# Conjure
A modern build tool and dependency manager for C and C++.
Conjure compiles and links C/C++ projects from a single `conjure.kdl` manifest,
manages their dependencies (local or remote git), and produces artifacts in a
predictable layout. It drives your existing compiler and build tools rather than
replacing them.
## Features
- One manifest (`conjure.kdl`) describing sources, compiler/linker settings,
dependencies, profiles, and multiple co-built projects.
- Parallel compilation (Rayon) and parallel dependency fetching.
- Profiles that can override far more than flags: `type`, `link`, `cc`,
`linker`, `standard`, `arch`, sources, includes, and dependencies.
- Dependencies from local paths or git remotes (Codeberg, GitHub, Bitbucket, or
any URL), pinned in a lockfile and cached per project scope.
- Build-system interop: Make, CMake, Autotools, Meson, Ninja, Xmake, Just, a
free-form command, or Conjure itself (`build: conjure`).
- Toolchain support for GCC/Clang and every GCC-cli-compatible compiler
(including cross compilers, `zig cc`, `tcc`, MinGW-w64), plus MSVC (`cl` /
`clang-cl`).
- Content-hashed source fingerprinting so unchanged builds are skipped.
- `compile_commands.json` generation for clangd.
- Test targets (`tests { ... }`) built by `conjure test`; each links the
project's library, and test sources stay out of the normal build (they also
get their own clangd entries).
- Target architecture selection (`x86_64`, `x64`, `arm64`).
## Installation
From source, with a recent Rust toolchain (edition 2024, Rust 1.95+):
```sh
cargo build --release
# binary at target/release/conjure
```
A Nix dev shell is provided for the build dependencies:
```sh
nix develop -c cargo build --release
```
Released binaries are published on the releases page for Linux (x86_64), macOS (x86_64, arm64), and Windows (MSVC and MinGW-w64, x86_64).
Git access uses the bundled libgit2, so no system git binary is required.
### Usage
```sh
conjure new myproject # scaffold a new project
conjure init # add a manifest to the current directory
conjure add github owner/repo # add a dependency
conjure lock # pin dependencies (offline re-pin)
conjure update [name] # re-fetch and re-pin dependencies
conjure build # build
conjure build -p release # build a profile
conjure as release -- build # run a command under a profile
conjure compile-commands # write compile_commands.json for clangd
conjure test # build all test targets
conjure test unit # build one test target
conjure build --no-siblings # skip co-built sibling projects
```
### A minimal conjure.kdl
```kdl
project {
name myproject
language c
type binary
link dynamic
compile {
standard c11
c_flags -Wall -Wextra
}
dependencies {
dep {
remote github "owner/repo"
build cmake libdep
}
}
}
```
See [example/](example/) for a more complete example.
### Tests
Declare test binaries under `tests`, at the top level or inside a profile.
Each one compiles to a binary that links the project's library, so the project
must be `type library` under the selected profile.
```kdl
tests {
unit { src "src/test/unit.c" }
}
profiles {
lib {
type library
link static
tests { integration { src "tests/integration.c" } }
}
}
```
`conjure test` builds every target; `conjure test <name>` builds one. Test
sources are excluded from the project's own build and `conjure compile-commands`
emits entries for them.
## Runtime dependencies
- A C/C++ compiler: any GCC-cli-compatible compiler, or MSVC cl on Windows.
- pkg-config (optional): resolves pkg_config entries in a manifest.
- The build tool a dependency declares (Make, CMake, etc.), if any.
## License
This project is licensed under the BSD-3 Clause License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.