Getting Started

What you need installed, then five minutes from clone to an installed bundle.

Prerequisites

Zig 0.14.1 or 0.15.2. Both are tested in CI on every push. The sources use spellings valid in both: the root_module build API, callconv(.c), and net.Stream.read. Other versions may work and are unsupported.
macOS for the VST3 bundle, the install-vst3 step, and the GUI example.
Xcode command line tools, for lipo and the macOS SDK.
A VST3 host if you want to scan the bundle.

Nothing else. There is no CMake, no vendored SDK, and one optional Zig dependency (webview) that is fetched lazily and only when you build the GUI example.

Install Zig with Homebrew or from ziglang.org:

brew install zig                # currently 0.15.2
# or download 0.14.1 / 0.15.2 from https://ziglang.org/download/

Quickstart

Five minutes, from clone to an installed bundle.

1. Clone and run setup

git clone https://github.com/godofecht/danzig
cd danzig
./setup.sh

setup.sh checks your Zig version, builds, runs the tests, builds the universal bundle, and prints where it landed. It exits non-zero if any of that fails, and it is safe to run repeatedly. Add --release for a ReleaseFast build.

If you prefer to do it by hand, the four commands are below.

2. Build

zig build

Build Summary: 29/29 steps succeeded

3. Test

zig build test --summary all

Build Summary: 9/9 steps succeeded; 35/35 tests passed

4. Package the bundle

zig build vst3
lipo -info zig-out/DanzigGain.vst3/Contents/MacOS/DanzigGain

Architectures in the fat file: zig-out/DanzigGain.vst3/Contents/MacOS/DanzigGain are: x86_64 arm64

5. Install it

zig build install-vst3

This removes any previous copy and writes a fresh one to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/DanzigGain.vst3. Verify it:

lipo -info ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/DanzigGain.vst3/Contents/MacOS/DanzigGain

Architectures in the fat file: /Users/you/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/DanzigGain.vst3/Contents/MacOS/DanzigGain are: x86_64 arm64

6. Load it in a DAW

Restart your DAW so it rescans the plugin folder. The scan finds the bundle, instantiates the class, and lists "Danzig Gain" under Superelectric. It also passes pluginval at strictness level 5 (see Current state). The bundle structure, the universal binary, the Info.plist, and the ad-hoc signature are verifiable:

codesign -dvv zig-out/DanzigGain.vst3

Executable=.../zig-out/DanzigGain.vst3/Contents/MacOS/DanzigGain
Identifier=libDanzigGain_arm64.dylib
Format=bundle with Mach-O universal (x86_64 arm64)
CodeDirectory v=20400 size=242 flags=0x20002(adhoc,linker-signed) hashes=4+0 location=embedded
Signature=adhoc

7. Hear the DSP without a DAW

zig build run-minimal

danzig-minimal: one parameter, one line of DSP

Trim range is -24 to +24 dB, 20 ms smoothing, 48 kHz.

  full cut     normalized 0.00  ->   -24.00 dB  (output 0.0631)
  unity        normalized 0.50  ->     0.00 dB  (output 1.0000)
  full boost   normalized 1.00  ->    24.00 dB  (output 15.8473)

Copy examples/danzig-minimal/root.zig to start your own plugin.

That file is the template. Copy it and start editing process.