Build Presets Guide

This document explains the reorganized CMake preset system for Yaze.

Design Principles

1. Short, memorable names - No more macos-dev-z3ed-ai, just mac-ai
2. Warnings off by default - Add -v suffix for verbose (e.g., mac-dbg-v)
3. Clear architecture support - Explicit ARM64 and x86_64 presets
4. Platform prefixes - mac-, win-, lin- for easy identification

Quick Start

macOS Development

# Most common: AI-enabled development
cmake --preset mac-ai
cmake --build --preset mac-ai
 
# Basic debug build (no AI)
cmake --preset mac-dbg
cmake --build --preset mac-dbg
 
# Verbose warnings for debugging
cmake --preset mac-dbg-v
cmake --build --preset mac-dbg-v
 
# Release build
cmake --preset mac-rel
cmake --build --preset mac-rel

Windows Development

# Debug build (x64)
cmake --preset win-dbg
cmake --build --preset win-dbg
 
# AI-enabled development
cmake --preset win-ai
cmake --build --preset win-ai
 
# ARM64 support
cmake --preset win-arm
cmake --build --preset win-arm

All Presets

macOS Presets

Preset	Description	Arch	Warnings	Notes
mac-dbg	Debug build	Host	Off	Tests enabled
mac-dbg-v	Debug build (verbose)	Host	On	Extra warnings
mac-rel	Release build	Host	Off	LTO enabled
mac-dev	Development build	Host	Off	ROM tests enabled
mac-ai	AI + gRPC dev	Host	Off	Agent UI + automation
mac-ai-fast	AI dev (system gRPC)	Host	Off	brew install grpc protobuf abseil
mac-uni	Universal binary	arm64 + x86_64	Off	Release packaging
mac-sdl3	SDL3 build	Host	Off	Experimental
mac-test	Fast test build	Host	Off	RelWithDebInfo

Windows Presets

Preset	Description	Arch	Generator	Notes
win-dbg	Debug build	x64	Ninja	Tests enabled
win-dbg-v	Debug build (verbose)	x64	Ninja	Extra warnings
win-rel	Release build	x64	Ninja	LTO enabled
win-dev	Development build	x64	Ninja	ROM tests enabled
win-ai	AI + gRPC dev	x64	Ninja	Agent UI + automation
win-z3ed	z3ed CLI	x64	Ninja	CLI stack only
win-arm	Debug ARM64	ARM64	Ninja
win-arm-rel	Release ARM64	ARM64	Ninja
win-vs-dbg	Debug build	x64	Visual Studio
win-vs-rel	Release build	x64	Visual Studio
win-vs-ai	AI + gRPC dev	x64	Visual Studio
win-sdl3	SDL3 build	x64	Ninja	Experimental
win-test	Fast test build	x64	Ninja	RelWithDebInfo

Linux Presets

Preset	Description	Compiler	Notes
lin-dbg	Debug build	GCC/Clang	Tests enabled
lin-dbg-v	Debug build (verbose)	GCC/Clang	Extra warnings
lin-rel	Release build	GCC/Clang	LTO enabled
lin-dev	Development build	GCC/Clang	ROM tests enabled
lin-ai	AI + gRPC dev	GCC/Clang	Agent UI + automation
lin-sdl3	SDL3 build	GCC/Clang	Experimental
lin-test	Fast test build	GCC/Clang	RelWithDebInfo

CI Presets

Preset	Description
ci-linux	Linux CI build
ci-macos	macOS CI build
ci-windows	Windows CI build
ci-windows-ai	Windows AI/automation CI build

WASM Presets

Preset	Description
wasm-debug	WebAssembly debug build
wasm-release	WebAssembly release build
wasm-crash-repro	Minimal repro build
wasm-ai	WebAssembly AI build

Test Presets

Run with ctest --preset <name>.

Preset	Description
all	All tests (including ROM-dependent)
stable	Stable tests only
unit	Unit tests only
integration	Integration tests only
fast	macOS fast test preset
fast-win	Windows fast test preset
fast-lin	Linux fast test preset
stable-ai	Stable tests against ci-windows-ai
unit-ai	Unit tests against ci-windows-ai
integration-ai	Integration tests against ci-windows-ai

Warning Control

By default, all presets suppress compiler warnings with -w for a cleaner build experience.

