scikit-build is a Python build system for CPython C/C++/Fortran/Cython extensions using CMake.

The scikit-build package is fundamentally just glue between the setuptools Python module and CMake.

The next generation of scikit-build, scikit-build-core, is currently under development. This provides a simple, reliable build backend for CMake that does not use setuptools and provides a lot of new features. Scikit-build-core can also power a setuptools-based extension system, which will eventually become the backend for scikit-build (classic). If you do not require extensive customization of the build process, you should consider trying scikit-build-core instead of scikit-build.

To get started, see this example. For more examples, see scikit-build-sample-projects.

Versions	Downloads

Please use the first citation when referencing scikit-build in scientific publications.

• Jean-Christophe Fillion-Robin, Matt McCormick, Omar Padron, Max Smolens, Michael Grauer, & Michael Sarahan. (2018, July 13). jcfr/scipy_2018_scikit-build_talk: SciPy 2018 Talk | scikit-build: A Build System Generator for CPython C/C++/Fortran/Cython Extensions. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2565368
• Schreiner, Henry, Rickerby, Joe, Grosse-Kunstleve, Ralf, Jakob, Wenzel, Darbois, Matthieu, Gokaslan, Aaron, Fillion-Robin, Jean-Christophe, & McCormick, Matt. (2022, August 1). Building Binary Extensions with pybind11, scikit-build, and cibuildwheel. https://doi.org/10.25080/majora-212e5952-033

PyCMake was created at SciPy 2014 in response to general difficulties building C++ and Fortran based Python extensions across platforms. It was renamed to "scikit-build" in 2016. Scikit-build-core was started in 2022.

These issues are likely to be addressed in upcoming releases, and are already addressed in scikit-build-core.

• Editable installs do not work with the latest versions of Setuptools (and had issues with older versions, too).
• Configuration scikit-build cares about _must be specified in setup() currently.
• The cache directory (_skbuild) may need to be deleted between builds in some cases (like rebuilding with a different Python interpreter).
• AIX requires a newer version of CMake than the IBM-supplied CMake 3.22.0 from the AIX Toolbox for Open Source Software. We currently recommend building CMake from source on AIX.

We are also working on improving scikit-build, so there are some upcoming changes and deprecations:

• All deprecated setuptools/distutils features are also deprecated in scikit-build, like the test command, easy_install, etc.
• Older versions of CMake (<3.15) are not recommended; a future version will remove support for older CMake's (along with providing a better mechanism for ensuring a proper CMake is available).

If you need any of these features, please open or find an issue explaining what and why you need something.

• Free software: MIT license
• Documentation: http://scikit-build.readthedocs.org
• Source code: https://github.com/scikit-build/scikit-build
• Discussions: https://github.com/orgs/scikit-build/discussions
• Scikit-build-core: https://github.com/scikit-build/scikit-build-core

Support for this work was provided by NSF grant OAC-2209877.