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bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/style/al-build-output-must-not-pollute-project-root.md
Michael Dieringer 057e17c202 Add 18 community AL/BC patterns across style, data-modeling, web-services, appsource, breaking-changes, performance, and testing 
Contributed by CURABIS ApS, generalized from patterns observed across real AppSource/PTE development. Each article follows the knowledge file format (frontmatter, Description/Best Practice/Anti Pattern, sibling .good.al/.bad.al samples).
2026-09-21 22:24:07 +02:00

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al0197
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Keep AL Build Output Out of the Project Root

Contributions welcome — open a PR to refine or extend this article.

Description

When an AL project is built, the compiled .app file is placed in the project root by default. Over successive builds, multiple .app files accumulate there (e.g. one per version). The AL language server, both in the editor and in build tooling, scans the project folder for symbol packages and can load these compiled artefacts alongside the live source files, which produces AL0197 duplicate-object errors for every object in the project — with messages that point at source lines rather than at the packaged artefact that is the actual duplicate. The errors are not real; they disappear as soon as the stale .app files are removed from the root.

Best Practice

Configure the build output path to a dedicated subfolder that is excluded from language server scanning — for example by setting al.outputPath to a folder such as .output in .vscode/settings.json, or by passing an explicit output path to the build tool being used — and add that folder to .gitignore. Before treating an AL0197 "already declared" error as a source code problem, check the project root for stale .app files first; adding root .app files to .gitignore instead of relocating the output path only hides the accumulation rather than fixing it.

Anti Pattern

Letting .app files accumulate in the project root across builds, then debugging the resulting AL0197 duplicate-object errors as if they were a source code defect instead of first checking for stale build artefacts in the root folder.