Setting Up C++ Quality Gates in Cursor: 3 Automated Checks

C++ development demands rigorous quality control. This guide shows you how to set up three automated checks in Cursor that run before every commit: target builds, sanitizer builds, and static analysis with cppcheck. Combined with a Git pre-push hook, these checks ensure your code is always production-ready.

The Three Checks

Check 1: Target Build

Compiles your code with the same settings as your deployment environment.

Check 2: Sanitizer Build

Runs AddressSanitizer (ASan) and UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer (UBSan) to catch memory errors and undefined behavior.

Check 3: Static Analysis

Uses cppcheck to find bugs, style violations, and potential issues without running the code.

Prerequisites

Install required tools:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential cmake cppcheck

# macOS
brew install cmake cppcheck

# Windows (via MSYS2 or WSL)
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake mingw-w64-x86_64-cppcheck

Project Structure

my-cpp-project/
├── src/
│   ├── main.cpp
│   └── utils.cpp
├── include/
│   └── utils.h
├── tests/
│   └── test_main.cpp
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── .cursor/
│   └── quality-gate.sh
└── .git/hooks/
    └── pre-push

Step 1: CMake Configuration

Create CMakeLists.txt with build profiles:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)
project(MyProject CXX)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)

# Source files
add_executable(myapp
    src/main.cpp
    src/utils.cpp
)

target_include_directories(myapp PRIVATE include)

# Target build profile (production-like)
add_library(target_profile INTERFACE)
target_compile_options(target_profile INTERFACE
    -O2
    -DNDEBUG
    -Wall
    -Wextra
    -Werror
)

# Sanitizer build profile
add_library(sanitizer_profile INTERFACE)
target_compile_options(sanitizer_profile INTERFACE
    -O1
    -g
    -fsanitize=address,undefined
    -fno-omit-frame-pointer
)
target_link_options(sanitizer_profile INTERFACE
    -fsanitize=address,undefined
)

# Apply profiles
option(USE_SANITIZER "Build with sanitizers" OFF)
if(USE_SANITIZER)
    target_link_libraries(myapp sanitizer_profile)
else()
    target_link_libraries(myapp target_profile)
endif()

# Testing
enable_testing()
add_executable(myapp_tests tests/test_main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(myapp_tests target_profile)
add_test(NAME unit_tests COMMAND myapp_tests)

Step 2: Quality Gate Script

Create .cursor/quality-gate.sh:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

PROJECT_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
BUILD_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/build"
RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
NC='\033[0m' # No Color

echo "=========================================="
echo "  Cursor C++ Quality Gate"
echo "=========================================="

# Clean build directory
rm -rf "$BUILD_DIR"
mkdir -p "$BUILD_DIR"

# Check 1: Target Build
echo -e "\n${YELLOW}[1/3] Target Build${NC}"
echo "Building with production settings..."
mkdir -p "$BUILD_DIR/target"
cd "$BUILD_DIR/target"
cmake ../.. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
make -j$(nproc)
echo -e "${GREEN}Target build: PASSED${NC}"

# Run tests
echo "Running tests..."
ctest --output-on-failure
echo -e "${GREEN}Tests: PASSED${NC}"

# Check 2: Sanitizer Build
echo -e "\n${YELLOW}[2/3] Sanitizer Build${NC}"
echo "Building with AddressSanitizer and UBSan..."
mkdir -p "$BUILD_DIR/sanitizer"
cd "$BUILD_DIR/sanitizer"
cmake ../.. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DUSE_SANITIZER=ON
make -j$(nproc)

echo "Running with sanitizers..."
./myapp || {
    echo -e "${RED}Sanitizer detected errors!${NC}"
    exit 1
}
echo -e "${GREEN}Sanitizer build: PASSED${NC}"

# Check 3: Static Analysis
echo -e "\n${YELLOW}[3/3] Static Analysis (cppcheck)${NC}"
cd "$PROJECT_ROOT"

cppcheck \
    --enable=all \
    --suppress=missingIncludeSystem \
    --error-exitcode=1 \
    --inline-suppr \
    --check-config \
    -I include \
    src/ \
    tests/ \
    2>&1 | tee "$BUILD_DIR/cppcheck-report.txt"

echo -e "${GREEN}Static analysis: PASSED${NC}"

