diff --git a/src/cli/build.ts b/src/cli/build.ts
index b128714..60756f6 100644
--- a/src/cli/build.ts
+++ b/src/cli/build.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import * as path from 'path';
 import * as clorox from 'clorox';
 import mkdirp from 'mkdirp';
 import rimraf from 'rimraf';
+import { minify_html } from './utils/minify_html';
 import { create_compilers, create_main_manifests, create_routes, create_serviceworker_manifest } from '../core'
 import { locations } from '../config';
 
@@ -40,6 +41,11 @@ export async function build() {
 		console.log(clorox.inverse(`\nbuilt service worker`).toString());
 		console.log(serviceworker_stats.toString({ colors: true }));
 	}
+
+	// minify app/template.html
+	// TODO compile this to a function? could be quicker than str.replace(...).replace(...).replace(...)
+	const template = fs.readFileSync(`${locations.app()}/template.html`, 'utf-8');
+	fs.writeFileSync(`${output}/template.html`, minify_html(template));
 }
 
 function compile(compiler: any) {
diff --git a/src/middleware/minify_html.ts b/src/cli/utils/minify_html.ts
similarity index 100%
rename from src/middleware/minify_html.ts
rename to src/cli/utils/minify_html.ts
diff --git a/src/middleware.ts b/src/middleware.ts
index 184818f..bc23a35 100644
--- a/src/middleware.ts
+++ b/src/middleware.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import mkdirp from 'mkdirp';
 import rimraf from 'rimraf';
 import devalue from 'devalue';
 import { lookup } from './middleware/mime';
-import { minify_html } from './middleware/minify_html';
 import { create_routes, create_compilers } from './core';
 import { locations, dev } from './config';
 import { Route, Template } from './interfaces';
@@ -113,8 +112,8 @@ const resolved = Promise.resolve();
 
 function get_route_handler(chunks: Record<string, string>, routes: RouteObject[]) {
 	const template = dev()
-		? () => fs.readFileSync('app/template.html', 'utf-8')
-		: (str => () => str)(minify_html(fs.readFileSync('app/template.html', 'utf-8')));
+		? () => fs.readFileSync(`${locations.app()}/template.html`, 'utf-8')
+		: (str => () => str)(fs.readFileSync(`${locations.dest()}/template.html`, 'utf-8'));
 
 	function handle_route(route: RouteObject, req: Req, res: ServerResponse) {
 		req.params = route.params(route.pattern.exec(req.pathname));