This repo contains a sample that demonstrates how to extract compile_commands.json from Visual C++ MSBuild projects (.vcxproj, .sln, .slnx) using the MSBuild API.

The generated compilation database can be used with VS Code and C++ LSP tools for IntelliSense, code navigation, and static analysis.

msbuild-extractor-sample --project myapp.vcxproj -c Debug -a x64

msbuild-extractor-sample --solution myapp.sln -c Debug -a x64 -o compile_commands.json

# List installed VS instances
msbuild-extractor-sample --list-instances

# Use a specific VS instance
msbuild-extractor-sample --vs-instance cdf4 --solution myapp.sln -c Debug -a x64

msbuild-extractor-sample --solution myapp.sln -c Debug -a x64 --validate

# Extract all configurations (Debug/Release × x64/Win32/ARM64)
msbuild-extractor-sample --project myapp.vcxproj --all-configurations

# Merge into single file with one entry per source file
msbuild-extractor-sample --project myapp.vcxproj --all-configurations --merge --deduplicate

msbuild-extractor-sample --solution engine.sln --solution editor.sln -c Debug -a x64 -o compile_commands.json

# Structured output with solutions/projects/configurations/files
msbuild-extractor-sample --solution myapp.sln --format rich -o compile_database.json

msbuild-extractor-sample --solution myapp.sln --msbuild-path "C:\VS\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe" -c Debug -a x64

• Zero-config extraction - auto-detects Visual Studio via vswhere.exe, resolves VCTargetsPath, VCToolsInstallDir, and real cl.exe path automatically
• No build required - design-time extraction only; evaluates projects and runs GetClCommandLines without compiling anything
• Two extraction modes - in-process (MSBuild API) and out-of-process (spawns MSBuild.exe, parses binlog) for maximum compatibility
• Multi-config - --all-configurations extracts every Configuration|Platform combination; --merge combines them; --deduplicate produces one smart entry per file for IntelliSense
• Multi-input - specify multiple --solution and --project arguments to merge across solutions
• Built-in validation - --validate compiles every extracted entry with cl.exe /c to prove correctness
• Config validation - --strict rejects invalid configuration/platform combinations with available options listed
• Rich format - --format rich outputs a hierarchical JSON schema with solutions, projects, configurations, structured includes/defines, and toolchain metadata
• GN project support - extracts IntelliSense settings from GN-generated VS solutions (Chromium, Crashpad, WebRTC) via ItemDefinitionGroup fallback
• VS instance selection - --list-instances shows all VS installations; --vs-instance <id> selects by instance ID
• LSP compatible - uses the real cl.exe path and adds -ferror-limit=0 and --target so C++ LSP tools work out of the box
• Solution formats - .sln, .slnx, and GN-generated .sln files
• C++/WinRT support - resolves WindowsTargetPlatformVersion (e.g., 10.0 → 10.0.26100.0) so UWP and WinRT projects like Windows Terminal and Calculator extract correctly
• Response file expansion - transparently inlines @response.rsp files during tokenization
• VS Code integration - --c-cpp-properties emits a matching .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json for the VS Code C/C++ extension
• Extensively tested - validated across over 50 OSS projects (~77,000 compile commands)

• .NET 10 SDK or later
• Visual Studio 2022/2026 with C++ workload (or Build Tools)

git clone https://github.com/<owner>/msbuild-extractor-sample.git
cd msbuild-extractor-sample
dotnet build

dotnet run -- --solution path/to/solution.sln -c Debug -a x64

msbuild-extractor-sample [options]

Options:
  -p, --project <path>              Path to .vcxproj file (repeatable)
  -s, --solution <path>             Path to .sln or .slnx file (repeatable)
  -c, --configuration <name>        Build configuration [default: Debug]
  -a, --platform <name>             Build platform [default: x64]
  -o, --output <path>               Output path [default: compile_commands.json]
  --all-configurations              Extract for all configuration/platform combos
  --merge                           Merge all configs into single output file
  --deduplicate                     Smart merge: one entry per file for IntelliSense
  --prefer-configuration <name>     Preferred config for dedup conflicts [default: Debug]
  --prefer-platform <name>          Preferred platform for dedup conflicts [default: x64]
  --format <standard|rich>          Output format [default: standard]
  --validate                        Verify each entry compiles with cl.exe
  --strict                          Treat config/platform warnings as errors
  --vs-path <path>                  Path to Visual Studio installation
  --vs-instance <id>                Select VS by instance ID (see --list-instances)
  --list-instances                  List all Visual Studio installations and exit
  --vc-targets-path <path>          VC targets directory (auto-detected)
  --vc-tools-install-dir <path>     VCToolsInstallDir property (auto-detected)
  --msbuild-path <path>             MSBuild.exe path (enables out-of-process mode)
  --use-dev-env                     Read Developer Command Prompt environment variables
  --c-cpp-properties                Emit .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json alongside the output
  --logger                          Enable MSBuild console logger output

At least one --project or --solution must be specified. Both can be repeated and combined.

The output includes a sentinel entry (.msbuild-extractor-sample) as the first element so consumers can identify the generator. Standard C++ LSP tools silently skip it since the file does not exist on disk.

The tool loads a .vcxproj file (or discovers all .vcxproj files in a solution) using the MSBuild API, runs a design-time build targeting GetClCommandLines (defined in Microsoft.Cpp.DesignTime.targets), and converts the results into the JSON Compilation Database format. No actual compilation occurs - only project evaluation and target execution.

For GN-generated projects (Chromium, Crashpad), where GetClCommandLines returns no items because source files aren't listed in the vcxproj, the tool falls back to reading ItemDefinitionGroup/ClCompile settings and scanning for source files on disk.

dotnet build

• C++20 modules (.ixx/.cppm) are extracted but skipped during --validate (require /interface flag)
• NuGet native packages must be restored before extraction (nuget restore or msbuild -t:Restore)
• Build-generated files (MIDL proxies, code generators) won't exist until a full build is done
• Windows-only - requires Visual Studio and MSVC toolchain

MIT