add .agents/skills/build/SKILL.md for build conventions

[oraluben]

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Added comprehensive build, installation, and testing guidance covering standard and alternative install methods, development-focused setup with direct build integration, optional incremental rebuild optimizations, a CMake-based workflow for rapid iteration, a warning about editable installs, common build feature flags (GPU/backends, build type), and example test commands including macOS Apple Silicon (Metal) test guidance.

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[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: f5dbe3ca-2cd3-4442-980e-b198b250522d

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between ee1673a and 9d6dbe1.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• .agents/skills/build/SKILL.md

✅ Files skipped from review due to trivial changes (1)

• .agents/skills/build/SKILL.md

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Added a new documentation file .agents/skills/build/SKILL.md describing installation and development build workflows (pip, uv pip, cmake, PYTHONPATH), ccache usage, CMake feature flags, a note against pip install -e ., and example pytest commands including a macOS Metal-specific path.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)

Summary

Build Documentation ​.agents/skills/build/SKILL.md

New guide added with: standard pip install . and optional uv pip install .; build-deps sourced from pyproject.toml; ccache notes for incremental C++ rebuilds; development workflow using requirements-dev.txt + --no-build-isolation and direct cmake --build build; alternative cmake -S . -B build + PYTHONPATH=$(pwd) workflow; warning against pip install -e .; common CMake flags (CUDA/ROCM/Metal, build type); example pytest commands including Metal tests for macOS Apple Silicon.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• [DOC] Add document for develop with PYTHONPATH #1062 — Adds documentation for PYTHONPATH-based dev workflow and manual CMake builds with similar CMake options (CUDA/ROCM), closely related to these docs.

Poem

🐰 I hopped through files to leave a trail,

Pip, CMake, PYTHONPATH — a tidy tale.
No editable installs to cause a spat,
Build flags, ccache, and pytest chat.
Happy builds and devs — nibble the carrot, not the mat!

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically summarizes the main change: adding a build conventions documentation file (.agents/skills/build/SKILL.md), which aligns with the actual changeset of +83 lines of new documentation.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

.agents/skills/build/SKILL.md (1)

1-48: Consider adding installation verification and clearer use-case guidance.

The documentation would benefit from:

1. A brief command to verify successful installation (e.g., python -c "import tilelang; print(tilelang.__version__)")
2. Clearer guidance on when to use standard vs. development build approach (e.g., "Use standard install for testing or using the package; use development build when actively modifying C++ code")

📚 Suggested additions

Add after line 22:

To verify installation:
```bash
python -c "import tilelang; print(tilelang.__version__)"

Add clarification to line 5:
```diff
-The standard way to build and install:
+The standard way to build and install (use this for general usage and testing):

Add clarification to line 25:

-If you need faster iteration (e.g. calling `cmake` directly to recompile C++ without re-running the full pip install), install build dependencies first:
+If you're actively developing C++ code and need faster iteration (avoiding pip's full build process on each change), install build dependencies first:

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

In @.agents/skills/build/SKILL.md around lines 1 - 48, Add an installation
verification step and a short decision guide to the Build & Install docs: insert
a one-line verification command (e.g., a python one-liner that imports tilelang
and prints its __version__) after the “Build dependencies…” paragraph and add a
concise sentence or two near the “Alternative: Development Build…” section that
explains when to use the standard pip install (for normal testing/usage) versus
when to use the development/no-build-isolation flow (when actively changing C++
sources and iterating with cmake). Reference the SKILL.md sections titled
“Installing / Rebuilding tilelang” and “Alternative: Development Build with
`--no-build-isolation`” when making these additions.

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

Inline comments:
In @.agents/skills/build/SKILL.md:
- Around line 34-36: The "Editable Installs" section currently states the
opposite of pip's behavior; update the paragraph under the "Editable Installs"
header so it correctly explains that `pip install .` (non-editable) copies the
package into site-packages and Python will import the installed copy, while `pip
install -e .` creates an editable install that points imports at the local
source directory; edit the sentence that mentions `./tilelang` and "installed
copy" to reflect this correct behavior and keep the guidance to avoid editable
installs if that remains desired.

---

Nitpick comments:
In @.agents/skills/build/SKILL.md:
- Around line 1-48: Add an installation verification step and a short decision
guide to the Build & Install docs: insert a one-line verification command (e.g.,
a python one-liner that imports tilelang and prints its __version__) after the
“Build dependencies…” paragraph and add a concise sentence or two near the
“Alternative: Development Build…” section that explains when to use the standard
pip install (for normal testing/usage) versus when to use the
development/no-build-isolation flow (when actively changing C++ sources and
iterating with cmake). Reference the SKILL.md sections titled “Installing /
Rebuilding tilelang” and “Alternative: Development Build with
`--no-build-isolation`” when making these additions.

🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

• Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
• Create a new PR with the fixes

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 9296c80b-947f-47e0-8777-db561357af10

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 3ee0988 and ee1673a.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• .agents/skills/build/SKILL.md

[LeiWang1999]

Do you think it is necessary to add a build solution that incorporates PYTHONPATH? I've noticed that actual developers (myself included) tend to prefer developing with the cmake + PYTHONPATH approach.