zccache 1.1.11

A high-performance local compiler cache daemon

zccache

A blazing fast compiler cache for C/C++ and Rust

Inspired by sccache, but optimized for local-first use with aggressive file metadata caching and filesystem watching.

Performance

Rust Benchmark: 50 .rs files, 5 warm trials

Scenario	Bare rustc	sccache	zccache	vs sccache	vs bare rustc
Build, Cold	7.119s	10.023s	8.507s	1.2x faster	1.2x slower
Build, Warm	6.592s	8.604s	0.045s	193x faster	148x faster
Check, Cold	4.289s	7.056s	5.060s	1.4x faster	1.2x slower
Check, Warm	3.716s	5.922s	0.049s	121x faster	76x faster

Build = --emit=dep-info,metadata,link (cargo build). Check = --emit=dep-info,metadata (cargo check). Cold = first compile (empty cache). Warm = median of 5 subsequent runs. Each file is an independent rustc --crate-type lib invocation with --out-dir (same flags cargo passes).

sccache gets cache hits but each hit still costs ~170ms subprocess overhead. zccache serves hits in ~1ms via in-process IPC — no subprocess, no re-hashing.

Why is zccache 120-193x faster than sccache on warm hits?

The difference comes from architecture, not better caching:

	sccache	zccache
IPC model	Subprocess per invocation (fork + exec + connect)	Persistent daemon, single IPC message per compile
Cache lookup	Client hashes inputs, sends to server, server checks disk	Daemon has inputs in memory (file watcher + metadata cache)
On hit	Server reads artifact from disk, sends back via IPC	Daemon hardlinks cached file to output path (1 syscall)
Per-hit cost	~170ms (process spawn + hash + disk I/O + IPC)	~1ms (in-memory lookup + hardlink)

sccache was designed for distributed caching (S3, GCS, Redis) where network latency dwarfs local overhead. zccache is designed for local-first use where every millisecond of wrapper overhead matters.

C++ Benchmark: 50 C++ files, 5 warm trials

Scenario	Bare Clang	sccache	zccache	vs sccache	vs bare clang
Single-file, Cold	12.641s	20.632s	13.430s	1.5x faster	1.1x slower
Single-file, Warm	11.705s	1.576s	0.050s	32x faster	236x faster
Multi-file, Cold	11.358s	11.759s	12.867s	1.1x slower	1.1x slower
Multi-file, Warm	11.553s	11.530s	0.017s	695x faster	696x faster

Cold = first compile (empty cache). Warm = median of 5 subsequent runs. Single-file = 50 sequential clang++ -c unit.cpp invocations. Multi-file = one clang++ -c *.cpp invocation. sccache cannot cache multi-file compilations — its "warm" multi-file time is a full recompile.

Response-file benchmark: 50 C++ files, ~283 expanded args, 5 warm trials

Scenario	Bare Clang	sccache	zccache	vs sccache	vs bare clang
Single-file RSP, Cold	12.063s	20.607s	14.087s	1.5x faster	1.2x slower
Single-file RSP, Warm	12.540s	1.558s	0.047s	33x faster	267x faster
Multi-file RSP, Cold	13.030s	25.303s	13.975s	1.8x faster	1.1x slower
Multi-file RSP, Warm	12.049s	12.434s	0.019s	669x faster	648x faster

All args passed via nested response files: flags.rsp -> @warnings.rsp + @defines.rsp. 200 -D defines + 50 -I paths + 30 warning flags = ~283 total expanded args per compile.

Run the benchmark yourself: ./perf

Install

pip install zccache

This installs native Rust binaries (zccache and zccache-daemon) directly onto your PATH — no Python runtime dependency. Pre-built wheels are available for:

Platform	Architecture
Linux	x86_64, aarch64
macOS	x86_64, Apple Silicon
Windows	x86_64

Verify the install:

zccache --version

Use it as a drop-in replacement for sccache — just substitute zccache:

Rust / Cargo integration

# cargo build (cached)
RUSTC_WRAPPER=zccache cargo build

# cargo check (cached)
RUSTC_WRAPPER=zccache cargo check

Add to .cargo/config.toml for automatic use:

[build]
rustc-wrapper = "zccache"

Supports --emit=metadata (cargo check), --emit=dep-info,metadata,link (cargo build), extern crate content hashing (dependency changes cause cache misses), and all cacheable crate types (lib, rlib, staticlib). Proc-macro and binary crates are passed through without caching (same as sccache).

