Zig Build System
Zig's built-in build system patterns for project configuration and cross-compilation
Details
Language / Topic
ZigCategory
framework
Compatible Frameworks
zig-build
Rules
balanced
- Define all build logic in `build.zig` using the `std.Build` API — avoid shell scripts or Makefiles for tasks that `build.zig` can express natively.
- Use `b.addExecutable`, `b.addStaticLibrary`, and `b.addSharedLibrary` to declare build artifacts and wire them together with `step.linkLibrary`.
- Cross-compile by passing `-Dtarget=aarch64-linux-musl` to `zig build` — no separate toolchain is needed.
- Use `b.option(bool, "feature", "description")` to expose build-time feature flags that callers can toggle with `-Dfeature=true`.
- Use `b.addTest` to declare test steps and `b.installArtifact` to declare installable binaries — wire them to the `test` and `install` steps respectively.
- Use `b.dependency("package", .{})` with a `build.zig.zon` package manifest to add Zig package dependencies without a separate package manager.
- Use `exe.addIncludePath` and `exe.linkSystemLibrary` to integrate C libraries — Zig's build system handles cImport translation automatically.