Zig PyPI distribution

Zig is a general-purpose programming language and toolchain for maintaining robust, optimal, and reusable software. The ziglang Python package redistributes the Zig toolchain so that it can be used as a dependency of Python projects.

Rationale

Although Zig is useful in itself, the Zig toolchain includes a drop-in C and C++ compiler, zig cc, based on clang. Unlike clang itself, zig cc is standalone: it does not require additional development files to be installed to target any of the platforms it supports. Through zig cc, Python code that generates C or C++ code can build it without any external dependencies.

Usage

To run the Zig toolchain from the command line, use:

python -m ziglang

To run the Zig toolchain from a Python program, use sys.executable to locate the Python binary to invoke. For example:

import sys, subprocess

subprocess.call([sys.executable, "-m", "ziglang"])

Binary wrapper

The ziglang Python package installs a binary wrapper for the Zig compiler under the name python-zig; the name is different to avoid conflicts with any system-wide or user-wide zig binaries that may be already installed.

Using with uv

The Zig compiler distributed in this Python package can be launched by uv without installation:

uvx --from ziglang python-zig

License

The Zig license.