Generating a JSON compilation database

CMake

Use the CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS flag. You can either run:

or add the following line to your CMakeLists.txt file:

The compile_commands.json file will be placed in the build directory.

Clang (version 5.0 and later)

Use the -MJ option to write a compilation entry for each input file. You can then merge the outputs into a JSON-formatted compilation database. See an example procedure.

Ninja (version 1.2 and later)

Use the -t compdb option to generate a compilation database. Note that it requires rule names as arguments: -t compdb rule1 rule2 ...

The list of rules can be found in the Ninja build file (typically build.ninja). Example:

To generate a compilation database for a single rule named cc, run:

To include multiple rules, extract their names from the build file and pass them to compdb. See this guide for details.

Make-based projects

Use the compiledb-generator tool to create a compilation database for make-based build systems.

Bear and intercept-build tools

Tools like Bear and intercept-build (from scan-build) can generate a compilation database by intercepting compiler calls during the build process.

SourceTrail Visual Studio extension

The SourceTrail Extension generates a compilation database for Visual Studio solutions.