If Python compdb was a snail, this is a caffeinated cheetah strapped to a tachyon-powered rocket.
Rust is love. Rust is speed. Rust is crab. 🦀
If you don’t like it, write your own compdb in Haskell and wait until 2047 for it to compile.
Once upon a time, someone thought: “You know what we need? A single-threaded Python script to crawl a multi-million-line C++ codebase.” And it worked. Sort of. If by "worked" you mean:
- Took longer than your CI pipeline to run a coffee errand.
- Gave your 32-core CPU one sad little thread to chew on.
- Got lost in your include paths and missed hundreds of files.
- Left you wondering if you should’ve just typed everything out by hand.
Result: You get your compilation database… eventually. Right after you’ve learned woodworking, become a sourdough expert, and mastered the banjo.
compdb-rs doesn’t ask politely. It shows up in Rust, kicks down the door screaming:
“THREADS. CONTEXT-AWARE RESOLUTION. CACHING. HYPERDRIVE.”
It doesn’t ask the filesystem. It interrogates the filesystem. With intensity. With purpose. With Rayon.
And it’s fast. So fast you'll think the result is an error message. It's not. It's just done.
| Metric | Python compdb |
compdb-rs (The Upgrade) |
Reaction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 12+ seconds | 89 milliseconds | “Did it even run??” |
| Files found | ~2,600 (The ones it felt like finding) | 3,200+ (All of them) | “Python was blindfolded??” |
| Correctness | ❌ Incorrectly resolves headers | ✅ Context-aware resolution | “Oh, so that’s why my IDE was broken.” |
| CPU Cores | 1 (The lonely one) | ALL OF THEM | Even the cursed one labeled Core #0 |
| Vibes | Sad trombone 🎺 | Death metal solo 🎸🔥 | 🤘 |
# From crates.io (because you're a professional)
cargo install compdb
# From source (for those who like to watch the world compile)
git clone https://github.com/patwie/compdb-rs
cd compdb-rs
cargo build --release
# Run it like you stole it
./target/release/compdb -p /path/to/build list > compile_commands.jsonThat’s it. No obscure flags. No 12-page manual. Just pure, unadulterated speed.
- Ludicrous Speed: So fast it finishes before you can switch windows to check on it.
- Correctness by Default: Finds more files because it actually uses the right include paths for each source file. Fixing bugs makes things faster, apparently.
- Parallel File Scanning: Uses a work-stealing scheduler, which sounds aggressive because it is. Your CPU cores won't know what hit them.
- Intelligent Caching: Because hitting the disk a million times is not a personality trait.
- System Header Pruning: Knows when not to go spelunking inside
<iostream>for the 57th time. - Zero Config: It just… works. Like Apple, but without the $999 monitor stand.
- Python made us wait. Like actually wait. Like “oh cool, I can go brew a pot of coffee” levels of waiting.
- C++ would’ve segfaulted out of spite. You know it, I know it, the core dump knows it.
- Java would’ve required 47 XML config files and a PhD in “AbstractSingletonProxyFactoryBean.”
- Node.js would’ve spawned 400MB of dependencies just to read a file.
- Go would've complained about generics until we gave up.
- Bash was… not an option. Unless you enjoy crying yourself to sleep at night.
And, because we have taste.
Think you can shave off another 20ms? Please, try. We dare you.
Ways to help:
- Make it even faster (good luck).
- Fix bugs (if you find one, frame it).
- Add even more sass to this README.
compdb-rs is not liable for:
- Your sudden inability to tolerate any tool that takes longer than a second to run.
- The awkward silence after you brag about your 89ms compile DB and no one understands.
- Your manager asking why you haven’t rewritten the entire company toolchain in Rust.
- Existential dread when you realize you spent years waiting for a Python script.
- A sudden urge to benchmark everything in your life (toothbrushing speed, stair climbing throughput, etc).
Built with: Rust, Rayon, DashMap, caffeine, and a burning hatred of wasted clock cycles.
Motto: "Why wait when you can be done already?"