Build from Source

Skim builds with the standard Zig build system. Make sure you have Zig 0.16.0 and git first.

Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/ctdio/skim.git
cd skim

# Debug build (for development)
zig build

# OR optimized release build
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

The binary is written to ./zig-out/bin/skim.

Tip

Use the debug build (zig build) while developing or debugging. It keeps assertions on, produces better stack traces, and emits std.log.debug output. Use -Doptimize=ReleaseFast for day-to-day use; release builds strip symbols and are around 209 KB.

Run it

# Review working-directory changes
./zig-out/bin/skim

# Review staged changes
./zig-out/bin/skim --staged

Put it on your PATH (for example by symlinking zig-out/bin/skim into a directory already on PATH) so you can invoke skim from anywhere.

Development checks

If you’re hacking on Skim itself:

# Run the test suite
zig build test

# Run the repo-configured ziglint checks
zig build lint

zig build lint uses the repository’s .ziglint.zon. The wrapper script prefers a locally installed ziglint binary and otherwise falls back to mise x github:rockorager/ziglint@v0.5.2 -- ziglint.

Dependencies

Skim pulls its dependencies through build.zig.zon:

• libvaxis: TUI rendering.
• tree-sitter plus language grammars: syntax highlighting for JavaScript, TypeScript, Zig, Python, Rust, Go, C, C++, JSON, YAML, TOML, Markdown, HTML, CSS, and Bash.

Next: your first review.