zig

Zig Programming Language

Entry point for Zig development. Provides an overview, version awareness, and routes to focused skills.

When to Use This Skill

Activate when:

• Starting a new Zig project
• Needing a general overview of Zig capabilities
• Migrating a project between Zig versions
• Unsure which specific Zig skill to load

Available Skills

This plugin provides focused skills for specific Zig topics:

• zig:language - Core language: comptime, error handling, data types, slices, defer
• zig:build - Build system: build.zig, cross-compilation, dependencies, CI
• zig:allocators - Memory management: allocator types, patterns, leak detection
• zig:testing - Built-in test framework, test allocator, build integration
• zig:c-interop - C interoperability: @cImport, type mappings, translate-c, linking
• zig:troubleshooting - Common errors, debugging, runtime panics, memory issues

Version Awareness

Zig is pre-1.0: every minor release carries breaking changes. Run zig version first and match guidance to the installed toolchain. This plugin documents 0.16.0 (current stable, released 2026-04-13); 0.15.x and 0.14.x notes are retained for migration. Check https://ziglang.org/download/index.json for the release list — GitHub tags lag behind (they stop at 0.15.2).

Version	Template	Highlights
0.16.0	templates/0.16.0/mise.toml	std.Io async architecture (all blocking ops take io, io.async/Future, Io.Threaded), @cImport deprecated for b.addTranslateC(), @Type replaced by dedicated builtins, "juicy main" main(init: std.process.Init), sync primitives moved to std.Io.*
0.15.2	templates/0.15.2/mise.toml	std.Io Reader/Writer redesign ("Writergate"), unmanaged std.ArrayList default, usingnamespace and async/await removed, top-level root_source_file removed from build options, {f} format specifier, self-hosted x86_64 Debug backend
0.14.1	templates/0.14.1/mise.toml	Managed std.ArrayList, root_module introduced (old fields deprecated), build.zig.zon fingerprint + enum-literal name

The full breaking-change tables and 0.14 → 0.15 migration checklist live in references/version-history.md. For concrete 0.15 → 0.16 before/after code snippets (sync primitives, Reader API, ArrayList, ordered maps, C interop, process API, macOS 26 build) see references/migration-0.16.md.

Quick Start

# Install via mise (pin the exact version)
mise use [email protected]

# Create a new project
mkdir myproject && cd myproject
zig init        # add --minimal for just a build.zig.zon stub (0.15+)

Copy templates/0.16.0/mise.toml into the project for build/test/fmt/watch tasks. Projects pinned to older toolchains use templates/0.15.2/mise.toml or templates/0.14.1/mise.toml.

Key Principles

• No hidden control flow: if code does not look like it calls a function, it does not
• No hidden memory allocations: allocators are explicit parameters
• No preprocessor, no macros: comptime replaces both
• Explicit over implicit: be clear about allocations, errors, ownership
• Performance and safety: both achievable without compromise
• C ecosystem integration: use existing C libraries without depending on libc
• Cross-compilation first-class: target any platform from any platform