A fast Debug-mode compiler for Zig 0.17.

bs compiles exactly one Zig release, 0.17.1, and the std library that ships with it, for x86_64 Linux and Apple Silicon macOS. It takes the same commands and flags as zig build-exe, zig build-obj, zig run, zig test, and zig build, so a project's own build.zig builds with it unchanged. Every build has Debug semantics: safety checks stay on, and the output keeps line tables and frame pointers. For ReleaseFast, use upstream zig.

Its compile errors are written for coding agents: an exact location, the facts needed to fix the error, and the fix when bs knows it, in a form a program can parse.

bs is incubating.

Install

bs needs upstream Zig 0.17.1 on PATH: it compiles that release's std library, and hands C and C++ sources to its zig cc. Without it, or with another version, bs stops and says so. --zig-lib-dir or ZIG_LIB_DIR point it at a lib directory instead.

With Homebrew, on macOS or Linux:

brew install --cask baskingspot/tap/bs

With mise, next to the zig it needs, in a project's mise.toml:

[tools]
zig = "0.17.1"
"github:baskingspot/bs" = "latest"

Or download bs-<version>-<platform>.tar.gz for linux-x64, linux-arm64, or macos-arm64 from the releases, check it against SHA256SUMS, and put bs on PATH.

Build it

bs builds with upstream Zig 0.17.1:

zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

The compiler is zig-out/bin/bs. A Debug build of bs is about ten times slower, so time only a ReleaseFast one.

C and C++ sources, -lc, and @cImport go through upstream's zig cc and translate-c. bs looks for upstream zig in BS_ZIG, then on PATH. bs compiles the std library of that zig, which must be 0.17.1; a bs built from source falls back to the lib directory of the zig that built it.

Use it

bs build-exe main.zig
bs run main.zig -- arg
bs test lib.zig
bs build            # in a project with a build.zig

bs help lists every command. A flag that upstream accepts and bs cannot honor yet, such as a release mode or the LLVM backend, fails with a message that says so.

Work on it

nix develop provides the toolchain, and just ci runs what CI runs. just lists the recipes, including just conformance, which measures the share of upstream's test/behavior that bs passes. In an Amp orb, .agents/setup installs the same toolchain without Nix. AGENTS.md has the scope, the architecture decisions, and the working conventions.

License

MIT. See LICENSE. Code copied from upstream Zig keeps its own MIT notice, in LICENSE-ZIG. The logo files in docs/static/ are baskingspot marks and are not covered by either. See docs/static/LICENSE.