pycpp-tools 0.4.1

A utility to initialize basic CMake C++ / pybind11 projects.

pycpp-tools

A command-line utility to initialize basic CMake C++ / pybind11 projects.

Features

• Initialize a CMake C++ project (CMake 3.30, C++23, Ninja)
• Initialize a pure C project (--pure-c)
• Initialize a pybind11 project (--pybind11)
• Generate VS Code tasks.json / launch.json (CodeLLDB + clangd workflow)

Installation

pip install .
# or editable mode
pip install -e .

After installation, the pycpp command is available.

Usage

CMake C++ Project

pycpp init --name myproject

Generates: src/main.cpp, CMakeLists.txt, .vscode/tasks.json (config / build / run), .vscode/launch.json.

Pure C Project

pycpp init --name myproject --pure-c

Pybind11 Project

pycpp init --name demo --pybind11

Naming:

• --name: C++ extension module name (default: demo)
• Python package name / directory: py + name (e.g. pydemo → src/pydemo/)
• Import: from pydemo import demo

Generated layout:

Path	Description
cpp-src/pywrapper.cpp	C++ / pybind11 sources
src/pydemo/__init__.py	Empty package init
src/pydemo/demo.pyi	Stub for the extension module
CMakeLists.txt	Extension output under src/<package>/; paths injected via -D
pyproject.toml	[tool.pycpp], package-data; requires-python = "==X.Y.*"
setup.py	Marks a binary distribution so the wheel gets cp3xx-<plat> tags
scripts/cmake-config.py	Reads toml and passes -D flags to cmake
scripts/clear.py	Cleans build artifacts and extension binaries
scripts/package.py	clear → config → cmake build → python -m build (uses Python from [tool.pycpp].python_dir)
test.py	from pydemo import demo
.vscode/tasks.json	config / build / run / clear / package
.vscode/launch.json	debugpy + CodeLLDB

Default [tool.pycpp] fields:

[tool.pycpp]
python_dir = "..."          # current env sys.prefix
pybind11_dir = "..."        # .../share/cmake/pybind11
python_version = "3.13"
build_type = "Release"
cxx_standard = 23
cxx_compile = "clang-cl"
generator = "Ninja"

After editing toml, re-run config / package to apply changes (including output dir from [project].name).

Options:

• --name <name>: C++ module name; Python package is py{name}
• --pybind11: initialize as a pybind11 project
• --pure-c: pure C project
• --inplace-vscode: force overwrite existing .vscode tasks/launch files

Develop and debug

python scripts/cmake-config.py
cmake --build build
pip install -e .
python test.py

Or use VS Code tasks: config → build → run.
Use pip install -e . for imports and IDE hints; no sys.path hacks in test.py.

Package and publish

Build the extension in the repo first, then package (no on-the-fly cmake inside the wheel build):

python scripts/package.py
# or VS Code task: package

Flow: clear → cmake configure/build → python -m build.
package.py switches to the interpreter under [tool.pycpp].python_dir so wheel tags (e.g. cp313-cp313-win_amd64) match the Python used for compilation.

Requires build (and setuptools from the generated project's build-system) in that environment.

Requirements

• Python 3.13+ (for this tool)
• CMake 3.30+
• C++23-capable compiler (default: clang-cl)
• Ninja
• VS Code extensions:
  • CodeLLDB — C/C++ debugging
  • clangd — C/C++ IntelliSense (go-to-definition, completion, etc.; uses compile_commands.json from cmake config)

License

MIT License

Author

R.E. ([e-mail])