c_cpp_template

A modern C++20 project template with comprehensive tooling, dependency management, and TypeScript-based project automation.

About c_cpp_template

Note: This Project is a fork of cpp-best-practices/cmake_template

• CMakeLists.txt with modern target-based syntax
• conanfile.py/conanfile.txt for dependency specification
• CI/CD ready scripts (build, test, pack and publish releases)
• Cross-platform support (Linux/Windows/macOS)

By default (collectively known as ENABLE_DEVELOPER_MODE)

• Address Sanitizer and Undefined Behavior Sanitizer enabled where possible
• Warnings as errors
• clang-tidy and cppcheck static analysis
• conan for dependencies management

It includes

• a basic CLI example with multiple modern C++ libraries:
  • OpenCV for computer vision capabilities
  • spdlog for fast logging
  • CLI11 for command-line parsing
  • dbg-macro for debugging
  • jsoncpp for JSON handling
• examples for fuzz, unit, and constexpr testing
• large GitHub action testing matrix
• TypeScript project management script (project.mts) for streamlined build workflows

It requires

• cmake (3.27+)
• ninja (build system)
• gcc/MSVC (mainly support) or clang (May have bugs)
• conan (dependency management)
• node.js & npm (for TypeScript project management)
• tsx (TypeScript runner): npm i -g tsx

Getting Started

Use the GitHub template

First, click the green Use this template button near the top of this page. This will take you to GitHub's 'Generate Repository' page. Fill in a repository name and short description, and click 'Create repository from template'. This will allow you to create a new repository in your GitHub account, prepopulated with the contents of this project.

After creating the project please wait until the cleanup workflow has finished setting up your project and committed the changes.

Now you can clone the project locally and get to work!

git clone https://github.com/<user>/<your_new_repo>.git

How to use

Sample Application

The template includes a sample CLI application (intro) that demonstrates integration with multiple modern C++ libraries:

• Command-line interface using CLI11 with version flag support
• Logging with spdlog (debug level enabled)
• Debugging with dbg-macro for enhanced debug output
• Computer Vision with OpenCV (displays build information)
• JSON processing capabilities with jsoncpp

Run the sample application:

# Build and run the intro application
tsx project.mts build intro
tsx project.mts run intro

# Show version information
tsx project.mts run intro -- --version

Packages management

1. Adding the packages you need to conanfile.py (requirements section)
2. Modify the CMakeLists.txt in src/your_target_directory to link the target libraries
3. Conan will automatically manage these dependencies during the build process

Build your project

1. Install Prerequisites:

For Windows:

• choco (Chocolatey package manager)
• node.js, npm
• tsx: npm i -g tsx
• Visual Studio 2022 with MSVC
• cmake
• ninja
• python, pip
• conan
• OpenCppCoverage (optional)
• ccache (optional)

You can run the following command to install these prerequisites:

cd ./scripts
./setup.bat

---

For Linux:

• node.js, npm
• tsx: npm i -g tsx
• gcc, g++
• python, pip
• cmake
• ninja
• conan
• gcovr (optional)
• ccache (optional)

You can run the following command to install these prerequisites:

cd ./scripts
./setup.sh

2. Build, test, and package using the TypeScript project manager:

# Choose a cmake preset to setup. Available presets:
# - Linux/macOS: 'unixlike-gcc-debug', 'unixlike-gcc-release', 'unixlike-clang-debug', 'unixlike-clang-release'
# - ARM64: 'unixlike-aarch64-gcc-debug', 'unixlike-aarch64-gcc-release'
tsx project.mts setup unixlike-gcc-debug

# Configure the project
tsx project.mts config

# Build all targets (or specify a target: tsx project.mts build intro)
tsx project.mts build

# Run tests
tsx project.mts test

# Package the project
tsx project.mts pack

Additional project.mts commands:

# Clean the project
tsx project.mts clean

# Run a specific target (e.g., the intro CLI app)
tsx project.mts run intro

# Run with arguments
tsx project.mts run intro -- --version

# Show help for all available commands
tsx project.mts --help

More Details

• Dependency Setup
• Building Details

Fuzz testing

See libFuzzer Tutorial