diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f94fb8a..5f2ff28 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
 # backend
 /bin
 
+# api
+/dist
+
 # misc
 data/
 .token
diff --git a/.prettierignore b/.prettierignore
index a613e51..ddf5f2c 100644
--- a/.prettierignore
+++ b/.prettierignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /bin
 /build
 /coverage
+/dist
 /flow-typed
 /sharness
diff --git a/config/paths.js b/config/paths.js
index ff90493..3322c22 100644
--- a/config/paths.js
+++ b/config/paths.js
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ module.exports = {
   yarnLockFile: resolveApp("yarn.lock"),
   appNodeModules: resolveApp("node_modules"),
 
+  apiIndexJs: resolveApp("src/api/index.js"),
+  apiBuild: resolveApp("dist"),
+
   backendBuild: resolveApp("bin"),
   // This object should have one key-value pair per entry point. For
   // each key, the value should be the path to the entry point for the
@@ -27,7 +30,6 @@ module.exports = {
   // point within the build directory.
   backendEntryPoints: {
     sourcecred: resolveApp("src/cli/main.js"),
-    api: resolveApp("src/api/index.js"),
     //
     generateGithubGraphqlFlowTypes: resolveApp(
       "src/plugins/github/bin/generateGraphqlFlowTypes.js"
diff --git a/config/webpack.config.api.js b/config/webpack.config.api.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45b2959
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/webpack.config.api.js
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+// @flow
+
+// Do this as the first thing so that any code reading it knows the right env.
+process.env.NODE_ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV || "development";
+process.env.BABEL_ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV;
+
+const webpack = require("webpack");
+const ModuleScopePlugin = require("react-dev-utils/ModuleScopePlugin");
+const RemoveBuildDirectoryPlugin = require("./RemoveBuildDirectoryPlugin");
+const paths = require("./paths");
+const getClientEnvironment = require("./env");
+
+const env = getClientEnvironment(null);
+
+module.exports = {
+  // Don't attempt to continue if there are any errors.
+  bail: true,
+  node: {
+    // Don't munge `__dirname` and `__filename`.
+    // https://github.com/webpack/webpack/issues/1599#issuecomment-186841345
+    __dirname: false,
+    __filename: false,
+  },
+  entry: {
+    api: paths.apiIndexJs,
+  },
+  output: {
+    path: paths.apiBuild,
+    // Generated JS file names (with nested folders).
+    // There will be one main bundle, and one file per asynchronous chunk.
+    // We don't currently advertise code splitting but Webpack supports it.
+    filename: "[name].js",
+    chunkFilename: "[name].[chunkhash:8].chunk.js",
+    libraryTarget: "umd",
+    library: "sourcecred",
+    // Use `this` for compatibility with both Node and browser.
+    globalObject: "this",
+  },
+  resolve: {
+    extensions: [".js", ".json"],
+    plugins: [
+      // Prevents users from importing files from outside of src/ (or node_modules/).
+      // This often causes confusion because we only process files within src/ with babel.
+      // To fix this, we prevent you from importing files out of src/ -- if you'd like to,
+      // please link the files into your node_modules/ and let module-resolution kick in.
+      // Make sure your source files are compiled, as they will not be processed in any way.
+      new ModuleScopePlugin(paths.appSrc, [paths.appPackageJson]),
+    ],
+  },
+  module: {
+    strictExportPresence: true,
+    rules: [
+      {
+        // "oneOf" will traverse all following loaders until one will
+        // match the requirements. If no loader matches, it will fail.
+        oneOf: [
+          // Process JS with Babel.
+          {
+            test: /\.(js|jsx|mjs)$/,
+            include: paths.appSrc,
+            loader: require.resolve("babel-loader"),
+            options: {
+              compact: true,
+            },
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    ],
+  },
+  plugins: [
+    new RemoveBuildDirectoryPlugin(),
+    new webpack.DefinePlugin(env.individuallyStringified),
+  ],
+  mode: process.env.NODE_ENV,
+};
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8aba5ac..e113dd7 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@
     "start": "NODE_ENV=development webpack-dev-server --config config/webpack.config.web.js",
     "build": "NODE_ENV=production webpack --config config/webpack.config.web.js",
     "backend": "NODE_ENV=development webpack --config config/webpack.config.backend.js",
+    "api": "webpack --config config/webpack.config.api.js",
     "test": "node ./config/test.js",
     "unit": "BABEL_ENV=test NODE_ENV=test jest --env=jsdom",
     "sharness": "make -sC ./sharness prove PROVE_OPTS=-f TEST_OPTS='--chain-lint'",