Static-first build metadata for Astro

astro-build-info is a minimal Astro integration that generates a machine-readable /build-info.json file at build time.

It is designed to be honest, deterministic, and safe for fully static sites.

This plugin answers one simple question:

What exactly was built, and when?

It does not pretend to be a health check or runtime status endpoint.

In real-world deployments, teams often need to know:

• Is this the latest build?
• Which site URL does this build belong to?
• Was this built as static, hybrid, or server output?
• When was this artefact generated?

Today, answers usually involve:

• guessing from HTML
• checking CI logs
• leaking environment variables
• adding ad-hoc debug pages

astro-build-info solves this cleanly by exposing build metadata only.

On astro build, the plugin writes a file:

/build-info.json

With contents like:

{
  "framework": "astro",
  "output": "static",
  "site": "https://example.com",
  "builtAt": "2026-01-08T18:46:10.939Z"
}

This file is:

• Static
• Cache-safe
• Deterministic
• Machine-readable
• Safe to expose publicly

This plugin deliberately does not:

• Act as a runtime health check
• Execute on every request
• Read environment variables
• Expose system information
• Leak CI or machine details
• Track users
• Require cookies
• Require Cloudflare Workers or edge functions

If you need runtime liveness or request-aware behaviour, that is a v2 concern and requires hybrid or server output.

npm install astro-build-info

Or during development:

npm link astro-build-info

Add the integration to your astro.config.mjs:

import { defineConfig } from "astro/config";
import astroBuildInfo from "astro-build-info";

export default defineConfig({
  site: "https://example.com",
  integrations: [
    astroBuildInfo()
  ]
});

That’s it.

On build, /build-info.json will be written to your output directory.

In static mode:

• The file is generated at build time
• The output never changes until the next build
• The file can be cached indefinitely

In future versions (v2):

• Hybrid and server output may enable runtime endpoints
• Additional metadata may be optionally exposed

v1 makes no false claims about runtime state.

This plugin works perfectly behind:

• Cloudflare proxy
• Netlify
• Vercel
• S3 / static hosting
• Any CDN

Because the output is static:

• It is safe to cache
• It will not fragment caches
• It introduces zero runtime overhead

This plugin is intentionally low-risk:

• No user input
• No request handling
• No filesystem reads
• No dynamic paths
• No secrets

If the file cannot be written, the build continues safely.

Planned for v2 (not in v1):

• Optional runtime endpoint (hybrid/server)
• Optional text format (/build-info.txt)
• Optional CI metadata (explicitly allow-listed)

v1 is intentionally minimal.

MIT © Velohost UK Limited

Static sites should not lie about being dynamic.

astro-build-info prefers correctness and transparency over convenience.

Built and maintained by Velohost
https://velohost.co.uk/