I’ve been working on a modern development workflow for C++ and just released vix dev, a real dev-mode for native applications. C++ normally requires a manual cycle of: edit → cmake → build → run → repeat vix dev automates this entire loop.

What it does

Watches your project files (CMake + src) Rebuilds automatically on change Restarts the running executable Cleans and filters compiler output

Supports both full CMake apps and single-file C++ scripts

No IDE plugins, no custom compiler. It runs on top of standard Clang/GCC + CMake.

How it works technically

A lightweight filesystem watcher computes a project-wide timestamp

Rebuilds happen in an isolated build-dev/ directory

A filtered compiler output pipeline highlights relevant errors For applications, a fork/restart loop manages the running process For scripts, a fast single-file build pipeline is used instead

The goal is to bring a Bun/Deno/Rust-like development experience to C++ while keeping everything fully native.

Demo

Short demo clips here: https://github.com/vixcpp/vix (README will include videos)

Why this exists

C++ has great compilers but poor “developer experience” around the build/run loop. This tries to close that gap with a simple, portable CLI tool.

Repo

https://github.com/vixcpp/vix

Would love feedback, benchmarking results, and ideas for improving rebuild speed or making the watcher smarter.