ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ Build EAR

Bear gives you working code navigation, autocomplete, and diagnostics on any C/C++ project, whatever the build system. Prefix your build command with bear -- and it produces the compile_commands.json file that Clang tooling (clangd, clang-tidy, and friends) needs to understand your code.

The JSON compilation database describes how each translation unit is compiled. Bear captures the compiler invocations while your build runs and writes the database for you - no changes to your build system required.

When to use Bear

Bear is the tool of choice when the build system cannot produce a compilation database for you:

• Make, autotools, or custom script builds - most of the C world.
• A build you cannot or do not want to modify: a third-party project, a codebase you are just exploring, a CI job.
• Unusual toolchains: embedded (ARM, TI, Microchip, QNX), HPC (Cray, Intel, NVIDIA, MPI wrappers), CUDA, cross-compilers, and compiler launchers such as ccache, distcc, and icecc.
• A build you cannot run at all: parse make -n dry-run output or a saved build log instead.

Bear can intercept the build as it runs, recording what the compiler was actually invoked with, including flags injected by wrappers and entries for generated sources. Bear can also interpret the commands a build system plans to run, formatting those into a compilation database as if they had executed.

If your project uses CMake, Meson, or Bazel, those tools can export a compilation database directly; use that when it is available.

How to install

Bear is packaged for many distributions. Check your distribution's package manager first. Alternatively, you can build it from source.

How to use

After installation, run:

bear -- <your-build-command>

Bear writes compile_commands.json to the current working directory. Pass Bear's own options before --; everything after that is treated as part of the build command.

If you cannot run the build - all you have is a CI log or the build system's dry-run output - Bear can reconstruct the database from that text instead:

make -n | bear parse-sh

For more, run bear --help or read the man page. The documentation site covers limitations, known issues, and platform- and toolchain-specific usage.

Limitations

Bear works on Linux, Android, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD, and Windows.

Each operating system and build system imposes constraints on how Bear can run and which interception method is available, and those affect the final output. The documentation site describes the available options and each option's limitations.

Acknowledgments

Bear is kept going by people who chip in. Thank you.

• @maflcko for regular sponsorship.
• Anthropic for a free Claude subscription, which supported development work.

Problem reports

Before opening a new problem report, please check the documentation to see if your problem is a known issue with a documented workaround. It's also helpful to look at older (possibly closed) issues before opening a new one.

If you decide to report a problem, please provide as much context as possible to help reproduce the error. If you just have a question about usage, please don't be shy; ask your question in an issue or in our chat.

If you've found a bug and have a fix for it, please share it by opening a pull request.

Please follow the contribution guide when you do.