C++ Project Starter Template

A production-ready C++20 project template with modern CMake, CI/CD, and best practices already configured.

Skip the setup and start building.

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What's Included

Build System

• Modern CMake 3.21+ with presets, PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL, and CONFIGURE_DEPENDS

Language

• C++20 standard with concepts, ranges, and coroutines support

Testing

• Google Test v1.15 with auto-discovery and GMock integration

Benchmarking

• Google Benchmark v1.9 for performance tracking

Code Quality

• Sanitizers: ASan, UBSan, TSan, MSan, LSan
• Static analyzers: clang-tidy, cppcheck, include-what-you-use

Coverage

• lcov/gcovr integration with HTML reports and branch coverage

Performance

• Link Time Optimization (LTO) and Precompiled Headers (PCH)

Documentation

• Doxygen setup with UML diagram support

Packaging

• CPack configured for DEB, RPM, NSIS, ZIP, and TGZ

CI/CD

• GitHub Actions with multi-platform, multi-compiler pipeline

Installation

• CMake export with find_package() support

Code Formatting

• Professional clang-format configuration (760+ lines)

Symbol Visibility

• Export headers for proper shared library support

Requirements

Required:

• CMake 3.21+
• C++ Compiler: GCC 11+, Clang 14+, or MSVC 19.30+
• Git 2.x+

Optional:

• Doxygen — API documentation
• lcov or gcovr — Code coverage reports
• clang-tidy — Static analysis
• cppcheck — Additional static analysis

Quick Start

Using CMake Presets (Recommended)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/hun756/CPP-Starter-Template.git my-project
cd my-project

# Configure and build
cmake --preset debug
cmake --build --preset debug

# Run tests
ctest --preset debug

# Run the executable
./build/debug/bin/cpp_project_template

Classic CMake

mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build . -j$(nproc)
ctest --output-on-failure

Project Structure

my-project/
├── .github/
│   ├── workflows/
│   │   └── ci.yml                 # Multi-platform CI pipeline
│   ├── dependabot.yml             # Automated dependency updates
│   └── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/            # Bug report & feature request templates
├── cmake/
│   ├── CompilerWarnings.cmake     # Strict warning flags (GCC/Clang/MSVC)
│   ├── Sanitizers.cmake           # Runtime error detection (ASan, UBSan, TSan)
│   ├── StaticAnalyzers.cmake      # Static analysis (cppcheck, clang-tidy, IWYU)
│   ├── LTO.cmake                  # Link Time Optimization
│   ├── Coverage.cmake             # Code coverage with lcov/gcovr
│   ├── Dependencies.cmake         # FetchContent dependency management
│   ├── Packaging.cmake            # CPack packaging configuration
│   └── configs/
│       ├── Config.h.in            # Version info template → ProjectConfig.h
│       └── *Config.cmake.in       # Package config for find_package()
├── include/myproject/             # Public headers (your API)
│   ├── ModuleA.h
│   └── ModuleB.h
├── src/                           # Implementation files
│   ├── ModuleA.cpp
│   ├── ModuleB.cpp
│   └── main.cpp
├── test/                          # Unit tests (auto-discovered)
│   ├── CMakeLists.txt
│   ├── ModuleATest.cpp
│   └── ModuleBTest.cpp
├── bench/                         # Performance benchmarks
│   ├── CMakeLists.txt
│   ├── CalculatorBench.cpp
│   └── StringProcessorBench.cpp
├── examples/                      # Usage examples (auto-discovered)
│   ├── CMakeLists.txt
│   └── example*.cpp
├── docs/                          # Doxygen documentation
│   ├── CMakeLists.txt
│   └── Doxyfile.in
├── .clang-format                  # Code formatting rules
├── .clang-tidy                    # Static analysis configuration
├── .editorconfig                  # Cross-editor formatting consistency
├── CMakeLists.txt                 # Main build configuration
├── CMakePresets.json              # Build presets (debug, release, CI)
├── CHANGELOG.md                   # Version history
├── CONTRIBUTING.md                # Contribution guidelines
├── CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md             # Community standards
├── LICENSE                        # MIT License
└── README.md

Build Options

Option	Default	Description
BUILD_SHARED_LIBS	OFF	Build shared libraries instead of static
BUILD_EXAMPLES	ON	Build example programs
BUILD_TESTS	ON	Build unit tests
BUILD_BENCHMARKS	OFF	Build performance benchmarks
ENABLE_COVERAGE	OFF	Enable code coverage instrumentation
ENABLE_SANITIZERS	OFF	Enable sanitizers (ASan, UBSan) in debug builds
ENABLE_PCH	OFF	Enable precompiled headers
ENABLE_LTO	OFF	Enable Link Time Optimization
ENABLE_CPPCHECK	OFF	Enable static analysis with cppcheck
ENABLE_CLANG_TIDY	OFF	Enable static analysis with clang-tidy

Example — build with sanitizers and shared libraries:

cmake --preset debug -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON -DENABLE_SANITIZERS=ON

Available Presets

Preset	Description
debug	Debug build with sanitizers enabled
release	Optimized release build with LTO
relwithdebinfo	Release with debug information
coverage	Debug build with coverage instrumentation
ci-linux-gcc	CI configuration for Linux + GCC
ci-linux-clang	CI configuration for Linux + Clang
ci-windows-msvc	CI configuration for Windows + MSVC
ci-macos-clang	CI configuration for macOS + AppleClang

Code Coverage

# Configure, build, and run tests with coverage
cmake --preset coverage
cmake --build --preset coverage
ctest --preset coverage

# Generate HTML report
cmake --build --preset coverage --target coverage

# Open the report
open build/coverage/coverage_report/index.html    # macOS
xdg-open build/coverage/coverage_report/index.html # Linux

Documentation

Generate API documentation with Doxygen:

cmake --preset debug
cmake --build --preset debug --target cpp_project_template_docs

Packaging

Create distributable packages:

cmake --preset release
cmake --build --preset release
cd build/release && cpack

Using This Library in Your Project

After installation:

find_package(cpp_project_template REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(your_target PRIVATE cpp_project_template::cpp_project_template)

Or via FetchContent:

include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
    cpp_project_template
    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/hun756/CPP-Starter-Template.git
    GIT_TAG main
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(cpp_project_template)
target_link_libraries(your_target PRIVATE cpp_project_template::cpp_project_template)

Customizing the Template

1. Rename the project: Change cpp_project_template in CMakeLists.txt to project(your_name ...)
2. Rename namespace: Replace myproject with your namespace in include/ and src/
3. Rename include dir: Rename include/myproject/ to include/your_project/
4. Update Config: Update cmake/configs/cpp_project_templateConfig.cmake.in filename
5. Add source files: Create .cpp files in src/ — automatically picked up
6. Add tests: Create *Test.cpp files in test/ — automatically discovered
7. Add benchmarks: Create *Bench.cpp files in bench/ — automatically built
8. Add examples: Create .cpp files in examples/ — automatically built

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the Contributing Guide and Code of Conduct first.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Commit with Conventional Commits: git commit -m 'feat: add my feature'
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/my-feature
5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.