[Bogdanp]

`play run` is sort of the equivalent of `runserver`. `play start` is one of the recommended[0] ways of running Play applications in production.

[0] http://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.1.0/Production

[kaeawc]

There is also `play dist` and `play stage`. They both wrap up all necessary assets / dependencies so that you don't even need play installed in order to start a play server (as the play framework jar gets bundled too). We use this for deploying rather than `play start`. The difference between dist and stage is that dist creates a single zip file in the target directory, whereas stage does not. Both create a file named 'start' in the target directory. The docs are not completely clear on that point.

http://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.1.0/ProductionD...

[bad_user]

You do not need "play" installed, as Play is using SBT as the package manager.

So without the framework installed and in your PATH, you can just go to an app's directory and do "sbt start". It will download all dependencies needed, compile your app and start the server.