---
id: cmeel
version: "0.60.1"
license: BSD-2-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# cmeel — Create Wheel from CMake projects

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 918.2K/mo

## What it is and what it does

cmeel bridges CMake-based C++ projects and Python's packaging ecosystem by acting as a PEP 517 build backend. Instead of writing custom setup.py or setup.cfg, you declare your CMake project in pyproject.toml and cmeel handles the build, test, and wheel creation. It installs CMake artifacts into a namespaced directory within the Python site-packages, making dependencies discoverable to downstream CMake builds.

The package is designed for teams maintaining C++ libraries or tools that want to distribute them on PyPI without maintaining dual build systems. It follows modern Python packaging standards (PEP 517, 518, 621, 660) and supports editable installs for development workflows. Runtime dependencies are minimal—only tomli for TOML parsing—keeping installation lightweight.

Use it for:

- Package a C++ library with Python bindings as a single wheel for distribution on PyPI.
- Build a CMake-based command-line tool and expose its executables through Python entry points.
- Create a dependency chain where one cmeel package depends on another, with CMake automatically finding transitive dependencies.
- Develop a hybrid project locally with editable installs while maintaining a single CMake build system.
- Distribute platform-specific binaries for MacOS and POSIX Linux as wheels without manual platform tagging.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

cmeel is a PEP 517 build backend that packages CMake projects as Python wheels for distribution on PyPI.

Yes, if you maintain a CMake project and want to distribute it on PyPI without duplicating build logic. The low install friction, active maintenance, permissive license, and zero known vulnerabilities make it a solid choice. Not applicable if your project is pure Python or uses a different build system.

## Install

pip install cmeel
uv add cmeel
poetry add cmeel

## Installing cmeel

Before you install: Low friction: single pure-Python dependency (tomli), distributed as a wheel. Active maintenance with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities. Requires Python 3.9 or later.

License in practice: BSD-2-Clause is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute cmeel-packaged projects with minimal restrictions, provided you retain the license notice.

Quickstart:

# In pyproject.toml of a CMake project:
[build-system]
build-backend = "cmeel"
requires = ["cmeel[build]"]

# Then build with:
pip install --build-backend cmeel .

Requires CMake and a C++ compiler to build projects; Python 3.9 or later required.

Verify before relying:

- Whether cmeel handles all CMake project configurations or has known limitations with specific build patterns.
- Performance characteristics when packaging large or complex CMake projects.
- Compatibility with Windows builds (classifiers list MacOS and POSIX Linux only).

## Package facts

- License: BSD-2-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 918.2K/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

cmake wheel build backend, package cmake projects as wheels, pep 517 cmake build, distribute cmake on pypi, c++ python wheel packaging, cmake to wheel converter, build system independent cmake, cmake, c++-packaging, pep-517

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/cmeel) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/cmeel/)