MoxPP Add Project

Help the developer add a new sub-project to this MoxPP workspace. Work through the steps below interactively — ask for any information you don't already have before making changes.

Steps

1. Check architecture compatibility

Read

mox.lua

and check

cmox_project_architecture

:

• single

  : Adding a second project requires switching to

  flat

  ,

  hierarchical

  , or

  manual

  first. Warn the user and ask how they want to proceed before continuing.

• flat

  : New project goes into

  src/<project-name>/

  .

• hierarchical

  : Ask for the group name. New project goes into

  src/<group>/<project-name>/

  .

• manual

  : Remind the user they must manually add an

  include

  call in

  cmox_function_includeprojects()

  inside

  mox.lua

  .

2. Gather project information

Ask the user for the following if not already provided via $ARGUMENTS:

• Project name — used in the Visual Studio solution (PascalCase recommended)
• Output name — binary/library filename, snake_case. Default: snake_case of project name.
• Language —

  C++

  (default),

  C

  , or

  C#

• Output type:

  • console

    — console executable

  • windowed

    — GUI executable (no console window, Windows only)

  • sharedlib

    — shared library (.dll / .so / .dylib)

  • staticlib

    — static library

  • utility

    — custom build actions, no code output

  • none

    — header-only, no build output
• Dependencies on other projects — list project names to

  links {}

  against. Ask separately if build order matters (

  dependson {}

  ).
• Unit test requirement — if output type is

  sharedlib

  or

  staticlib

  , ask whether the unit test project should link against this project (adds

  mox_test_requirement()

  ).
• Conan dependencies — any additional Conan packages needed in

  <name>/<version>

  format. Ask whether any need options changed. (Only relevant for

  C++

  and

  C

  projects; skip for

  staticlib

  and

  none

  since they don't link Conan deps directly.)

3. Generate a UUID

Generate a UUID by running

python -c "import uuid; print(uuid.uuid4())"

via Bash and use the output in the new

build.lua

.

4. Create the project directory and

build.lua

Create the directory according to the architecture layout determined in step 1.

Write

build.lua

using the gathered information:

mox_project("<ProjectName>", "<output_name>")

mox_cpp()        -- or mox_c() / mox_cs()

mox_console()    -- or mox_windowed() / mox_sharedlib() / mox_staticlib() / mox_utility() / mox_none()

uuid("<generated-uuid>")

-- mox_test_requirement()  -- uncomment if this lib is needed by the unit tests

-- links {
--     "OtherProject",
-- }

-- dependson {
--     "OtherProject",
-- }

Uncomment and fill in only the sections that apply. Remove unused comment blocks.

5. Create a starter source file

For

console

and

windowed

projects: create

<project-dir>/main.cpp

with a minimal

main()

function. For

sharedlib

or

staticlib

: create

<project-dir>/<output_name>.h

and

<project-dir>/<output_name>.cpp

with an empty placeholder. Also create

<project-dir>/dummy.cpp

containing a single empty translation unit (

// dummy

). This file is required on Windows — without at least one compiled

.cpp

, MSBuild will not produce a

.lib

output and any project that links against this one will fail to build. For

utility

or

none

: no source file needed.

6. Update

conanfile.py

and

CLAUDE.md

(if new Conan packages were requested)

Add the new

self.requires(...)

calls and any

self.options[...]

entries to

conanfile.py

. Then update the

## Conan Dependencies

section in

CLAUDE.md

to include the newly added packages.

7. Update

mox.lua

if needed

• If architecture was changed from

  single

  to

  flat

  /

  hierarchical

  : update

  cmox_project_architecture

  .
• For

  manual

  architecture: remind the user to add the

  include

  call in

  cmox_function_includeprojects()

  .
• If this is the intended startup project for Visual Studio, update

  startproject

  in

  cmox_function_setupworkspace()

  .

8. Confirm and summarize

List all files created or modified and remind the user to run

mox init

(or

./mox.sh init

) to regenerate project files.