Stratus Magento 2 Guides - Set Magento 2 modes

Magento 2 has several modes that amount to different configuration states which either enhance performance or enable various development tools.

Please read the development documentation on Magento 2 modes for in-depth information.

  • Default mode

    This mode is “halfway” between development and production. Static files are enabled, but compilation is not.

  • Production mode

    All the caching and compilation features are enabled for performance. Updates to your site theme or other content may not appear without re-deploying this mode. Caching will be used for all requests which are why updates are ignored until this content is refreshed via the Magento 2 cache, static files, and compilation.

  • Developer mode

    Performance in developer will be significantly less, but this is expected as Magento 2 will have more verbose logging and debugging enabled, which should always be on during active development. Switch to production mode for performance testing.

Changing the mode

Much like static files , changing the mode involves running a Magento command:

php bin/magento deploy:mode:set production
#for default/dev replace production with default or developer

 

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Last modified on June 3, 2026