To Enable Verbose Warnings:

1. Use a preset with -v suffix (e.g., mac-dbg-v, win-dbg-v)
2. Or set YAZE_SUPPRESS_WARNINGS=OFF manually:

   cmake --preset mac-dbg -DYAZE_SUPPRESS_WARNINGS=OFF

Architecture Support

macOS

• Apple Silicon (arm64): mac-dbg, mac-rel, mac-ai, mac-dev, etc.
• Intel (x86_64): Use the same mac-* presets (they target the host arch).
• Universal Binary: mac-uni (arm64 + x86_64)

Windows

• x64: win-dbg, win-rel, win-ai, etc.
• ARM64: win-arm, win-arm-rel

Build Directories

Most presets use build/. WASM presets use build-wasm/. Keep only these two build directories in the repo to avoid bloat. For isolated agent builds, point binaryDir to a path outside the repo via CMakeUserPresets.json.

Shared Dependency Caches

To avoid re-downloading dependencies after cleaning build dirs, set shared caches via CMakeUserPresets.json (see CMakeUserPresets.json.example) or environment variables:

export CPM_SOURCE_CACHE="$HOME/.cpm-cache"
export VCPKG_DOWNLOADS="$HOME/.cache/vcpkg/downloads"
export VCPKG_BINARY_SOURCES="clear;files,$HOME/.cache/vcpkg/bincache,readwrite"

For scripts and the agent build tool, you can also set YAZE_BUILD_DIR to an external path (e.g., $HOME/.cache/yaze/build) to keep the working tree clean.

Feature Flags

Common CMake options you can override:

# Enable/disable components
-DYAZE_BUILD_TESTS=ON/OFF
-DYAZE_BUILD_AGENT_UI=ON/OFF
 
# AI features
-DYAZE_ENABLE_AI=ON/OFF
-DYAZE_ENABLE_AI_RUNTIME=ON/OFF
-DYAZE_ENABLE_GRPC=ON/OFF
-DYAZE_PREFER_SYSTEM_GRPC=ON/OFF
-DYAZE_ENABLE_JSON=ON/OFF
-DYAZE_ENABLE_REMOTE_AUTOMATION=ON/OFF
 
# Testing
-DYAZE_ENABLE_ROM_TESTS=ON/OFF
-DYAZE_TEST_ROM_VANILLA_PATH=/path/to/alttp_vanilla.sfc
-DYAZE_TEST_ROM_EXPANDED_PATH=/path/to/oos168.sfc
-DYAZE_USE_SDL3=ON/OFF
-DYAZE_ENABLE_LTO=ON/OFF

Examples

Development with AI features and verbose warnings

cmake --preset mac-dbg-v -DYAZE_ENABLE_AI=ON -DYAZE_ENABLE_GRPC=ON -DYAZE_BUILD_AGENT_UI=ON
cmake --build --preset mac-dbg-v

Release build for distribution (macOS Universal)

cmake --preset mac-uni
cmake --build --preset mac-uni
cpack --preset mac-uni

Quick minimal build for testing

cmake --preset mac-dbg -DYAZE_ENABLE_AI=OFF -DYAZE_ENABLE_GRPC=OFF -DYAZE_BUILD_AGENT_UI=OFF
cmake --build --preset mac-dbg -j12

Updating compile_commands.json

After configuring with a new preset, copy the compile commands for IDE support:

cp build/compile_commands.json .

This ensures clangd and other LSP servers can find headers and understand build flags.

Migration from Old Presets

Old preset names have been simplified:

Old Name	New Name
macos-dev-z3ed-ai	mac-ai
macos-debug	mac-dbg
macos-release	mac-rel
macos-debug-universal	mac-uni
windows-debug	win-dbg
windows-release	win-rel
windows-arm64-debug	win-arm
linux-debug	lin-dbg

Troubleshooting

Warnings are still showing

• Make sure you're using a preset without -v suffix
• Check cmake output for ✓ Warnings suppressed message
• Reconfigure and rebuild: rm -rf build && cmake --preset mac-dbg

clangd can't find nlohmann/json

• Run cmake --preset <your-preset> to regenerate compile_commands.json
• Copy to root: cp build/compile_commands.json .
• Restart your IDE or LSP server

Build fails with missing dependencies

• Re-run configure to fetch CPM dependencies: cmake --preset <your-preset>
• If offline, set CPM_SOURCE_CACHE to a populated cache directory
• For AI features, make sure you have OpenSSL: brew install openssl (macOS)