max-sdk-base

May 12, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

This folder contains the core headers, libs, and script files you will need to compile a C or C++ external object for Max. It is used by both the Max Software Development Kit and Min-DevKit Package example packages. Please refer to those repositories for additional documentation and best practices.

Overview of Contents

  • c74support : header and lib files
  • cmake & script: resources to be included and used by CMake

Using max-sdk-base in your project

There are two supported ways to bring max-sdk-base into your external's build.

FetchContent

Include the following in your base CMakeLists.txt file. CMake will download max-sdk-base automatically at configure time:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.25)

include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
    max-sdk-base
    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/Cycling74/max-sdk-base.git
    GIT_TAG        main  # pin to a tag or commit hash for reproducible builds
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(max-sdk-base)

project(my-package)
add_subdirectory(source/my-external)

Git submodule

Add max-sdk-base as a submodule at a path of your choice, then include it via add_subdirectory before your first project() call:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.25)

add_subdirectory(max-sdk-base)

project(my-package)
add_subdirectory(source/my-external)

In both cases, the Max::Max, Max::MSP, and Max::Jitter imported targets are available for use with target_link_libraries.

See the max-sdk repository for a complete example of how to structure the CMakeLists.txt for an external object.

License

See the accompanying License.md file.

Support

For support, please use the developer forums at: http://cycling74.com/forums/