Installation

args.zig is designed to be easily integrated into your Zig projects using the Zig package manager.

Prerequisites

• Zig 0.16.0 or later (also compatible with Zig 0.17+).

Adding to your Project

Release Installation (Recommended)

Install the stable release matching your Zig version:

Zig 0.16+ / 0.17+ (v0.0.9) — Latest:

zig fetch --save https://github.com/muhammad-fiaz/args.zig/archive/refs/tags/0.0.9.tar.gz

Zig 0.16 (v0.0.8) — Previous Stable:

zig fetch --save https://github.com/muhammad-fiaz/args.zig/archive/refs/tags/0.0.8.tar.gz

Zig 0.15 (v0.0.4):

zig fetch --save https://github.com/muhammad-fiaz/args.zig/archive/refs/tags/0.0.4.tar.gz

Nightly Installation

If you want to use the latest features from the main branch:

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/muhammad-fiaz/args.zig

Configuring build.zig

Once added to build.zig.zon, you need to expose the module to your executable in build.zig.

Add the following lines to your build.zig file:

pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
    // ... setup target and optimize ...

    const args_dep = b.dependency("args", .{
        .target = target,
        .optimize = optimize,
    });

    const exe = b.addExecutable(.{
        // ... executable config ...
    });

    // Add the args module import
    exe.root_module.addImport("args", args_dep.module("args"));

    // ... install artifact ...
}

Verifying Installation

Create a simple main.zig to verify the installation:

const std = @import("std");
const args = @import("args");

pub fn main(init: std.process.Init) !void {
    const allocator = init.arena.allocator();

    var parser = try args.ArgumentParser.init(allocator, .{
        .name = "hello",
    });
    defer parser.deinit();

    try parser.addFlag("verbose", .{
        .short = 'v',
        .help = "Enable verbose output"
    });

    var result = try parser.parseProcess(init);
    defer result.deinit();

    if (result.getBool("verbose") orelse false) {
        std.debug.print("Hello from args.zig!\n", .{});
    }
}

Run it with:

zig build run -- --verbose