Create Web App

Note

To create a web app, you need an installation of the MATLAB^® Compiler™ product.

To create a web app, you must first use MATLAB App Designer to design the app. Then, package it using the Web App Compiler app or the compiler.build.webAppArchive (MATLAB Compiler) function.

Create App Using App Designer

Before you can package and then deploy a web app, you need to create an app using MATLAB App Designer. For more information, see Create and Run a Simple App Using App Designer (MATLAB).

Create Web App Using Web App Compiler App

Build a web app using the Web App Compiler app. Alternatively, if you want to create a web app from the MATLAB command window using a programmatic approach, see Create Web App Using compiler.build.webAppArchive (MATLAB Compiler).

1. To open the app, on the Apps tab, expand the Apps gallery by clicking the drop down arrow. In the Application Deployment section, click Web App Compiler.

   

   You can also open the app using the webAppCompiler function at the MATLAB Command Window.

2. After you open the app, the Create Deployment Task dialog box prompts you to add a deployment task to a new or an existing MATLAB project. Deployment tasks allow you to compile files in a project for a specific deployment target. For more information on creating and using MATLAB projects, see Create Projects (MATLAB).

   A new deployment task named WebApp1 opens in the Editor.

3. In the MAIN FILE section of the toolstrip, click the button to add your App Designer .mlapp file to the project. The Web App Compiler automatically resizes to include an App details section that contains information about the app such as app name, author, summary, description, and version. You can edit information about the app in App Designer by clicking Edit App Details. Click Refresh to update Web App Compiler with any changes you have made.

4. Add supporting files, if any, in the Files required for your app to run section. Supporting files include any MAT-files, images used by your web app, or user-written MATLAB functions not found by MATLAB Compiler.

5. Click Package to package the app, and create a web app archive (.ctf file).

   In the Save Project dialog box that opens, specify a project name and a location where you want to save the web app project. Web App Compiler saves your project and opens a Package dialog box.

6. Once packaging is complete, in the Package dialog box, click Open output folder. This step opens the project folder which contains the following files:

   • webAppArchiveName.ctf

   • mccExcludedFiles.log

   • PackagingLog.html

   • requiredMCRProducts.txt

   You can view the log file, PackagingLog.html, to see the exact mcc syntax used to package and create the web app archive.

7. To use the web app, deploy the web app archive file, webAppArchiveName.ctf. For more information, see Deploy Web App.

Create Web App Using compiler.build.webAppArchive

As an alternative to the Web App Compiler app, you can create a web app using a programmatic approach. If you have already created a web app using the Web App Compiler, see Deploy Web App (MATLAB Compiler).

Use the compiler.build.webAppArchive (MATLAB Compiler) function in MATLAB Compiler to package your web app by specifying the application file, archive name, and output directory. For example:

compiler.build.webAppArchive("Mortgage.mlapp",...
'ArchiveName','MyMortgageWebApp',...
'OutputDir','D:\Documents\MATLAB\work\WebApps')

Deploy Web App

Navigate to the project folder generated by MATLAB Compiler during the packaging process.

Copy the web app archive (.ctf file) to the app folder configured by the server. The default location is:

Operating System	Apps Folder Location
Windows®	%ProgramData%\MathWorks\webapps\R2025a\apps
Linux®	/local/MathWorks/webapps/R2025a/apps
macOS	/Library/Application Support/MathWorks/webapps/R2025a/apps

You can also get the location of the apps folder by executing webapps-status at the system command shell.

Open a web browser and navigate to the web apps home page using the URL obtained from executing the webapps-status command. You see a tile displaying the web app. Your web app is now deployed.

Compatibility Considerations

In most cases, you can generate a web app archive (.ctf file) on one platform and deploy to a server running on any other supported platform. Unless you add operating system-specific dependencies or content, such as MEX files or Simulink^® simulations to your applications, the generated archives are platform-independent.