DART Build System

Load this skill when working with DART's build system.

Quick Commands

pixi run configure    # Configure CMake
pixi run build        # Build
pixi run test         # Run tests
pixi run test-all     # Full validation (lint + build + tests)
pixi run -e cuda test-all # CUDA-enabled full validation on Linux CUDA hosts
pixi run lint         # Format code

Full Documentation

For complete build instructions, read: docs/onboarding/building.md

For build system internals (CMake, dependencies): docs/onboarding/build-system.md

Common Issues

CUDA Notes

• On Linux hosts with visible NVIDIA GPUs, the CUDA Pixi config auto-detects compute capabilities for DART_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES; set DART_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES=<arch> only when overriding that detected list.
• If CUDA runtime tests fail with unsupported PTX/toolchain errors, verify the generated CUDA flags include the local GPU architecture before assuming a kernel bug.

Pixi Lockfiles

• Do not edit pixi.lock by hand. Change dependency constraints in pixi.toml, then run a Pixi command such as pixi install to let Pixi regenerate the lockfile.
• If pixi.lock changes format or has broad solver churn, keep the generated output and call it out in the PR rather than attempting to splice lockfile entries manually.

Filament GUI Visual Checks

• For Filament GUI rendering changes, run a bounded headless capture through pixi run ex dartsim --headless --frames ... --width ... --height ... --screenshot .... Prefer at least 1280px width when judging visual quality.
• Inspect the rendered image yourself; do not rely only on command success. The headless smoke analyzer under the private Filament test helpers is useful for a smoke signal, but it is not a substitute for visual inspection.
• If the user explicitly asks for pixi run ex dartsim, also run that exact entry point and terminate it after confirming the GUI binary launches.

Key Files

• pixi.toml - Package management
• CMakeLists.txt - Build configuration
• cmake/ - CMake modules