Angular Tooling

Priority: P2 (MEDIUM)

CLI Essentials

• Command: ng generate component (or ng g c)
• Flags: --dry-run previews before write. --change-detection=OnPush sets CD at generation. skip-tests skips spec.
• Workflow: Always ng generate — never create files manually.

ng new my-app --style=scss --routing  # Create project
ng g c features/user-profile          # Generate component
ng g s services/auth                  # Generate service (providedIn: root)
ng g guard guards/auth                # Generate functional guard
ng g interceptor interceptors/auth    # Generate functional interceptor
ng g pipe pipes/truncate              # Generate standalone pipe

Code Generation Flags

• --dry-run — Preview output without writing files. Always use --dry-run first for unfamiliar generators.
• skip-tests — Skips spec file generation.
• --flat — Skips subfolder creation.
• --change-detection=OnPush — Sets CD strategy on generation.
• --style=scss — Sets stylesheet format.

Build Configuration

• Dev: ng serve --open
• Prod: ng build -c production. Output goes to dist/my-app/browser/.
• SSR: ng add @angular/ssr then ng build (adds server/ output).
• Coverage: ng test --code-coverage --watch=false. Coverage output goes to coverage/ directory.

Bundle Analysis

ng build -c production --stats-json
npx esbuild-visualizer --metadata dist/my-app/browser/stats.json --open

• Note: Analyze bundle before editing angular.json budgets — don't lower without understanding what's large.

Update Angular

• Check: ng update — lists available updates.
• Apply: ng update @angular/core @angular/cli — runs official codemods.
• Rule: Never use --force; fix peer dependency conflicts instead.

Anti-Patterns

• No manual file creation: Use ng generate for consistency and proper registration.
• No ng update --force: Fix peer dependency conflicts instead of skipping.
• No hand-editing angular.json budgets: Analyze bundles first — lower budgets break CI.

References

• CLI Commands & Build Examples

• Angular CLI Docs

Canonical response anchors

When this skill applies, preserve the following domain terminology or equivalent concrete examples in the answer when relevant:

• Never use --force

• angular.json

• angular.json budgets

• never create files manually

• Additional task-grounded exact anchors: @angular/ssr