This is a minimal cross-platform C++17+ project template using CMake. It's designed as a professional-grade starting point for C++ projects, especially useful for beginners and intermediate developers who want a simple, clean build system.

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About This Template

This template is configured for C++ projects only (LANGUAGES CXX). It does not support C, Python, or other languages.

Features

• Cross-platform (Linux, macOS, Windows)
• Minimal main.cpp entry point
• Clean, modern CMake build system
• Commented lines to support future scaling
• Organized layout: src/, include/, external/, assets/
• Compatible with language servers (e.g., Clangd)

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Project Layout

cpp-template/
+-- CMakeLists.txt     # Top-level build config
+-- README.md          # Project documentation
+-- LICENSE            # MIT License
+-- .gitignore         # Ignores build files, binaries, and metadata
+-- src/               # Source files (main.cpp entry point)
+-- include/           # (Optional) Public headers
+-- external/          # (Optional) Vendored third-party libraries
+-- assets/            # Images, diagrams, or documentation media
+-- build/             # CMake build output (ignored by Git)

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Getting Started

1. Clone the Project

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/cpp-template.git
cd cpp-template

2. Rename the Project

Edit CMakeLists.txt and change this line:

project(<your_project_name> LANGUAGES CXX)

To something like:

project(my_app LANGUAGES CXX)

This sets the name of the compiled binary (e.g., ./my_app).

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3. Add Your Code

Write your code in src/main.cpp, or expand the src/ directory with additional .cpp files.

You can also place public headers in the include/ directory if needed.

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Using External Libraries

You can link libraries one of two ways:

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Option A: System-installed libraries

If a library is installed via your system's package manager (dnf, apt, brew, etc.), you can use:

find_package(library_name REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE library_name::library_name)

Replace library_name with the name of the library and CMake target. Replace ${PROJECT_NAME} with your actual project name.

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Option B: Vendored (local) libraries

To keep everything local to your project, you can clone the library source into external/:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/your/library.git external/library_name

Then add this to CMakeLists.txt:

add_subdirectory(external/library_name)
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE library_name::library_name)

Repeat this pattern for any additional libraries you want to include locally.

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Building and Running

Once you've written or updated your code in src/, you can build and run it:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
./my_app  # Replace with your actual binary name

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.