---
title: "Building from Source"
description: "Clone the base/base repository and compile binaries with Just recipes or Cargo."
source: https://basehub.org/getting-started/building/
---
Building `base/base` from source means cloning the repository and compiling one or more workspace targets with Just or Cargo. Install all [prerequisites](/getting-started/prerequisites/) before continuing.

## Clone the Repository

```bash
git clone https://github.com/base/base.git
cd base
```

## Standard Release Build

The most common build command produces a fully optimized release binary for every binary target in the workspace:

```bash
just build
```

Under the hood this runs `cargo build --release`. The compiled binaries are placed in `target/release/`.

## Maximum Performance Build

For production deployments where you want every bit of throughput, use the `maxperf` profile. This enables all CPU-specific optimizations and links against jemalloc:

```bash
just build-maxperf
```

This build takes longer to compile but produces a binary tuned for the machine it was compiled on. Do not distribute `maxperf` binaries to machines with different CPU micro-architectures.

## Building Individual Targets

If you only need the node binary and want a faster compile:

```bash
just build-node
```

Or build it directly with Cargo:

```bash
cargo build --release --bin base-reth-node
```

The resulting binary is at `target/release/base-reth-node`.

## Building Solidity Test Contracts

Several crates in the workspace depend on compiled Solidity contracts for their test suites. Build them with:

```bash
just build-contracts
```

This changes into `crates/shared/primitives/contracts`, installs Soldeer dependencies, and runs `forge build`. You must have [Foundry](/getting-started/prerequisites/#foundry) installed for this to work.

## Debug Build (All Targets)

During development you may want an unoptimized build with debug symbols for every target in the workspace:

```bash
just build-all-targets
```

This compiles in debug mode, which is significantly faster to compile but produces slower binaries. Use this when you need to iterate quickly and do not care about runtime performance.

## Build Artifacts

| Command | Profile | Output |
|---|---|---|
| `just build` | release | `target/release/*` |
| `just build-maxperf` | maxperf (release + LTO + jemalloc) | `target/release/*` |
| `just build-node` | release | `target/release/base-reth-node` |
| `just build-all-targets` | debug | `target/debug/*` |
| `just build-contracts` | N/A (Foundry) | Solidity artifacts in `crates/shared/primitives/contracts/out/` |

## Troubleshooting

**Linker errors mentioning `clang` or `llvm`** -- Install `libclang-dev` (Debian/Ubuntu) or make sure Xcode Command Line Tools are installed (macOS).

**Out of memory during linking** -- Release and maxperf builds with LTO can use a lot of RAM. Close other memory-heavy applications or add swap space. You can also reduce parallelism:

```bash
CARGO_BUILD_JOBS=2 just build
```

**Stale Solidity artifacts** -- If contract tests fail after pulling new changes, re-run `just build-contracts` to recompile.

Once the build completes, continue to [Running the Node](/getting-started/running/) or [Docker Builds](/getting-started/docker/).