Build Prisma Engine from source using CMake presets

Building from source gives you full access to the engine internals, lets you modify subsystems, and is required if you want to work on the editor, contribute to the project, or target a platform configuration not covered by a prebuilt SDK release. Prisma Engine uses CMake presets to standardize builds across all supported platforms and architectures.

Prerequisites

Install the following tools before cloning the repository.

Git — with submodule support (--recursive clone)
CMake 3.31 or later — required by CMakePresets.json
C++20 compiler:
- Windows: Visual Studio 2022 (MSVC)
- Linux: GCC 11+ or Clang 13+
- Android: NDK r25+
Vulkan SDK 1.3+ — required for Vulkan builds on Linux and Windows
Ninja — required for Linux and Android builds (Windows uses Visual Studio generator)

The project uses CMake FetchContent by default to download all third-party dependencies (SDL3, ImGui, GLM, VMA, and others) at configure time. You do not need to install them manually unless you set PRISMA_USE_FETCHCONTENT=OFF to use vcpkg instead.

Clone the repository

Clone the prune branch with all submodules. The prune branch focuses on the SDL3 + Vulkan rendering path.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/Excurs1ons/PrismaEngine.git -b prune
cd PrismaEngine

If you already cloned without --recursive, initialize submodules manually:

git submodule update --init --recursive

One-command build

The scripts/build.sh script auto-detects your platform and architecture, selects the appropriate CMake preset, and runs the full configure + build pipeline.

# Auto-detect platform, architecture, and preset — builds engine in debug mode
./scripts/build.sh

# Specify a target and configuration explicitly
./scripts/build.sh --target editor --config release

# Force a specific preset and clean the build directory first
./scripts/build.sh --preset editor-linux-arm64-debug --clean

Option	Description
`--target`	`engine`, `editor`, or `runtime`
`--config`	`debug` or `release`
`--preset`	Override auto-detection with an exact preset name
`--clean`	Remove the build directory before configuring

Build steps

Configure

Run the CMake configure step using a preset. Presets are defined in CMakePresets.json and cover all combinations of target, platform, architecture, and build type.

cmake --preset <preset-name>

For example, to configure the editor for Linux x64 in debug mode:

cmake --preset editor-linux-x64-debug

Build

Run the build step using the same preset name.

cmake --build --preset <preset-name>

Continuing the example above:

cmake --build --preset editor-linux-x64-debug

Build output is placed in build/<preset-name>/. For example, the Linux x64 debug editor outputs to build/editor-linux-x64-debug/.

Run

After a successful build, run the resulting binary from the build output directory. The binary name matches the target you built (Engine, Editor, or Runtime).

./build/editor-linux-x64-debug/Editor

Platform-specific commands

Windows
Linux
Android

Windows builds use the Visual Studio 17 2022 generator. You can build from the command line using CMake presets or open the project directly in Visual Studio.

# Configure and build the editor in debug mode
cmake --preset editor-windows-x64-debug
cmake --build --preset editor-windows-x64-debug

# Configure and build the runtime in release mode
cmake --preset runtime-windows-x64-release
cmake --build --preset runtime-windows-x64-release

# 1. Open the PrismaEngine root folder in Visual Studio 2022
# 2. Visual Studio automatically detects CMakePresets.json
# 3. Select a preset from the configuration dropdown
# 4. Build with Ctrl+Shift+B

Linux builds use the Ninja generator. Install Ninja via your package manager if it is not already available (apt install ninja-build on Ubuntu/Debian).

# Engine — x64 debug
cmake --preset engine-linux-x64-debug
cmake --build --preset engine-linux-x64-debug

# Engine — ARM64 debug
cmake --preset engine-linux-arm64-debug
cmake --build --preset engine-linux-arm64-debug

# Editor — x64 debug (includes ImGui)
cmake --preset editor-linux-x64-debug
cmake --build --preset editor-linux-x64-debug

# Runtime — x64 release
cmake --preset runtime-linux-x64-release
cmake --build --preset runtime-linux-x64-release

Linux CMake presets are defined and tested for x64 and ARM64, but the Vulkan renderer on Linux is still undergoing validation. ARM64 builds cap parallel jobs at -j4 automatically.

