Microsoft C++ (MSVC) is the complete development toolchain for writing high-performance C++ and C applications targeting Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS. Whether you’re building desktop apps, system software, games, or cloud services, this documentation covers the language, libraries, build tools, and IDE integration you need.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/MicrosoftDocs/cpp-docs/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Get Started
Install Visual Studio and the C++ workload, create your first project, and run a Hello World app in minutes.
Language Reference
Explore the full C++ language reference including modern C++20/23 features, templates, and the type system.
Standard Library
Reference for the C++ Standard Library — containers, algorithms, I/O, concurrency, and more.
Build Systems
Configure CMake, MSBuild, and command-line builds with the MSVC compiler and linker.
What’s in the Docs
Tutorials
Step-by-step walkthroughs for building console apps, CMake projects, and Linux targets.
Compiler Options
Complete reference for cl.exe flags — optimization, diagnostics, language standards, and more.
Code Quality
Use AddressSanitizer, static analysis, and security best practices to write reliable software.
Libraries & Frameworks
C Runtime Library, MFC, ATL, Concurrency Runtime, OpenMP, and compiler intrinsics.
Quick Start
Install Visual Studio with C++ support
Download Visual Studio and select the Desktop development with C++ workload during installation. This installs the MSVC compiler, linker, debugger, and Standard Library headers.
Create a new C++ project
Open Visual Studio, choose Create a new project, select Console App (with C++/Windows/Console tags), name your project, and click Create.
Build and run
Press Ctrl+F5 (Start Without Debugging) to build and run your app. The Output window shows build results, and a console window displays your program’s output.
Key Topics
Modern C++
Smart pointers, move semantics, lambdas, ranges, and C++20 concepts.
CMake Projects
Create and configure CMake projects in Visual Studio with full IntelliSense support.
Cross-Platform
Target Linux, Android, and iOS from Windows using Visual Studio’s remote tooling.
C Runtime Library
POSIX-compatible runtime functions for I/O, memory, strings, math, and more.
AddressSanitizer
Detect memory errors at runtime with MSVC’s built-in ASan integration.
Parallel Programming
Concurrency Runtime, OpenMP, and auto-parallelization for multi-core workloads.
This documentation covers Visual Studio 2017, 2019, and 2022. Features marked with version notes apply only to specific releases of the MSVC toolchain.