cdd-csharp

Compiler Driven Development (CDD) is a development approach designed to eradicate the disconnect between: API specifications; server implementations; client SDKs; and command-line tooling.

Unlike traditional code generators—that treat outputs as disposable or read-only—CDD provides a complete, standalone compiler for each supported language. These compilers are fully CST-aware (Concreate Syntax Tree is a whitespace+comment aware Abstract Syntax Tree), allowing true bidirectional synchronization between existing hand-edited source code and OpenAPI specifications.

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🏗️ The Standalone Compiler Architecture

Traditional tools use naïve templating—if you regenerate, your custom code is overwritten.

The CDD ecosystem is fundamentally different. It utilizes language-specific, standalone compilers capable of full AST parsing, semantic diffing, and surgical patching.

The Core Guarantee: Every part of the generated codebase is fully editable. You are encouraged to open the generated routing files, model definitions, and CLI structures, and directly inject your business logic.

• When your specification changes, the CDD compiler reads your code, builds an AST, diffs it against the new spec, and safely patches in new endpoints or fields without touching your custom logic.
• When your codebase changes, the compiler reverse-engineers your structural updates back into a 100% accurate, authoritative OpenAPI specification.

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🔄 The Bidirectional Synchronization Loop

flowchart TD
    OAS["📄 OpenAPI v3 Spec"] <--> CDD{"⚙️ CDD Compiler"}

    CDD <--> Codebase

    subgraph Codebase ["💻 Application Codebase"]
        direction TB

        subgraph Outputs ["📦 Primary Outputs"]
            direction TB
            CLI["⌨️ CLI Tooling"]
            SDK["📦 Client SDK"]
            Server["🖥️ Server"]

            %% Force vertical stacking inside the subgraph
            CLI ~~~ SDK ~~~ Server
        end

        subgraph Core ["🔗 Core Architecture"]
            direction TB
            Models["🔗 Data Models"]
            Routes["🔀 API Routes"]
            Tests["🧪 Tests"]

            %% Force vertical stacking inside the subgraph
            Models ~~~ Routes ~~~ Tests
        end

        Mocks["🎭 API Mocks / Fakes"]

        %% Simple dependency flow down the page
        Outputs --> Core
        Tests --> Mocks
    end

    style OAS fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1e88e5,stroke-width:2px
    style CDD fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#8e24aa,stroke-width:2px
    style Codebase fill:#fafafa,stroke:#9e9e9e,stroke-width:2px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5
    style Outputs fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#43a047,stroke-width:2px
    style Core fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#f57c00,stroke-width:2px

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The CDD lifecycle supports continuous evolution from any starting point:

1. Generate: Scaffold servers, SDKs, or CLIs from a central specification.
2. Edit: Developers write real, unconstrained code directly in the generated files.
3. Extract: Reverse-compile the edited code to produce an updated OpenAPI spec.
4. Sync: Apply new specification changes seamlessly into the existing, hand-edited codebase.

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🌐 The Global Language Ecosystem

Every supported language operates on the same core CDD philosophies but is powered by a dedicated, native compiler tailored to that language's specific AST, idioms, and package management.

All implementations share a standardized CLI interface (cdd [subcommand]), acting as a universal toolchain.

Repository	Language	Client; Client CLI; Server	Extra features	Standards	CI Status
cdd-c	C (C89)	Client; Client CLI; Server	FFI	Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-cpp	C++	Client; Client CLI; Server	Upgrades Swagger & Google Discovery to OpenAPI 3.2.0	Google Discovery; Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-csharp	C#	Client; Client CLI; Server	CLR	Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-go	Go	Client; Client CLI; Server		Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-java	Java	Client; Client CLI; Server		Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-kotlin	Kotlin (ktor for Multiplatform)	Client; Client CLI; Server	Auto-Admin UI	Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-php	PHP	Client; Client CLI; Server		Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-python	Python	N/A (server building blocks)	CLI ↔ SQL ↔ Pydantic ↔ docs ↔ JSON-schema	N/A
cdd-python-all	Python	Client; Client CLI; Server		Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-ruby	Ruby	Client; Client CLI; Server		Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-rust	Rust	Client; Client CLI; Server		Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-sh	Shell (/bin/sh)	Client; Client CLI; Server		Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-swift	Swift	Client; Client CLI; Server		Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0
cdd-ts	TypeScript	Client; Client CLI; Server	Auto-Admin UI; Angular; React; Vue; fetch; Axios; Node.js	Swagger 2.0 & OpenAPI 3.2.0

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🛠️ Universal CLI Toolchain

A true ecosystem requires standardized tooling. Once a developer learns the CDD toolchain, they can synchronize architecture across the entire polyglot stack.

Global Arguments

• --help: Print help information.
• --version: Print version information.
• --input, -i (or -f): Target file, directory, or OpenAPI spec.
• --output, -o: Destination path for generation or sync.

from_openapi

Usage:
  cdd-csharp from_openapi [to_sdk|to_sdk_cli|to_server] -i <input> | --input-dir <dir> [-o <output>]

Options:
  -i, --input                 Path or URL to the OpenAPI specification.
  --input-dir                 Directory containing OpenAPI specifications.
  -o, --output                Output file or directory path.
  --tests                     Generate integration tests and mocks.
  --no-github-actions         Do not generate GitHub Actions scaffolding.
  --no-installable-package    Do not generate installable package scaffolding.
  --mcp                       Generate Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and adapter.

to_openapi

Usage:
  cdd-csharp to_openapi -i <input> [-o <output>]

Options:
  -i, --input    Path to source code directory or file.
  -o, --output   Output file or directory path.

to_docs_json

Usage:
  cdd-csharp to_docs_json -i <input> [-o <output>]

Options:
  -i, --input    Path or URL to the OpenAPI specification.
  -o, --output   Output file or directory path.
  --no-imports   Omit the imports field.
  --no-wrapping  Omit the wrapper fields.

sync

Usage:
  cdd-csharp sync -t <truth> -i <input> [-o <output>]

Options:
  -t, --truth    Designate a single source of truth for synchronization.
  -i, --input    Path to the source files.
  -o, --output   Output file or directory path.

serve_json_rpc

Usage:
  cdd-csharp serve_json_rpc [-p <port>] [-l <listen>]

Options:
  -p, --port     Port to listen on (default: 8080).
  -l, --listen   Address to listen on (default: 127.0.0.1).

mcp

Usage:
  cdd-csharp mcp

Options:
  Run the generator as an MCP server over stdio.

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🚀 The End of "Spec Drift"

With Compiler Driven Development, specifications and code are no longer loosely coupled artifacts. They are strict, isomorphic reflections of one another, maintained by dedicated standalone compilers.

Choose your language ecosystem above and start treating your architecture as a seamlessly compiled, endlessly editable whole.

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License

Licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.