bti

bti (build and install) is a command-line tool written in Rust that automates building a project and installing the resulting binary to a standard location on your system. It detects the build system used by a project, runs the appropriate build command with sensible release defaults, and copies the compiled output to your local binary directory.

How it works

1. Argument parsing (src/cli/config.rs)

When you run bti, it reads command-line arguments and constructs an ApplicationConfig containing:

• build_file_path - the directory of the project to build (defaults to the current directory)
• build_args - optional custom arguments to pass to the build tool
• binary_install_path - where to install the compiled binary after a successful build

The install path defaults to platform-specific locations:

Platform	Default install path
Linux / macOS	~/.local/bin/<project-name>
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\<project-name>

2. Build system detection (src/cli/build.rs)

bti scans the project directory for well-known build files to determine which build system to use:

File detected	Build system
Cargo.toml	Cargo (Rust)
CMakeLists.txt	CMake
pom.xml	Maven
mvnw / mvnw.cmd	Maven Wrapper
build.gradle / .kts	Gradle
gradlew / gradlew.bat	Gradle Wrapper
package.json	npm
bun.lockb	Bun
build.zig	Zig
go.mod	Go

If no supported build file is found, bti exits with an error.

3. Building the project

Once the build system is identified, bti constructs a release-optimized build command using the number of available CPU cores for parallelism, then executes it with output streamed directly to your terminal. Default commands per tool:

• Cargo: cargo build --release -j <cores>
• CMake: configures with -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release, then cmake --build build --config Release -j <cores>
• Zig: zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseSafe -j <cores>
• Maven: mvn clean verify -T <cores> -DskipTests -P release
• Gradle: gradle clean build --configuration-cache --parallel --max-workers=<cores> -PbuildType=release
• npm / Bun: npm run build / bun run build
• Go: go build -p <cores> -ldflags="-s -w" -o bin/<name> .

You can override all of these by passing --build-args.

4. Installing the binary

After a successful build, bti copies the compiled binary from the build output directory to the resolved install path. On Unix systems it also sets executable permissions (chmod 755).

Installation

Requires Rust to be installed.

git clone <repo-url>
cd bti
cargo run --release

Usage

bti [OPTIONS]

Options

Flag	Short	Description
--build-path <path>	--bp	Path to the project directory to build (default: current directory)
--build-args "<args>"	--ba	Custom arguments to pass to the detected build tool
--compiled-path <path>	--cp	Directory where the binary will be installed
--list-binaries	--lb	List all binaries currently in the install directory
--version	--v	Print the version
--help	-h	Print the command list

Examples

Build and install the project in the current directory:

bti

Build a project located elsewhere:

bti --build-path ~/projects/myapp

Pass custom build arguments:

bti --build-args "build --release --features some-feature"

Install the binary to a custom directory:

bti --compiled-path ~/bin

Project structure

src/
  main.rs           Entry point; calls cli::lib::run()
  cli/
    mod.rs          Module declarations
    config.rs       Argument parsing and ApplicationConfig construction
    build.rs        Build system detection, BuildConfig, build execution, binary install
    commands.rs     CLI flag definitions and display
    lib.rs          Orchestrates config -> build -> install pipeline; contains tests

License

MIT - see LICENSE for details.