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Reflex

Build & Test

Reflex is a header-only C++20 library. The CMake build exists to compile and run the tests and benchmarks. It requires CMake 4.0 or newer and Ninja.

Linux

Section titled “Linux”
Terminal window
cmake --preset gcc-debug          # or gcc-release, clang-debug, clang-release
cmake --build --preset gcc-debug
ctest --preset gcc-debug

Debug presets keep the controllers’ contract asserts live; Release presets compile them out and are the ones to use for benchmarks:

Terminal window
cmake --preset gcc-release && cmake --build --preset gcc-release
./build/gcc-release/bench/pid_bench

Windows (Visual Studio 2022)

Section titled “Windows (Visual Studio 2022)”

Open the folder in Visual Studio and pick the msvc preset, or from a Developer PowerShell:

Terminal window
cmake --preset msvc
cmake --build --preset msvc-debug
ctest --preset msvc-debug

The CMake bundled with Visual Studio 2022 is 3.x; point Visual Studio at a CMake 4.x install (Tools → Options → CMake).

Using reflex from another project

Section titled “Using reflex from another project”
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(reflex
    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/branes-ai/reflex.git
    GIT_TAG        <release tag>)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(reflex)  # tests/bench are off when not top-level


target_link_libraries(my_flight_controller PRIVATE branes::reflex)

MTL5 and Universal

Section titled “MTL5 and Universal”

Tests and examples use MTL5 (linear algebra) and Universal (posits, cfloat, fixed-point). Both are header-only Stillwater sister projects. CMake uses an installed copy if find_package finds one; otherwise it fetches only their headers at the versions pinned in cmake/deps.cmake. Neither is fetched when tests are off, so projects that consume reflex do not pull them.

To build against local checkouts (no network needed):

Terminal window
cmake --preset gcc-debug \
  -DFETCHCONTENT_SOURCE_DIR_MTL5=$HOME/dev/stillwater/clones/mtl5 \
  -DFETCHCONTENT_SOURCE_DIR_UNIVERSAL=$HOME/dev/stillwater/clones/universal

Their headers are treated as system headers, so their warnings don’t trip reflex’s warnings-as-errors build. To see them, for example while fixing them upstream, add -DREFLEX_SHOW_DEP_WARNINGS=ON --compile-no-warning-as-error.

Adding a test

Section titled “Adding a test”

Drop a <name>.cpp Catch2 file into tests/<layer>/ (tests/sdk/ for the library, tests/examples/ for end-to-end examples). It is picked up, built, and registered with CTest automatically (see cmake/compile_all.cmake). Test and benchmark targets build with strict warnings as errors.