Build from source¶

Use the repository build script for the normal local build. It selects the platform preset, configures CMake, builds the selected configuration, and installs the result into the corresponding Result.* directory.

Prerequisites¶

Platform	Required development tools
Windows	Visual Studio with C++ desktop tooling, a supported Windows SDK, CMake, PowerShell Core, Python, and LLVM/clang-format
macOS	Xcode, CMake, NuGet, PowerShell Core, and LLVM/clang-format
Linux	Build tools, CMake, Ninja, LLVM/Clang, Python, NuGet, and PowerShell Core

The CMake preset matrix is the authoritative list of source-build targets. Install a Vulkan development environment appropriate to your platform before attempting local graphics development.

Build with the repository script¶

Run from the repository root in PowerShell Core:

# Debug
./Scripts/BuildEngine.ps1 -Configurations Debug -RunBuilds $True

# Release
./Scripts/BuildEngine.ps1 -Configurations Release -RunBuilds $True

The script builds both Debug and Release when -Configurations is omitted. Use -RunBuilds $False when you only need the generated CMake build directory. The script runs formatting by default; use -VerifyFormatting $True to make formatting failures explicit.

CMake presets¶

You can configure and build a preset directly. For example, on Apple silicon:

cmake --preset Darwin_arm64_Debug
cmake --build --preset Darwin_arm64_Debug

Platform	Debug	Release
Windows x64	`Windows_x64_Debug_2022` or `_2026`	`Windows_x64_Release_2022` or `_2026`
macOS x64	`Darwin_x64_Debug`	`Darwin_x64_Release`
macOS arm64	`Darwin_arm64_Debug`	`Darwin_arm64_Release`
Linux x64	`Linux_x64_Debug`	`Linux_x64_Release`

What the build produces¶

The root CMake project builds resources and shaders, the zEngineLib static library, Tetragrama, the Obelisk executable, and the ZEngineTests target when tests are enabled. The installed output retains the runtime resources needed by the application.

Continue to Run and debug after a successful build.