Environment setup
Install the platform tools required to build Byte Engine applications.
Select your operating system to see every tool and configuration step required to build Byte Engine. Your choice is remembered anywhere these operating system tabs appear in the documentation.
macOS
Set up Apple's SDK and native build tools before you build Byte Engine on macOS.
Minimum macOS version
Byte Engine requires macOS 26 or later.
Install Rust
Install Rust with rustup:
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | shThe repository pins its nightly toolchain in rust-toolchain.toml, so Cargo
downloads and uses the correct version when you build inside the checkout.
Install Xcode
Install the full Xcode app before building Byte Engine on macOS. Xcode includes the macOS SDK and command-line compiler tools used by the engine.
Why full Xcode is required
Byte Engine's shader build invokes the metal and metallib tools. Apple
offers these tools only through the Metal Toolchain component for the full
Xcode installation, so the standalone Command Line Tools can't build Byte
Engine's Metal shader resources. Other build steps use Xcode's SDK and
command-line tools to compile and link the engine and its applications. The
Xcode user interface isn't part of the build; use it only for tasks such as
GPU capture and debugging.
Select the installed Xcode app and accept its license:
sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -license acceptDownload the Metal compiler component for the selected Xcode installation:
xcodebuild -downloadComponent MetalToolchainVerify that the Metal compiler is available:
xcrun -sdk macosx metal --versionInstall Homebrew packages
Install the native build tools used by Byte Engine's Rust dependencies.
brew install cmake pkg-config