# rui314/chibicc

A small C compiler

Repository: https://github.com/rui314/chibicc
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/chibicc
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2023-10-30T18:02:47+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2588, "days_push": 1038, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 11855, forks 1066 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:50.283216+00:00)

## What it is
chibicc is a small C compiler written in C that implements most of the C11 standard and can compile real-world programs like Git, SQLite, and libpng. It serves as the reference implementation for a book on writing C compilers, with each commit corresponding to a book section for incremental learning.

## Use cases
- learn how a C compiler is implemented step by step
- study compiler internals like parsing, code generation, and linking
- compile small C programs with a lightweight alternative compiler
- read a readable reference implementation of C11 features
- use as a base for building your own compiler

## When to choose
- you want to learn compiler construction from a clean, incremental codebase
- you need a small, readable C compiler for experimentation or teaching
- you want to see how specific C11 features are implemented commit by commit

## When to avoid
- you need a production-grade compiler with full optimization - use GCC or Clang
- you require complete C11/C17 conformance or long-term support
- you need a compiler with active development and community support

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: compiler, parser, interpreter, developer-tools
- domain: compilers, programming-languages, parsers, education, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cpp, c, cli
- tags: c11, toy-compiler, learning-resource, compiler-internals, reference-implementation, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- rui314/chibicc (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:50.283216+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T08:09:38.630602+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/rui314/chibicc (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:50.283216+00:00, sha 51ee9114257a)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.