diff --git a/crates/cli/src/main.rs b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
index 28c1512b..ad6e4c37 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 use clap::{Parser, ValueEnum};
-use codegen::options::{BuildDir, CodeGenLinkerOptions, CodeGenOptions, CodeGenSanitizer, CodeModelOptions, RelocModeOptions};
+use codegen::options::{
+    BuildDir, CodeGenLinkerOptions, CodeGenOptions, CodeGenSanitizer, CodeModelOptions, RelocModeOptions,
+};
 use commands::*;
 use diagcentral::display_single_custom_diag;
 use project_layout::PROJECT_FILE_PATH;
@@ -112,6 +114,9 @@ struct CompilerOptions {
     #[clap(long, help = "Disables all warnings.")]
     disable_warnings: bool,
 
+    #[clap(long, help = "Build artifacts in release mode, with optimizations.")]
+    release: bool,
+
     #[clap(long, help = "Set cyrus standard library path.")]
     stdlib: Option<String>,
 
@@ -119,10 +124,7 @@ struct CompilerOptions {
     display_target_machine: bool,
 
     #[clap(long = "sanitize", help = "Enables dynamic code analysis for bug detection.")]
-    #[clap(
-        value_enum,
-        value_delimiter = ','
-    )]
+    #[clap(value_enum, value_delimiter = ',')]
     pub sanitizer: Vec<Sanitizer>,
 
     #[clap(long, value_enum, default_value_t = RelocMode::default(),
@@ -214,6 +216,7 @@ impl Sanitizer {
 impl CompilerOptions {
     pub fn to_compiler_options(&self) -> CodeGenOptions {
         CodeGenOptions {
+            release: self.release,
             sanitizer: self.sanitizer.iter().map(|s| s.to_compiler_sanitizer()).collect(),
             linker_flags: self.linkerflags.clone(),
             linker_options: CodeGenLinkerOptions::default(),
diff --git a/crates/codegen/src/context/context.rs b/crates/codegen/src/context/context.rs
index dc19e34d..7ada77ed 100644
--- a/crates/codegen/src/context/context.rs
+++ b/crates/codegen/src/context/context.rs
@@ -164,9 +164,13 @@ impl CodeGenContext {
 
         linker_command.arg("-o").arg(output_path);
         linker_command.args(object_files_str_list);
-
         linker_command.args(self.opts.linker_flags.clone());
 
+        if !self.opts.release {
+            linker_command.arg("-g");
+            linker_command.arg("-fno-omit-frame-pointer");
+        }
+
         if !self.opts.sanitizer.is_empty() {
             let sanitizer_flags: Vec<String> = self.opts.sanitizer.iter().map(|s| s.to_string()).collect();
             let joined_flags = sanitizer_flags.join(",");
diff --git a/crates/codegen/src/options.rs b/crates/codegen/src/options.rs
index ccb48fc4..41185e53 100644
--- a/crates/codegen/src/options.rs
+++ b/crates/codegen/src/options.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use serde::Deserialize;
 
 #[derive(Deserialize, Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct CodeGenOptions {
+    pub release: bool,
     pub sanitizer: Vec<CodeGenSanitizer>,
     pub linker: Option<String>,
     pub linker_options: CodeGenLinkerOptions,
@@ -82,11 +83,13 @@ impl CodeGenOptions {
             linker_options: CodeGenLinkerOptions::default(),
             linker_flags: Vec::new(),
             sanitizer: Vec::new(),
+            release: false,
         }
     }
 
     pub fn override_options(&mut self, instance: Self) {
         *self = Self {
+            release: instance.release || self.release,
             linker: instance.linker.or(self.linker.clone()),
             project_type: instance.project_type.or(self.project_type.clone()),
             project_name: instance.project_name.or(self.project_name.clone()),
diff --git a/examples/main.cyr b/examples/main.cyr
index a444ec61..35702cb7 100644
--- a/examples/main.cyr
+++ b/examples/main.cyr
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 import std::libc{printf};
 
-fn main() {
-    
-}
+fn main() {}
 
 // pub config = const struct {
 //     host = "127.0.0.1",