# microsoft/vcpkg

C++ Library Manager for Windows, Linux, and MacOS

Repository: https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/vcpkg
Language: CMake
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: vcpkg, visual-studio, libraries, windows, cpp, package-manager, packages, c, cplusplus, cmake
Last push: 2026-08-26T19:17:53+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 95, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3639, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 33, "gap_med": 29.0, "n_releases_24m": 23}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 27400, forks 7694 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:47.699838+00:00)

## What it is
vcpkg is Microsoft's free, open-source C/C++ package manager for acquiring and managing open-source libraries on Windows, Linux, and macOS. It integrates with CMake, MSBuild, and other build systems, and supports manifest-based dependency management with a large curated registry of ports.

## Use cases
- install c++ libraries for my project
- manage c++ dependencies with cmake
- find a package manager for c/c++ on windows
- add third-party libraries to visual studio project
- reproducible c++ dependency manifests
- cross-platform c++ library management

## When to choose
- you develop in C or C++ and need dependency management across Windows, Linux, and macOS
- you use CMake, MSBuild, or Visual Studio and want seamless library integration
- you want a large curated registry of open-source C/C++ libraries with enterprise features

## When to avoid
- your project is in another language with its own ecosystem package manager (npm, pip, cargo)
- you need system-wide package management rather than per-project dependencies
- you require libraries not present in the vcpkg registry and cannot contribute ports

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: package-manager, build-tool, developer-tools, cli
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cpp, cli, cross-platform
- tags: c-plus-plus, cmake, dependency-management, microsoft, visual-studio, msbuild, open-source-libraries, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- microsoft/vcpkg (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:47.699838+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 2026-08-29T16:54:32.702540+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:47.699838+00:00, sha 45f910d5906b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.