Documentation
Sonore SDK
A header-only C++17 framework for audio plugins: one source file builds a CLAP, a VST3, an Audio Unit, an LV2 bundle, a standalone application and a browser build of the same DSP. This is its documentation: task-oriented guides, and an API reference generated from the headers' own comments.
On this page
Quick start
The walkthrough: Getting started# the SDK: the generator and the headers
git clone https://github.com/SonorieAI/sonore-sdk
cd sonore-sdk
# a project of your own, from the repository root
cmake -DNAME="My Filter" -DVENDOR="My Company" -P sdk/cmake/sonore_new_plugin.cmake
# build it; ctest runs the checks the project comes with
cmake -S MyFilter -B MyFilter/build
cmake --build MyFilter/build --config Release
ctest --test-dir MyFilter/build -C ReleaseCMake 3.21 or newer and a C++17 compiler; on Windows, Visual Studio 2022 or newer.
Guides
10 of them, in reading order
- 01Getting startedA generated project, built, checked and loaded into a DAW.
- 02Parameters and state
ParamInfo, theStateBag, the APVTS shape, and keeping old sessions loading. - 03The native editor
createEditor, widgets and attachments,LookAndFeel, the preset bar. - 04The web editorA page as the plugin's face, and the
window.sonorebridge. - 05PresetsFactory presets in the binary, the user's own in a folder.
- 06MIDI and MPEInstruments, voices, per-note expression, MIDI out.
- 07Hosting pluginsScanning, the scan cache, loading and running other people's plugins.
- 08Testing your pluginThe self-checks, unit tests, the validators, a real DAW.
- 09Platforms and formatsWhat runs where, and what is not available.
- 10Versions and compatibilityWhat a version number promises.
API reference, by area
All 270 headers- Plugin modelThe DSP's types, parameters, state, presets, undo13
- DSPFilters, dynamics, reverbs, synthesis, analysis56
- Formats and wrappersCLAP, VST3, AU, LV2, the standalone, the browser ABI12
- Hosting pluginsScanning, the scan cache, hosted plugins, a graph7
- Native GUIComponents, widgets, LookAndFeel, text, images, windows95
- Web editor bridgeThe
window.sonorebridge and the OS webviews4 - Files and codecsPaths, streams, audio files, images, zip23
- MIDI and OSCMIDI files, sequences, UMP, MIDI-CI, devices, OSC12
- System, devices and networkAudio devices, threads, processes, sockets, HTTP22
- ApplicationsThe message thread, settings, documents, logs, unit tests15
- Data, text and cryptoJSON, XML, expressions, JavaScript, hashes, RSA11
For coding agents
The same API, in the forms an agent reads
- llms.txt The map: what this is, the shape of a plugin, the rules that cannot be guessed, one line per header.
- llms-full.txt Every public type in every header: the file that settles whether a class exists.
- Skill and MCP server Install both for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Antigravity, so your agent looks names up instead of guessing.
- Any guide as Markdown Add .md to a guide's address, or use Copy as Markdown beside it, to hand the page to an agent.
Compiled in CI
The code in the guides is compiled. Every C++ block with this mark is extracted by the SDK's tests and built with them, and most also run. A guide whose code stops compiling fails the build, not the reader.