Overview of MATLAB Build Tool

Since R2022b

The MATLAB^® build tool is a build system that provides a standardized interface for defining and running build tasks, such as identifying code issues, running tests, and packaging a toolbox. To automate your builds, define your tasks in a build file and then run them by invoking the build tool programmatically or interactively.

Create Build File

Define tasks for your project by including a build file in your project root folder. For example, in the Command Window, execute buildtool -init to create a starter build file named buildfile.m in your current folder.

buildtool -init

This code shows the contents of the build file. The build file contains tasks created from built-in task classes in the matlab.buildtool.tasks namespace:

• The "clean" task deletes outputs and traces of the other tasks in the build file.

• The "check" task identifies the code issues in the current folder and its subfolders and fails the build if any code errors are found.

• The "test" task runs the tests in the current folder and its subfolders and fails the build if any of the tests fail.

function plan = buildfile
import matlab.buildtool.tasks.*

plan = buildplan(localfunctions);

plan("clean") = CleanTask;
plan("check") = CodeIssuesTask;
plan("test") = TestTask;

plan.DefaultTasks = ["check" "test"];
end

For more information on how to create tasks, see Create and Run Tasks Using Build Tool.

Run Tasks in Build File

You can run the tasks in your build file either programmatically or interactively. For example, run the default tasks in the build file by using the buildtool command. Your results might vary, depending on the files in your current folder and its subfolders.

buildtool

** Starting check

Analysis Summary:
    Total Files: 3
         Errors: 0 (Threshold: 0)
       Warnings: 0 (Threshold: Inf)
** Finished check

** Starting test
...

Test Summary:
    Total Tests: 3
         Passed: 3
         Failed: 0
     Incomplete: 0
       Duration: 0.44142 seconds testing time.
                 
** Finished test

Build Successful:
    2 Tasks: 0 Failed, 0 Skipped
    17.774 sec total build time

For information on how to run tasks interactively, see Run Build from Toolstrip. (since R2025a)

Enable Additional Capabilities with MathWorks Products

Certain MathWorks^® products extend the capabilities of the MATLAB build tool. This table describes the additional use cases that the build tool covers when extended by other products.

Product	Use Case	More Information
MATLAB Test™	Collect decision coverage, condition coverage, and modified condition/decision coverage (MC/DC) metrics. Produce code coverage results for the generated C/C++ code in equivalence tests. Run only the tests impacted by changes to code and data.	addCodeCoverage addGeneratedCodeCoverage (MATLAB Test) Test Impact Analysis Using MATLAB Build Tool (MATLAB Test)
Simulink® Test	Export Simulink Test Manager results in MLDATX format. Produce model coverage results for the models in Simulink Test and MATLAB-based Simulink tests.	matlab.buildtool.tasks.TestTask addModelCoverage (Simulink Test)