Getting Started

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date: 06/28/2026

Welcome to Anvil.

This guide will walk you through downloading the engine, cloning the source, building the editor, and creating your first project.

Requirements

Before building Anvil, install the following tools:

• Visual Studio 2022 (Desktop development with C++)
• Git
• Vulkan SDK
• CMake (optional)
• Premake5 (optional, if generating projects manually)

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Clone the Repository

Clone the workspace and all required submodules.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/AnvilStudio/AnvilWorkspace.git

If you’ve already cloned the repository without submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

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Generate Project Files

Generate the Visual Studio solution.

premake5 vs2022

This creates the solution used to build the engine and editor.

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Build

Open the generated solution in Visual Studio.

Build the Forge project in either:

• Debug
• Release

The engine and editor will compile automatically.

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Launch Forge

Set Forge as the startup project and press F5.

You should see the Anvil editor launch.

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Project Structure

AnvilWorkspace/
│
├── AnvilEngine/
│   ├── src/
│   ├── vendor/
│   └── shaders/
│
├── Forge/
│   └── src/
│
├── Sandbox/
│
└── premake5.lua

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What’s Included

Current engine features include:

• Vulkan renderer
• ECS scene system
• ImGui editor
• Docking interface
• Viewport rendering
• Asset management
• Scene serialization

More features are added regularly through the Dev Log.

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Next Steps

Once the editor is running, consider exploring:

• Creating entities
• Using the Inspector
• Working with the Viewport
• Building scenes
• Reading the latest Dev Logs

Anvil is under active development, so expect frequent improvements and new engine features.