Hacker News: randerson_112

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:51:25 +0000

Craft has a few commands to handle dependencies: craft add, craft update, craft remove. Craft add can take a path to a local Craft project and link it, or it can take a git url which will be cloned and linked automatically. Craft update updates a specific git dependency in your project to the newest version or updates all. Craft remove removes a dependency from your project.

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:38:40 +0000

Craft has project management and generates starter project structure. You can generate header and source files with boilerplate starter code. Craft manages the building of the project so you don’t need to write much CMake. You can also save project structures as templates and instantiate those templates in new projects ready to go.

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:30:47 +0000

Thank you everyone for the feedback so far! I just wanted to say that I understand this is not a fully cohesive and functional project for every edge case. This is the first day of releasing it to the public and it is only the beginning of the journey. I do not expect to fully solve a problem of this scale on my own, Craft is open source and open to the community for development. I hope that as a community this can grow into a more advanced and widely adopted tool.

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:26:15 +0000

This is true. There is no way I could solve a problem of this scale by myself. That is why this is an open source project and open to everyone to make changes on. There is still much more to improve, this is only day 1 of release to the public.

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:23:08 +0000

Yes, many libraries are system wide that is true. This is something I had on the list of features to add. System dependencies. Thank you for the feedback!

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:20:32 +0000

Why do you say this? I respect it, I'm just curious.

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:00:03 +0000

This is very true. My thought process was that since majority of projects already run on CMake, I would simply build off of that and take advantage of what CMake is good at while making the more difficult operations easier. Thank you for your feedback!

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:56:33 +0000

Yes! This is definitely on the list of features to add. Thank you for the feedback!

New comment by randerson_112 in "Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++"

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:55:32 +0000

This is a fair and valid point. However, why leave your workflow to write a prompt to an AI when you can run simple commands in your workspace. Also you are most likely paying to use the AI while Craft is free and open source and will only continue to improve. I respect your feedback though, thank you!

Show HN: I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++

randerson_112 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:04:54 +0000

I love C and C++, but setting up projects can sometimes be a pain.

Every time I wanted to start something new I'd spend the first hour writing CMakeLists.txt, figuring out find_package, copying boilerplate from my last project, and googling why my library isn't linking. By the time the project was actually set up I'd lost all momentum.

So, I built Craft - a lightweight build and workflow tool for C and C++. Instead of writing CMake, your project configuration goes in a simple craft.toml:

  [project]
  name = "my_app"
  version = "0.1.0"
  language = "c"
  c_standard = 99

  [build]
  type = "executable"

Run craft build and Craft generates the CMakeLists.txt automatically and builds your project. Want to add dependencies? That's just a simple command:

  craft add --git https://github.com/raysan5/raylib --links raylib
  craft add --path ../my_library
  craft add sfml

Craft will clone the dependency, regenerate the CMake, and rebuild your project for you.

Other Craft features: craft init - adopt an existing C/C++ project into Craft or initialize an empty directory. craft template - save any project structure as a template to be initialized later. craft gen - generate header and source files with starter boilerplate code. craft upgrade - keeps itself up to date.

CMakeLists.extra.cmake for anything that Craft does not yet handle.

Cross platform - macOS, Linux, Windows.

It is still early (I just got it to v1.0.0) but I am excited to be able to share it and keep improving it.

Would love feedback. Please also feel free to make pull requests if you want to help with development!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47705413

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