# Summary
echo -e "\n=========================================="
echo -e "${GREEN}All quality gates passed!${NC}"
echo "=========================================="
echo "Build artifacts: $BUILD_DIR/"
echo "Report: $BUILD_DIR/cppcheck-report.txt"

Make it executable:

chmod +x .cursor/quality-gate.sh

Step 3: Git Pre-Push Hook

Create .git/hooks/pre-push:

#!/bin/bash

echo "Running quality gate before push..."

if [ -f ".cursor/quality-gate.sh" ]; then
    bash .cursor/quality-gate.sh
    exit $?
else
    echo "Warning: Quality gate script not found"
    exit 0
fi

Make it executable:

chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-push

Step 4: Cursor Integration

Add to Cursor Tasks

Create .vscode/tasks.json (Cursor uses VS Code task system):

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "C++ Quality Gate",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "bash",
      "args": [".cursor/quality-gate.sh"],
      "group": {
        "kind": "test",
        "isDefault": true
      },
      "presentation": {
        "echo": true,
        "reveal": "always",
        "focus": false,
        "panel": "shared"
      },
      "problemMatcher": ["$gcc"]
    },
    {
      "label": "Quick Build",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "cmake",
      "args": ["--build", "build/target", "--parallel"],
      "group": "build"
    },
    {
      "label": "Run Sanitizer Build",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "bash",
      "args": ["-c", "mkdir -p build/sanitizer && cd build/sanitizer && cmake ../.. -DUSE_SANITIZER=ON && make -j$(nproc) && ./myapp"],
      "group": "test"
    }
  ]
}

Keyboard Shortcuts

Add to .vscode/keybindings.json:

[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+q",
    "command": "workbench.action.tasks.runTask",
    "args": "C++ Quality Gate"
  }
]

Understanding Sanitizer Output

AddressSanitizer (ASan)

Detects:

• Use after free
• Heap buffer overflow
• Stack buffer overflow
• Global buffer overflow
• Use after return
• Use after scope
• Double-free
• Memory leaks

Example output:

==12345==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-buffer-overflow
READ of size 4 at 0x602000000014 thread T0
    #0 0x5555555551a9 in main src/main.cpp:15

UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer (UBSan)

Detects:

• Signed integer overflow
• Division by zero
• Null pointer dereference
• Misaligned pointer access
• Invalid shift operations

Example output:

src/utils.cpp:42:15: runtime error: signed integer overflow

Customizing cppcheck

Suppression Comments

In your code:

// cppcheck-suppress unusedFunction
void debugHelper() {
    // This is used in debug builds only
}

// cppcheck-suppress knownConditionTrueFalse
if (x == x) {  // Intentional NaN check
    // handle NaN
}

Configuration File

Create cppcheck-suppressions.txt:

unusedFunction:*test*
missingIncludeSystem
unmatchedSuppression

Update the script:

cppcheck \
    --enable=all \
    --suppressions-list=cppcheck-suppressions.txt \
    --error-exitcode=1 \
    src/ tests/

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

name: C++ Quality Gate

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  quality-gate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          sudo apt-get update
          sudo apt-get install -y build-essential cmake cppcheck
      
      - name: Run Quality Gate
        run: bash .cursor/quality-gate.sh

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Sanitizer build too slow	Use -O1 instead of -O0 for faster builds
cppcheck false positives	Add suppression comments or config file
Hook not running	Ensure .git/hooks/pre-push is executable
Out of memory during build	Reduce parallel jobs: make -j2 instead of -j$(nproc)

Quick Reference

# Run full quality gate
bash .cursor/quality-gate.sh

# Quick target build only
mkdir -p build && cd build && cmake .. && make -j$(nproc)

# Run with sanitizers
mkdir -p build-san && cd build-san && cmake .. -DUSE_SANITIZER=ON && make -j$(nproc) && ./myapp

# Run cppcheck only
cppcheck --enable=all --error-exitcode=1 src/

Related Resources

• Debug C++ with Breakpoints in Cursor
• Cursor and JetBrains Compatibility
• Handling Large Projects with Cursor