C/C++ build system integration (ninja, meson, cmake, make)

zccache is a drop-in compiler wrapper. Point your build system's compiler at zccache <real-compiler> and it handles the rest:

# meson native file
[binaries]
c = ['zccache', '/usr/bin/clang']
cpp = ['zccache', '/usr/bin/clang++']

# CMake
set(CMAKE_C_COMPILER_LAUNCHER zccache)
set(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER zccache)

The first build (cold cache) runs at near-bare speed. Subsequent rebuilds (ninja -t clean && ninja, or touching source files) serve cached artifacts via hardlinks in under a second.

Single-roundtrip IPC: In drop-in mode, zccache sends a single CompileEphemeral message that combines session creation, compilation, and session teardown — eliminating 2 of 3 IPC roundtrips per invocation.

Session stats: Track hit rates per-build with --stats:

eval $(zccache session-start --stats --log build.log)
export ZCCACHE_SESSION_ID=...
# ... build runs ...
zccache session-stats $ZCCACHE_SESSION_ID   # query mid-build
zccache session-end $ZCCACHE_SESSION_ID     # final stats

Persistent cache: Artifacts are stored in ~/.zccache/artifacts/ and survive daemon restarts. No need to re-warm the cache after a reboot.

Compile journal (build replay): Every compile and link command is recorded to ~/.zccache/logs/compile_journal.jsonl as a JSONL file with enough detail to replay the entire build:

{"ts":"2026-03-17T10:30:00.123Z","outcome":"hit","compiler":"/usr/bin/clang++","args":["-c","foo.cpp","-o","foo.o"],"cwd":"/project/build","env":[["CC","clang"]],"exit_code":0,"session_id":"uuid","latency_ns":1234567}

Fields: ts (ISO 8601 UTC), outcome (hit/miss/error/link_hit/link_miss), compiler (full path), args (full argument list), cwd, env (omitted when inheriting daemon env), exit_code, session_id (null for ephemeral), latency_ns (wall-clock nanoseconds). One JSON object per line — pipe through jq to filter, or replay builds by extracting compiler + args + cwd.

Per-session compile journal: Pass --journal <path> to session-start to write a dedicated JSONL log containing only the commands from that session. The path must end in .jsonl:

result=$(zccache session-start --journal build.jsonl)
session_id=$(echo "$result" | jq -r .session_id)
export ZCCACHE_SESSION_ID=$session_id

# ... build runs ...

# Inspect this session's commands only (no noise from other sessions)
jq . build.jsonl

zccache session-end $session_id

The session journal uses the same JSONL schema as the global journal. Entries are written to both the global and session journals simultaneously. The session file handle is released when session-end is called.

Multi-file compilation (fast path)

When a build system passes multiple source files to a single compiler invocation (e.g. gcc -c a.cpp b.cpp c.cpp -o ...), zccache treats this as a fast path:

1. Each source file is checked against the cache in parallel.
2. Cache hits are served immediately — their .o files are written from the cache.
3. Remaining cache misses are batched into a single compiler process, preserving the compiler's own process-reuse and memory-sharing benefits.
4. The outputs of the batched compilation are cached individually for future hits.

This hybrid approach means the first build populates the cache per-file, and subsequent builds serve as many files as possible from cache while still letting the compiler handle misses efficiently in bulk.

Recommendation: Configure your build system to pass multiple source files per compiler invocation whenever possible. This gives zccache the best opportunity to parallelize cache lookups and minimize compiler launches.

Concurrency

The daemon uses lock-free concurrent data structures (DashMap) for artifact and metadata lookups, so parallel compilation requests from multiple build workers never serialize on a global lock.

Status

Early development — architecture and scaffolding phase.

Goals

• Extremely fast on local machines (daemon keeps caches warm)
• Portable across Linux, macOS, and Windows
• Correct under heavy parallel compilation (no stale cache hits)
• Simple deployment (single binary)

Architecture

See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the full system design.

Key components

Crate	Purpose
zccache-cli	Command-line interface (zccache binary)
zccache-daemon	Daemon process (IPC server, orchestration)
zccache-core	Shared types, errors, config, path utilities
zccache-protocol	IPC message types and serialization
zccache-ipc	Transport layer (Unix sockets / named pipes)
zccache-hash	blake3 hashing and cache key computation
zccache-fscache	In-memory file metadata cache
zccache-artifact	Disk-backed artifact store with redb index
zccache-watcher	File watcher abstraction (notify backend)
zccache-compiler	Compiler detection and argument parsing
zccache-test-support	Test utilities and fixtures

Building

cargo build --workspace

Testing

cargo test --workspace

Documentation

• Architecture
• Design Decisions
• Roadmap

License

Licensed under either of Apache License, Version 2.0 or MIT license at your option.