clang-tools CLI

Easily install clang-format, clang-tidy, clang-query, and clang-apply-replacements static binaries or Python wheels using the clang-tools CLI.

Important

This package only manages binary executables (& corresponding symbolic links) that are installed using this package's executable script. It does not intend to change or modify any binary executable installed from other sources (like LLVM releases).

For Python wheels, this CLI only support clang-format and clang-tidy tools.

Features

• Support clang tools binaries and Python wheels.

• Binaries are statically linked for improved portability.

• Binaries can be specified installed for increased flexibility.

• Binaries are checked with SHA512 checksum. This ensures:

  1. Downloads are not corrupted.
  2. Old binary builds can be updated.

• Installed binaries are symbolically linked for better cross-platform usage. For example (on Windows), the clang-tidy-13.exe binary executable can also be invoked with the symbolic link titled clang-tidy.exe

  Note

  To create symbolic links on Windows, you must enable developer mode from the Windows settings under "Privacy & security" > "For developers" category.

• Customizable install path.

Install clang-tools CLI

Tip

It is recommended to use this package in a virtual environment.

# create the virtual env in the working directory
python -m venv env-name

# to activate on Linux:
source env-name/bin/activate

# to activate on Windows:
./env-name/Scripts/activate

This will ensure that

1. there are no permission problems when installing the tool
2. the installed path (for MacOS and Windows) is within the environment's variable PATH.

Install clang-tools command with pip

pip install clang-tools

Install clang-tools from git repo

pip install git+https://github.com/cpp-linter/clang-tools-pip.git@main

CLI Usage

For a list of supported Command Line Interface options, see the CLI documentation

Install binaries examples

Use clang-tools command to install version 13 binaries.

clang-tools --install 13

Or install to a specified directory

clang-tools --install 13 --directory .

Or install a specified tool, such as clang-format and clang-query version 14.

clang-tools --install 14 --tool clang-format clang-query

If the installed directory is in your path, you can run the installed tools.

clang-format-13 --version
clang-format version 13.0.0

clang-tidy-13 --version
LLVM (http://llvm.org/):
  LLVM version 13.0.0
  Optimized build.
  Default target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
  Host CPU: skylake

Install wheels examples

After installing the clang-tools CLI, you can install the Python wheels using the clang-tools-wheel command.

Important

The clang-tools-wheel command is primarily intended for cpp-linter projects to simplify installing clang tools Python wheels. For general use, it is recommended to install the wheels directly using pip, pipx, uv, or similar tools.

# Install latest clang-format wheel
clang-tools-wheel --tool clang-format
# Install specific version clang-format wheel
clang-tools-wheel --tool clang-format --version 21

# Install latest clang-tidy wheel
clang-tools-wheel --tool clang-tidy
# Install specific version clang-tidy wheel
clang-tools-wheel --tool clang-tidy --version 21

Supported Versions

clang tools binaries

The following table shows the supported versions of clang-format, clang-tidy, clang-query, and clang-apply-replacements binaries for each platform:

Platform	21	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9
Linux	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Windows	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
macOS	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️

For more details, visit the clang-tools-static-binaries repository.

clang tools Python wheels

The following Python wheels are supported:

• clang-format
• clang-tidy

Check the respective PyPI pages for available versions and platform support.