Install fastbuild with Homebrew, MacPorts

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• fbuild
• fbuildworker

Project history

FASTBuild's official changelog lists v0.50 as the first public release in February 2013, already including multithreaded compilation, local or network build caching, Unity/Blob generation, and unit-test integration. That first release established the project as a performance-oriented alternative to heavier project-file or script-driven build workflows.

The project evolved through frequent releases adding BFF language features, cache compression, report generation, distributed build reliability, project-generation support, and compiler/platform coverage. Its documentation frames the `.bff` configuration language as a compact, human-readable way to express build graphs without generating huge IDE project files by hand.

The official site describes FASTBuild as a native Windows, macOS, and Linux application with no external runtime dependencies beyond the compilers being driven. Its design emphasis is a small self-contained executable, fast no-op builds, precise dependency graph handling, and aggressive reduction of overhead in process invocation, include scanning, and database load/save.

Adoption history

FASTBuild's homepage says it is used in production by game developers ranging from small independent teams to some of the largest studios in the world. Its platform list includes PC, Mac, Linux, consoles, smartphones, and retro systems, which matches its reputation as a build tool for cross-platform game and engine development.

Its adoption story is less about broad default availability and more about teams embedding a tiny tool into source control or CI. The documentation explicitly notes that the executable can simply be copied or checked into revision control, an attractive model for studios that need reproducible build tooling across developer machines and agents.

How it is used

A FASTBuild project is usually driven by `fbuild` reading a BFF build file, commonly `fbuild.bff`, to define compilers, object lists, libraries, executables, aliases, tests, caching, and distribution settings. `fbuildworker` runs on spare machines to accept distributed compilation work.

Common workflows include speeding up full builds with distributed workers, accelerating repeated builds with local or network caches, using Unity/Blob builds to reduce compilation overhead, and generating Visual Studio or Xcode projects that still route compilation through FASTBuild.

FASTBuild is most valuable where build time is a productively painful bottleneck: large C++ games, engines, middleware, console SDK targets, and CI farms. For small projects the configuration language may be more machinery than needed; for very large ones the cache and worker model is the point.

Why package nerds care

FASTBuild is package-nerd interesting because it is not just another make-like runner. It packages a build scheduler, cache protocol, distributed compiler client and worker, project generator, and a custom configuration language into small standalone binaries.

It also sits in a niche where package managers and source-control vendoring overlap. Many teams pin a known FASTBuild binary in their repository, while Homebrew and MacPorts make it convenient for local experimentation and Unix developer environments.

Timeline

• 2013: v0.50 became the first public release.
• 2013: v0.53 added cache compression and cache hierarchy changes.
• 2013: v0.56 added detailed build reports.
• 2025: v1.15 focused on large-database, project-generation, and distributed compilation improvements.
• 2026: v1.20 improved startup and BFF parsing performance.

Related projects

• MSBuild, Make, SCons, Ninja, and compiler cache tools occupy nearby build-system territory.
• FASTBuild directly supports common compilers such as MSVC, GCC, Clang, SNC, GreenHills, CodeWarrior, and CUDA/NVCC according to its feature documentation.

Sources

• https://github.com/fastbuild/fastbuild
• https://fastbuild.org/docs/home.html
• https://fastbuild.org/docs/features.html
• https://fastbuild.org/docs/documentation.html
• https://fastbuild.org/docs/changelog.html