Lab Overview

Lab is the custom build engine for the Chemical language. It is designed to be scriptable, fast, and extensible. Unlike traditional build systems that use static configuration files (like JSON or YAML), Lab uses Chemical itself to define the build process.

Why Scriptable Builds?

Static configuration often falls short when you need complex logic during a build (e.g., generating code based on assets, conditional compilation for obscure targets, or multi-step toolchains). Lab gives you the full power of a programming language for your build scripts.

Core Concepts

The Build Script (`build.lab`)

A build.lab file is a Chemical file that contains a build function. This function is called by the compiler to orchestrate the build.

// build.lab

import lab



func build(ctx : *mut BuildContext) {

    const exe_name = "my_app"

    const job = ctx.build_exe(exe_name)

    

    // Define the module

    const main_mod = ctx.chemical_dir_module("", "main", "src", [])

    

    // Add the module to the job

    ctx.add_module(job, main_mod)

}

BuildContext

The BuildContext is an interface provided to your build function. It contains methods to:

Create modules (chemical_dir_module, c_file_module).
Define output targets (build_exe, build_dynamic_lib, build_cbi).
Manage dependencies and linking.
Access command-line arguments.

Lab Jobs