Getting Started#

All you need to do is install the Pigweed extension from the extension marketplace. It is also available on Open VSX for VS Code forks like Cursor, AntiGravity, etc.

If you start your project from one of Pigweed’s quickstart or showcase example projects, you will be prompted to install the extension as soon as you open the project.

Once installed, use the preconfigured targets in your project to get code intelligence.

Preconfigured targets#

To get code intelligence, define target patterns in your build file that specify which targets to generate compilation databases for (e.g., for a shared team configuration or CI).

  1. Define a generator target: Add a pw_compile_commands_generator target to your BUILD.bazel file. You can specify C/C++ target patterns for clangd and Rust target patterns for rust-analyzer.

    load(
    "@pigweed//pw_ide/bazel/compile_commands:pw_compile_commands_generator.bzl",
    "pw_compile_commands_generator",
)

pw_compile_commands_generator(
    name = "refresh_compile_commands",
    target_patterns = [
        "//...",
    ],
    rust_target_patterns = [
        "//...",
    ],
)

    Tip

    You can also specify specific platforms, build configs, or dependencies. See Code intelligence for advanced configuration.

  2. Refresh compile commands: Run the target you created:

    bazel run //:refresh_compile_commands

  3. Select the target: Open the Pigweed extension panel from the Visual Studio Code Activity Bar. Under Select or generate compile commands, click Generate next to your configured C++ and Rust target platforms to generate their compilation databases and enable code intelligence.

You can also select target platforms from the status bar items at the bottom of your window or by running the Pigweed: Select Code Analysis Target command.

Once you select a target platform, your editor will be automatically configured to use the generated compile commands for C/C++ (clangd) and Rust (rust-analyzer).

Other IDEs#

If you use an editor other than VS Code (e.g. Vim, Emacs, etc.), you can still benefit from Pigweed’s code intelligence by using the preconfigured targets workflow.

  1. Generate compile commands: Follow the steps in Preconfigured targets above to configure and generate your compilation databases.

  2. Configure language servers: Point your editor’s clangd configuration to the generated compile_commands.json file, and your rust-analyzer configuration to the generated rust-project.json file. You can find these files in the .compile_commands/ directory in your project root after running the generator target.