Nodos

Nodos is a highly extensible, node-graph based computing platform.

This repo is the workspace for Nodos development: engine SDKs, plugins/subsystems, and the toolchain used to generate projects.

Toolchain

• Toolchain/CMake: workspace CMake entrypoint and helpers.
• Toolchain/nosman: package/module manager (builds nodos.exe).

Develop Plugins/Subsystems (CMake)

Recommended workflow:

1. Put your plugin under Module/ (or use --plugin-dirs for dev gen command).
2. Generate project files:

./nodos dev gen

Alternative:

cmake -S Toolchain/CMake -B Project -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo

3. Build and iterate in your IDE or with ./nodos dev build.

Nodos 1.4 and Later

Auto Target Generation

Nodos 1.4+ uses .nosplugin manifests to generate CMake targets for your plugins automatically.

• Put one .nosplugin in each plugin folder under Module/.
• The manifest declares the SDK version and dependencies; nodos will fetch the SDKs and packages as needed.
• No per-plugin CMake is required unless you need custom build steps.

Scanning rules

• The toolchain scans Module/ (or MODULE_DIRS) recursively.
• If a folder contains a single .nosplugin, it becomes a plugin target.

Sharing common dependencies with NosPluginCommon.cmake

If you have several plugins under the same repository (or folder tree) and use common dependencies, add a NosPluginCommon.cmake file to that directory. Define nos_plugin_common(dir out_deps out_defs) to return:

• out_deps: extra CMake targets or libraries to link.
• out_defs: preprocessor definitions to apply. The toolchain calls this once per directory while scanning and applies the results to all plugins found under that subtree.

Extending a generated plugin target

If a plugin needs extra sources or build logic, add a CMakeLists.txt next to its .nosplugin. After the target is created, the toolchain sets NOS_PLUGIN_TARGET and includes this file, so you can:

• add sources,
• add include paths,
• link extra libraries,
• set compile options/definitions.

Post-target hook

You can also define nos_plugin_on_post_target_generated(target name) (e.g., in NosPluginCommon.cmake) to run custom logic after a target is created.

Custom flatbuffers types

If your plugin defines its own .fbs files:

• Add a Types/ folder, or list paths under custom_types in the .nosplugin manifest.
• The toolchain runs flatc and generates headers into Include/<PluginName>. SDK-provided schemas live under Types/ in the SDK.

Legacy Workflow (Nodos 1.3 and Earlier)

Place engines/SDKs under Engine/ (or set ENGINE_FOLDER) and use the legacy CMake workflow (per-plugin CMakeLists).

Sample CMakeLists.txt:

# Select SDK
nos_find_sdk("1.3.0" NOS_PLUGIN_SDK_TARGET NOS_SUBSYSTEM_SDK_TARGET NOS_SDK_DIR)

# Pull dependency with nosman
nos_get_module("nos.sys.vulkan" "6.7" NOS_SYS_VULKAN_TARGET)

# Create plugin target
nos_add_plugin("MyPlugin" "${NOS_PLUGIN_SDK_TARGET};${NOS_SYS_VULKAN_TARGET}" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Include")

# Optional: generate flatbuffers
nos_generate_flatbuffers("Types" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Include/MyPlugin" "cpp" "${NOS_SDK_DIR}/Types" MyPlugin_generated)
target_sources(MyPlugin PUBLIC ${MyPlugin_generated})

You can also use the SDK without this repo by including the SDK's cmake folder in your project.

Requirements

• CMake 3.24.2+
• C++20 compatible generator and compiler backends for CMake
• If you want to build Nodos Package Manager: Rust toolchain (cargo, rustc)