cpp-systems
Installation
SKILL.md
C++ Systems & Libraries
Covers C++17 as the baseline, with C++20 features called out where a project's standard allows them. For plain C (manual lifetimes, status enums, native extensions), see the ia-c-systems skill.
Repo conventions outrank this skill
Check CMakeLists.txt for CXX_STANDARD, read .clang-format and .clang-tidy, and read two adjacent translation units before writing. Where they conflict with the rules below, they win.
The conflicts that actually happen:
| Local constraint | Consequence |
|---|---|
-fno-exceptions |
Error handling is codes or expected-alikes. Constructors cannot report recoverable failure, so use a fallible factory or construct a valid fallback state. new (std::nothrow) only where the project's OOM policy is to observe null and recover; plain new is fine where the policy is termination |
| Standard pinned below C++17 | No std::optional/string_view/structured bindings/if constexpr; check before using any |
| Public header is ABI-stable | No layout changes, no inline-function changes, no added virtuals: load the ABI reference |
| Embedded or freestanding target | No RTTI, no dynamic allocation in hot paths, possibly no STL containers |