Android builds require the Android NDK r25 or later. Set the ANDROID_NDK_HOME environment variable to your NDK installation directory before configuring.

export ANDROID_NDK_HOME=/path/to/ndk

# Engine — arm64-v8a debug
cmake --preset engine-android-arm64-debug
cmake --build --preset engine-android-arm64-debug

# Engine — arm64-v8a release
cmake --preset engine-android-arm64-release
cmake --build --preset engine-android-arm64-release

# Runtime — arm64-v8a debug
cmake --preset runtime-android-arm64-debug
cmake --build --preset runtime-android-arm64-debug

Alternatively, use Gradle for a full Android Studio project build:

cd projects/android/PrismaAndroid
./gradlew assembleDebug

Available presets

The table below lists all non-hidden presets defined in CMakePresets.json.

Preset name	Target	Platform	Arch	Config
`engine-windows-x64-debug`	Engine	Windows	x64	Debug
`engine-windows-x64-release`	Engine	Windows	x64	Release
`editor-windows-x64-debug`	Editor	Windows	x64	Debug
`editor-windows-x64-release`	Editor	Windows	x64	Release
`runtime-windows-x64-debug`	Runtime	Windows	x64	Debug
`runtime-windows-x64-release`	Runtime	Windows	x64	Release
`engine-linux-x64-debug`	Engine	Linux	x64	Debug
`engine-linux-x64-release`	Engine	Linux	x64	Release
`engine-linux-arm64-debug`	Engine	Linux	ARM64	Debug
`engine-linux-arm64-release`	Engine	Linux	ARM64	Release
`editor-linux-x64-debug`	Editor	Linux	x64	Debug
`editor-linux-x64-release`	Editor	Linux	x64	Release
`editor-linux-arm64-debug`	Editor	Linux	ARM64	Debug
`editor-linux-arm64-release`	Editor	Linux	ARM64	Release
`runtime-linux-x64-debug`	Runtime	Linux	x64	Debug
`runtime-linux-x64-release`	Runtime	Linux	x64	Release
`engine-android-arm64-debug`	Engine	Android	arm64-v8a	Debug
`engine-android-arm64-release`	Engine	Android	arm64-v8a	Release
`runtime-android-arm64-debug`	Runtime	Android	arm64-v8a	Debug
`runtime-android-arm64-release`	Runtime	Android	arm64-v8a	Release

Key CMake options

You can pass these options to cmake --preset via -D flags to override preset defaults.

Option	Description	Default
`PRISMA_BUILD_EDITOR`	Include the ImGui editor application	`OFF` (most presets)
`PRISMA_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS`	Build the engine as a shared library	`ON` (debug), `OFF` (release)
`PRISMA_USE_FETCHCONTENT`	Download dependencies via CMake FetchContent	`ON`
`PRISMA_ENABLE_RENDER_VULKAN`	Enable the Vulkan rendering backend	Platform-dependent
`PRISMA_ENABLE_RENDER_DX12`	Enable the DirectX 12 rendering backend	`ON` (Windows base)
`PRISMA_ENABLE_AUDIO_SDL3`	Enable the SDL3 audio backend	`ON` (Linux/Android)
`PRISMA_ENABLE_IMGUI_DEBUG`	Enable ImGui debug overlays	`ON` (debug builds)
`PRISMA_USE_NATIVE_AUDIO`	Use platform-native audio instead of SDL3	`ON`
`PRISMA_USE_NATIVE_INPUT`	Use platform-native input instead of SDL3	`ON`

Get Started

Core Concepts

Engine Systems

Platform Guides

SDK & Integration

Build Prisma Engine from source using CMake presets

Prerequisites

Clone the repository

One-command build

Build steps

Platform-specific commands

Available presets

Key CMake options

​Prerequisites

​Clone the repository

​One-command build

​Build steps

​Platform-specific commands

​Available presets

​Key CMake options

Prerequisites

Clone the repository

One-command build

Build steps

Platform-specific commands

Available presets

Key CMake options