Ninja

Spec sheet

Purpose

Ninja is a small build system designed to evaluate incremental builds quickly.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Platforms

The manual says Ninja works on Unix-like systems and Windows, and runs on Mac OS X and FreeBSD.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Integrations

GN and CMake can generate Ninja files; the manual also names Premake as a possible fit.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Support

The project site links to a mailing list and lists the #ninja-build IRC channel on irc.oftc.net.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

License

The project repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Build behavior

Builds run in parallel by default, using the number of CPUs on the system.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Dependencies

Ninja supports discovering extra dependencies at build time, including C and C++ header dependencies.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Dependency handling

Ninja supports discovering C/C++ header dependencies from compiler-generated dependency information.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Designed use

Ninja is intended to work with a separate program that generates its input files.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Download

Official prebuilt binaries are available for Linux, Mac, and Windows, and the project also documents installation through package managers.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Downloads

The project README says binaries are available for Linux, Mac, and Windows.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Generated inputs

Ninja is designed for a higher-level build system to generate its input files, which are human-readable but not especially convenient to write by hand.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

How it works

Ninja takes file interdependencies as input and runs the commands needed to build targets.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Incremental builds

Ninja aims for very fast incremental builds, including for very large projects.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Notable limit

Ninja has no built-in rules, such as rules for compiling C code.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Notable limits

Ninja has no built-in rules, little syntax for hand-written build files, and no build-time customization or decision-making features such as conditionals.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Parallel builds

Builds run in parallel by default, based on the number of CPUs on the system.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Platform support

The manual says Ninja works on Unix-like systems and Windows, and runs on Mac OS X and FreeBSD; it has seen the most testing on Linux.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Release

The project site identifies v1.13.1, released 10 July 2025, as the last Ninja release.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Standalone executable

The project README describes Ninja as a standalone executable rather than a library, with no public API.Read 11 Oct 2026 · github.com

Use cases

The site says Ninja is used to build Google Chrome, parts of Android, and LLVM.Read 11 Oct 2026 · ninja-build.org

Plans and prices

Every Ninja plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Build Automation Software#13 of 428.1