Can't build create-react-app project with custom PUBLIC_URL

If the other answers aren't working for you, there's also a homepage field in package.json. After running npm run build you should get a message like the following:

The project was built assuming it is hosted at the server root.To override this, specify the homepage in your package.json.For example, add this to build it for GitHub Pages:  "homepage" : "http://myname.github.io/myapp",

You would just add it as one of the root fields in package.json, e.g.

{  // ...  "scripts": {    // ...  },  "homepage": "https://example.com"}

When it's successfully set, either via homepage or PUBLIC_URL, you should instead get a message like this:

The project was built assuming it is hosted at https://example.com.You can control this with the homepage field in your package.json.

People like me who are looking for something like this in in build:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://dsomething.cloudfront.net/static/js/main.ec7f8972.js">

Then setting https://dsomething.cloudfront.net to homepage in package.json will not work.

1. Quick Solution

Build your project like this:
(windows)

set PUBLIC_URL=https://dsomething.cloudfront.net&&npm run build

(linux/mac)

PUBLIC_URL=https://dsomething.cloudfront.net npm run build

And you will get

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://dsomething.cloudfront.net/static/js/main.ec7f8972.js">

in your built index.html

2. Permanent & Recommended Solution

Create a file called .env at your project root(same place where package.json is located).
In this file write this(no quotes around the url):

PUBLIC_URL=https://dsomething.cloudfront.net

Build your project as usual (npm run build)
This will also generate index.html with:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://dsomething.cloudfront.net/static/js/main.ec7f8972.js">

3. Weird Solution (Will do not work in latest react-scripts version)

Add this in your package.json
"homepage": "http://://dsomething.cloudfront.net",

Then index.html will be generated with:

<script type="text/javascript" src="//dsomething.cloudfront.net/static/js/main.ec7f8972.js">

Which is basically the same as:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://dsomething.cloudfront.net/static/js/main.ec7f8972.js">

in my understanding.

Github IssueGithub Comment

That is not how the PUBLIC_URL variable is used. According to the documentation, you can use the PUBLIC_URL in your HTML:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="%PUBLIC_URL%/favicon.ico">

Or in your JavaScript:

render() {  // Note: this is an escape hatch and should be used sparingly!  // Normally we recommend using `import` for getting asset URLs  // as described in “Adding Images and Fonts” above this section.  return <img src={process.env.PUBLIC_URL + '/img/logo.png'} />;}

The PUBLIC_URL is not something you set to a value of your choosing, it is a way to store files in your deployment outside of Webpack's build system.

To view this, run your CRA app and add this to the src/index.js file:

console.log('public url: ', process.env.PUBLIC_URL)

You'll see the URL already exists.

Read more in the CRA docs.