Use custom build output folder when using create-react-app

Create-react-app Version 2+ answer

For recent (> v2) versions of create-react-app (and possible older as well), add the following line to your package.json, then rebuild.

"homepage": "./"

You should now see the build/index.html will have relative links ./static/... instead of links to the server root: /static/....

Edit your package.json:

"build": "react-scripts build && mv build webapp"

With react-scripts >= 4.0.2, this is officially supported:

By default, Create React App will output compiled assets to a /build directory adjacent to /src. You may use this variable to specify a new path for Create React App to output assets. BUILD_PATH should be specified as a path relative to the root of your project.

// package.json
  "scripts": {
    "build": "BUILD_PATH='./dist' react-scripts build",
    // ...
  },

or adding a .env file to the root of your project:

# .env
BUILD_PATH='./dist'

Caution: the path specified in BUILD_PATH will be wiped out without mercy. Double check that your environment variable is specified correctly, especially when using continuous integration.

Edit: Support for a configurable BUILD_PATH just landed into v4.0.2. See t_dom93's answer.

You can't change the build output folder name with the current configuration options.

Moreover, you shouldn't. This is a part of the philosophy behind create-react-app: they say Convention over Configuration.

If you really need to rename your folder, I see two options:

1. Right after the build process finishes, write a command that copies the build folder content to another folder you want. For example you can try the copyfiles npm package, or anything similar.

2. You could try to eject create-react-app and tweak the configuration.

If you aren’t satisfied with the build tool and configuration choices, you can eject at any time. This command will remove the single build dependency from your project.

Instead, it will copy all the configuration files and the transitive dependencies (Webpack, Babel, ESLint, etc) right into your project so you have full control over them. All of the commands except eject will still work, but they will point to the copied scripts so you can tweak them. At this point you’re on your own.

However, it is important to note that this is a one-way operation. Once you eject, you can’t go back! You loose all future updates.

Therefore, I'd recommend you to not use a custom folder naming, if possible. Try to stick with the default naming. If not an option, try #1. If it still doesn't work for your specific use-case and you're really out of options - explore #2. Good luck!