This page describes how to limit and reduce the memory Bazel uses.
Running Bazel with Limited RAM
In certain situations, you may want Bazel to use minimal memory. You can set the
maximum heap via the startup flag
--host_jvm_args,
like --host_jvm_args=-Xmx2g.
However, if your builds are big enough, Bazel may throw an OutOfMemoryError
(OOM) when it doesn't have enough memory. You can make Bazel use less memory, at
the cost of slower incremental builds, by passing the following command flags:
--discard_analysis_cache,
--nokeep_state_after_build,
and
--notrack_incremental_state.
These flags will minimize the memory that Bazel uses in a build, at the cost of making future builds slower than a standard incremental build would be.
You can also pass any one of these flags individually:
--discard_analysis_cachewill reduce the memory used during execution (not analysis). Incremental builds will not have to redo package loading, but will have to redo analysis and execution (although the on-disk action cache can prevent most re-execution).--notrack_incremental_statewill not store any edges in Bazel's internal dependency graph, so that it is unusable for incremental builds. The next build will discard that data, but it is preserved until then, for internal debugging, unless--nokeep_state_after_buildis specified.--nokeep_state_after_buildwill discard all data after the build, so that incremental builds have to build from scratch (except for the on-disk action cache). Alone, it does not affect the high-water mark of the current build.
Memory Profiling
Bazel comes with a built-in memory profiler that can help you check your rule’s memory use. Read more about this process on the Memory Profiling section of our documentation on how to improve the performance of custom rules.