Angular CLI just released its latest minor version. Just like with Angular minor versions, we’re still getting big things with a very simple update that does no have any breaking changes.

Let’s take a look at those new features:

Build Optimizer

Angular CLI 1.3 upgrades to Webpack 3, which means lots of bug fixes and a better build process. We also get a build optimizer option designed for production builds for a smaller footprint.

And in the Javascript world, smaller code size means faster to download, faster to parse, which both translate into faster web apps:

ng build --prod --build-optimizer

2. Experimental Angular Universal support

Angular Universal allows you to run your Angular code on the server side rather than in the browser. The CLI team wrote a full tutorial on how to use the new CLI features for Universal apps.

There are some caveats for now, like the fact that lazy loading is not supported yet, but Universal is still bleeding edge at this point. Definitely promising for the future!

3. Latest TypeScript and Webpack versions used

TypeScript brings so much features to the Angular framework that using the latest version is definitely great practice. Angular CLI now supports TypeScript 2.4 and Webpack 3.

4. Lazy loaded chunks have a name

Before CLI 1.3, lazy loaded chunks were named 0.js , 1.js , etc. Now those chunks bear the name of their module, like feature.module.chunk.js . It’s much more explicit and makes debugging a little bit easier.

This setting can be enabled / disabled with the namedChunks option in .angular-cli.json . Defaults values are true for dev builds and false for production builds.

5. Lots of bug fixes

I counted over 50 bug fixes included in CLI 1.3. This means faster, more consistent builds, which is always the best part of upgrading to the latest CLI version: Things always seem to be faster!