by the texture profiles; omit it to disable texture compression. The legacy --texture-compression=true form is still accepted. The legacy --texture-compression=false form is ignored and produces a warning; omit the switch instead.
Available commands:
cleandistcleanbuildgame.project; --build-input and --build-input-file can specify alternative roots. Files are not built merely because they exist under the project root. When game.project is a build root, add --archive to build the game data archive in the build directory.bundlebuild with the --archive option) and that a target platform is specified (with the --platform option). Bob creates the bundle in the output directory unless a different directory is specified with the --bundle-output option. The bundle is named according to the project name setting in game.project. The --variant specifies which type of executable to build when bundling and it together with the --strip-executable option replaces the --debug option. If no --variant is specified you will get a release version of the engine (stripped of symbols on Android and iOS). Setting --variant to debug and omitting --strip-executable yields the same type of executable as --debug used to do.resolveAvailable platforms and architectures:
x86_64-macosarm64-macosx86_64-win32x86-win32x86_64-linuxarm64-linuxx86_64-iosarm64-ios--architectures argument value is arm64-ios.armv7-androidarmv7-android and 64 bit arm64-android architectures. By default, --architectures argument value is armv7-android,arm64-android.wasm-webwasm-web and wasm_pthread-web architectures. By default, --architectures argument value is wasm-web.By default, Bob looks in the current directory for a project and builds resources reachable from game.project into build/default. Unreferenced resources are not compiled. If code loads raw files by path at runtime, include them through the Custom Resources project setting; other Defold resources need a reference reachable from a build root.
$ cd /Applications/Defold-beta/branches/14/4/main
$ java -jar bob.jar
100%
$
You can string commands together to perform a sequence of tasks in one go. The following example resolves libraries, wipes the build directory, builds archive data and bundles a macOS application (named My Game.app):
$ java -jar bob.jar --archive --platform x86_64-macos resolve distclean build bundle
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$ ls -al build/default/
total 70784
drwxr-xr-x 13 sicher staff 442 1 Dec 10:15 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 sicher staff 102 1 Dec 10:15 ..
drwxr-xr-x 3 sicher staff 102 1 Dec 10:15 My Game.app
drwxr-xr-x 8 sicher staff 272 1 Dec 10:15 builtins
-rw-r--r-- 1 sicher staff 140459 1 Dec 10:15 digest_cache
drwxr-xr-x 4 sicher staff 136 1 Dec 10:15 fonts
-rw-r--r-- 1 sicher staff 35956340 1 Dec 10:15 game.darc
-rw-r--r-- 1 sicher staff 735 1 Dec 10:15 game.projectc
drwxr-xr-x 223 sicher staff 7582 1 Dec 10:15 graphics
drwxr-xr-x 3 sicher staff 102 1 Dec 10:15 input
drwxr-xr-x 20 sicher staff 680 1 Dec 10:15 logic
drwxr-xr-x 27 sicher staff 918 1 Dec 10:15 sound
-rw-r--r-- 1 sicher staff 131926 1 Dec 10:15 state
$