Cabin Docs

Cabin is a Cargo-inspired package manager and build system for C and C++. It treats C and C++ as first-class siblings: a single project can mix .c and .cc translation units, the C and C++ standards stay separate, CC and CXX are kept independent, and the resolved build configuration gets a deterministic fingerprint.

Cabin is Cargo-inspired, not Cargo-compatible: it borrows Cargo's vocabulary where the semantics line up and deliberately diverges where C/C++ semantics demand it. See Cargo-inspired interface for the full audit.

Where to start

If you are new to Cabin, the following pages cover the most common surfaces:

• cabin new and cabin init — scaffold a new binary or library package.
• cabin.toml reference — the manifest schema.
• Configuration files — .cabin/config.toml precedence and discovery.
• Targets — how cpp_library, cpp_executable, cpp_test, and friends are declared.
• Dependency kinds — the two dependency kinds and how they activate.
• Build profiles — dev, release, and user- declared profiles.
• Environment variables — the CABIN_* read, run, and test env surface.

Reference by topic

Manifest and configuration

• cabin.toml reference
• Configuration files
• Environment variables
• Build profiles
• Toolchains and conditional build flags

Targets and building

• Targets
• Compiler-cache wrappers
• Testing with cabin test

Dependencies

• Dependency kinds
• Target / platform-specific dependencies
• Features
• cabin.lock reference
• Patch, override, and source replacement
• Vendoring and offline mode
• Source artifacts

Workspaces and observability

• Workspaces
• Metadata, tree, and explain

Distribution and registry interface

• Package archive and canonical metadata
• Local JSON package index
• CLI distribution artifacts

Quickstart

# 1. Create a fresh single-package project.
cabin new hello
cd hello

# 2. Build it.
cabin build

# 3. Run it. Forward args after `--`.
cabin run -- world

# 4. Inspect the resolved state.
cabin metadata
cabin tree
cabin explain package hello

A minimal cabin.toml:

[package]
name = "hello"
version = "0.1.0"

[target.hello]
type = "cpp_executable"
sources = ["src/main.cc"]

A two-package workspace:

# cabin.toml at the workspace root
[workspace]
members = ["app", "lib"]

# app/cabin.toml
[package]
name = "app"
version = "0.1.0"

[dependencies]
lib = { path = "../lib" }

[target.app]
type = "cpp_executable"
sources = ["src/main.cc"]

# lib/cabin.toml
[package]
name = "lib"
version = "0.1.0"

[target.lib]
type = "cpp_library"
sources = ["src/lib.cc"]