diff --git a/.buildpacks b/.buildpacks
index 103d8375..edda1a9e 100644
--- a/.buildpacks
+++ b/.buildpacks
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-nodejs.git
-https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-inner-buildpack.git#v1.3.0
+https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-inner-buildpack.git#stateless-build
 https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-static.git
diff --git a/.profile.d/create-react-app.sh b/.profile.d/create-react-app.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..e39b90e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.profile.d/create-react-app.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Fail immediately on non-zero exit code.
+set -e
+
+# Build the javascript bundle, when var is not set or equal to 'false'.
+if [ 'false' == "${REACT_APP_STATEFUL_BUILD-false}" ]; then
+  # Performed at runtime to pickup current `REACT_APP_*` environment variables.
+  /app/.heroku/node/bin/npm run build
+fi
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cdbf3cba..c99bc85c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -116,13 +116,31 @@ Set [config vars on a Heroku app](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/config-v
 heroku config:set REACT_APP_HELLO='I love sushi!'
 ```
 
-♻️ The app must be re-deployed for this change to take effect, because the automatic restart after a config var change does not rebuild the JavaScript bundle.
+#### Add-on config vars
+
+To use the config vars directly from an add-on, create it with a custom `REACT_APP_` prefix.
+
+Example with the `fixie` add-on:
 
 ```bash
-git commit --allow-empty -m "Set REACT_APP_HELLO config var"
-git push heroku master
+heroku addons:create fixie --as REACT_APP_FIXIE
 ```
 
+See: [Creating an add-on](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/managing-add-ons#creating-an-add-on)
+
+#### Stateless builds
+
+Environment variables may be different between various instances of an app, such as dev, staging, & production. This buildpack follows Heroku's stateless app architecture by bundling the JavaScript with these values everytime a dyno starts-up.
+
+If bundling the JavaScript takes longer than the [boot timeout limit](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/limits#boot-timeout) (currently 60-seconds), then the app will [fail to start-up](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/error-codes#h20-app-boot-timeout).
+
+Here are a few options to work around this limitation:
+
+  * limit use of environment vars to values that do not change between instances of the app
+  * `heroku config:set REACT_APP_STATEFUL_BUILD=true` will switch bundling the JavaScript to the build phase, where it has a time limit of 30-minutes, but updating environment variables will require redeployment, potentially breaking things like [Pipeline](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/pipelines) promotions
+  * contact Heroku support to have the boot timeout for the app lifted up to 120-seconds, but this will cause slower recovery from app crashes
+
+
 Version compatibility
 ---------------------
 
@@ -147,11 +165,12 @@ This buildpack composes three buildpacks (specified in [`.buildpacks`](.buildpac
   * `node_modules` cached between deployments
 2. [`mars/create-react-app-inner-buildpack`](https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-inner-buildpack)
   * generates the [default `static.json`](#customization)
-  * performs the production build for create-react-app, `npm run build`
 3. [`heroku/static` buildpack](https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-static)
   * [Nginx](http://nginx.org/en/) web server
   * handy static website & SPA (single-page app) [customization options](https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-static#configuration)
-
+4. This buildpack builds the JavaScript bundle in one of two ways:
+  1. when config var `REACT_APP_STATEFUL_BUILD` is set to `true`, then [`npm run build` is executed during compile](bin/compile) once for the deploy
+  2. otherwise, [`npm run build` is executed in the runtime](.profile.d/create-react-app.sh) each time a [dyno](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/dynos) starts-up
 
 ### General-purpose SPA deployment
 
diff --git a/bin/compile b/bin/compile
index 7664b394..7fff581a 100644
--- a/bin/compile
+++ b/bin/compile
@@ -18,6 +18,19 @@ function indent() {
   esac
 }
 
+function export_env_dir() {
+  local env_dir=$1
+  local whitelist_regex=${2:-''}
+  local blacklist_regex=${3:-'^(PATH|GIT_DIR|CPATH|CPPATH|LD_PRELOAD|LIBRARY_PATH|IFS)$'}
+  if [ -d "$env_dir" ]; then
+    for e in $(ls $env_dir); do
+      echo "$e" | grep -E "$whitelist_regex" | grep -qvE "$blacklist_regex" &&
+      export "$e=$(cat $env_dir/$e)"
+      :
+    done
+  fi
+}
+
 BUILD_DIR=$1
 CACHE_DIR=$2
 ENV_DIR=$3
@@ -64,3 +77,18 @@ else
   echo "create-react-app `.buildpacks` not defined. Exiting."
   exit 1
 fi
+
+export_env_dir "$ENV_DIR" '^(REACT_APP_|NODE_)'
+
+if [ 'true' == "${REACT_APP_STATEFUL_BUILD-false}" ]; then
+  echo '=====> Stateful build, now generating the JavaScript bundle'
+  echo '       NOTICE: `REACT_APP_*` config vars will be compiled into'
+  echo '       the slug. To update their values, push a new deployment.'
+  cd $BUILD_DIR
+  .heroku/node/bin/npm run build
+else
+  echo '=====> Stateless build, the JavaScript bundle will be generated on start-up'
+fi
+
+mkdir -p $BUILD_DIR/.profile.d
+cp $BP_DIR/.profile.d/create-react-app.sh $BUILD_DIR/.profile.d/