Build System

Requirements

Tool	Version	Purpose
Zig	0.15.2	Primary compiler
Nix	any	Reproducible dev shell (optional but recommended)
sass	any	SCSS → CSS compilation
wasm-pack	0.12+	WASM build (web backend only)

Common Commands

# Native build
zig build

# Native build + run
zig build run

# Web/WASM build
zig build -Dbackend=web

# Run tests
zig build test

# Run specific test file
zig build test -- --test-filter "parseChN"

# Build with optimizations
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseSafe
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

Build Options

Option	Default	Description
-Dbackend=native	default	Build native binary (raylib/OpenGL)
-Dbackend=web	—	Build WASM module (HTML5 Canvas)
-Doptimize=Debug	default	No optimizations, debug info
-Doptimize=ReleaseSafe	—	Optimized, bounds checks retained
-Doptimize=ReleaseFast	—	Maximum optimization, no safety checks
-Doptimize=ReleaseSmall	—	Size-optimized (for WASM)

Nix Dev Shell

The flake.nix provides a fully reproducible development environment:

nix develop      # enter dev shell
nix build        # build via nix (uses build.zig internally)

The shell provides: Zig 0.15.2, Verilator, Yosys, ngspice, sass, wasm-pack, and all system libraries required by raylib.

build.zig Structure

pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
    const backend = b.option(Backend, "backend", "native or web") orelse .native;

    switch (backend) {
        .native => buildNative(b),
        .web    => buildWeb(b),
    }
}

The native build links raylib and dvui. The web build uses the WASM-safe dvui backend and emits .wasm + supporting JS.

Plugin Build

Plugins are built independently using schemify_sdk:

// plugin/build.zig
const helper = @import("schemify_sdk").build_plugin_helper;

pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
    const sdk_dep = b.dependency("schemify_sdk", .{});
    const ctx = helper.setup(b, sdk_dep);
    const lib = helper.addNativePluginLibrary(b, ctx, "MyPlugin", "src/main.zig");
    b.installArtifact(lib);
    helper.addNativeAutoInstallRunStep(b, "MyPlugin", sdk_dep, "MyPlugin");
}

# Build and install plugin to ~/.config/Schemify/MyPlugin/
zig build run

CI/CD

Tests run on every PR via GitHub Actions:

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: mlugg/setup-zig@v1
        with: { version: "0.15.2" }
      - run: zig build test

  build-web:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: mlugg/setup-zig@v1
        with: { version: "0.15.2" }
      - run: zig build -Dbackend=web -Doptimize=ReleaseSmall

Dependency Management

Dependencies are declared in build.zig.zon:

.{
    .name = "schemify",
    .version = "0.1.0",
    .dependencies = .{
        .dvui = .{
            .url = "https://github.com/david-vanderson/dvui/archive/...",
            .hash = "...",
        },
    },
}

zig build fetches and caches all dependencies automatically. No manual npm install or cargo fetch step needed.