compile_flagz

A Zig library for generating compile_flags.txt files to improve C/C++ IDE integration in projects that use Zig as their build system.

Overview

compile_flagz enables better C/C++ development experience in projects that use Zig's build system by automatically generating compile_flags.txt files. This allows C/C++ language servers (like clangd) to understand your project's include paths, providing better code completion, error detection, and navigation when working on C/C++ code within Zig-built projects.

Use Cases

• C/C++ projects using Zig build: Building traditional C/C++ applications or libraries with build.zig instead of Make/CMake
• Mixed C/C++/Zig codebases: Projects where you're writing both C/C++ and Zig code
• C/C++ libraries with Zig tooling: Leveraging Zig's excellent cross-compilation and dependency management for C/C++ development

Installation

Add compile_flagz to your project:

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/deevus/compile_flagz

This will automatically add the dependency to your build.zig.zon file.

Usage

In your build.zig:

const compile_flagz = @import("compile_flagz");

pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
    // Your existing build configuration...
    
    // Create compile flags generator
    var cflags = compile_flagz.addCompileFlags(b);
    
    // Add include paths
    cflags.addIncludePath(b.path("include"));
    cflags.addIncludePath(dependency.builder.path("include"));
    
    // Create the build step
    const cflags_step = b.step("compile-flags", "Generate compile_flags.txt for C/C++ IDE support");
    cflags_step.dependOn(&cflags.step);
}

Generate the file:

zig build compile-flags

This creates a compile_flags.txt file with your include paths formatted for C/C++ language servers.

Example

See the example/ directory for a complete working project that demonstrates usage with SDL dependency.

Building

Build the library:

zig build

Documentation

Generate API documentation:

zig build docs

The generated documentation will be available in zig-out/docs/.

Requirements

• Zig 0.14.1 or later

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.