Custom Installation

Build the Python package from source if you want the latest main branch, a debug build, or to work on docc itself. The package contains the complete compiler (built with CMake through scikit-build-core), so the build takes a while.

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.11
• CMake ≥ 3.16, Ninja, and a C++20 compiler (Clang 21 recommended)
• System libraries: GMP, zstd, ISL, nlohmann-json, Boost Graph

On Ubuntu:

wget https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh && chmod +x llvm.sh && sudo ./llvm.sh 21
sudo apt-get install -y cmake ninja-build git \
    libgmp-dev libzstd-dev libisl-dev nlohmann-json3-dev libboost-graph-dev

On macOS:

brew install cmake ninja gmp isl nlohmann-json boost libomp

tip

Skip the setup with the Docker images: daisytuner/docc-build-env-llvm21-ubuntu-24.04 contains all build dependencies, and the run-env images add CUDA and ROCm.

Build

git clone https://github.com/daisytuner/docc.git
cd docc
git submodule update --init --recursive

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e python/

pip install -e creates an editable install: changes to the Python sources take effect immediately; changes to C++ sources require running the command again.

Check your build with the WAXPBY example from the Quickstart:

python waxpby.py

Build options

Pass CMake options with -C cmake.define.<OPTION>=<value> (or via the CMAKE_ARGS environment variable):

Option	Default	Description
DOCC_CXX_COMPILER	clang++-21 (Linux), clang++ (macOS)	C++ compiler that the package uses at runtime to compile generated code
DOCC_BUILD_TARGET_TENSTORRENT	ON	Build the Tenstorrent target
DOCC_BUILD_TARGET_ET	OFF	Build the ETSoC target

For example, to use the Clang that ships with ROCm for generated code:

pip install -e python/ -C cmake.define.DOCC_CXX_COMPILER=/opt/rocm/llvm/bin/clang++

The compiler can also be changed at runtime with DOCC_BACKEND_COMPILER, see Usage.

Debug builds

For development, build the C++ parts with debug information and keep the CMake build directory, so that rebuilds are incremental:

pip install --no-build-isolation -e python/ \
    -C cmake.build-type=Debug \
    -C build-dir=build-python

--no-build-isolation requires the build dependencies in your environment: pip install scikit-build-core pybind11.

Debug Options explains how to run the tests and inspect what docc does with your functions.