Simple Binary Encoding (SBE)

SBE is an OSI layer 6 presentation for encoding and decoding binary application messages for low-latency financial applications. This repository contains the reference implementations in Java, C, C++, C#, Golang and Rust.

More details on the design and usage of SBE can be found on the Wiki.

An XSD for SBE specs can be found here. Please address questions about the specification to the SBE FIX community.

For the latest version information and changes see the Change Log with downloads at Maven Central.

The Java and C++ SBE implementations work very efficiently with the Aeron messaging system for low-latency and high-throughput communications. The Java SBE implementation has a dependency on Agrona for its buffer implementations.

Binaries

Binaries and dependency information for Maven, Ivy, Gradle, and others can be found at http://search.maven.org.

Example for Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>uk.co.real-logic</groupId>
    <artifactId>sbe-tool</artifactId>
    <version>${sbe.tool.version}</version>
</dependency>

Build

Build the project with Gradle using this build.gradle file.

Full clean build:

$ ./gradlew

Run the Java examples

$ ./gradlew runJavaExamples

Distribution

Jars for the executable, source, and javadoc for the various modules can be found in the following directories:

sbe-benchmarks/build/libs
sbe-samples/build/libs
sbe-tool/build/libs
sbe-all/build/libs

An example to execute a Jar from command line using the 'all' jar which includes the Agrona dependency:

java --add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.misc=ALL-UNNAMED -Dsbe.generate.ir=true -Dsbe.target.language=Cpp -Dsbe.target.namespace=sbe -Dsbe.output.dir=include/gen -Dsbe.errorLog=yes -jar sbe-all/build/libs/sbe-all-${SBE_TOOL_VERSION}.jar my-sbe-messages.xml

C++ Build using CMake

NOTE: Linux, Mac OS, and Windows only for the moment. See FAQ. Windows builds have been tested with Visual Studio Express 12.

For convenience, the cppbuild script does a full clean, build, and test of all targets as a Release build.

$ ./cppbuild/cppbuild

If you are comfortable using CMake, then a full clean, build, and test looks like:

$ mkdir -p cppbuild/Debug
$ cd cppbuild/Debug
$ cmake ../..
$ cmake --build . --clean-first
$ ctest

Note: The C++ build includes the C generator. Currently, the C generator is a work in progress.

Golang Build

First build using Gradle to generate the SBE jar and then use it to generate the golang code for testing.

$ ./gradlew
$ ./gradlew generateGolangCodecs

For convenience on Linux, a gnu Makefile is provided that runs some tests and contains some examples.

$ cd gocode
# make # test, examples, bench

Go supports both generating Go structs with encode / decode methods, and flyweights like the other languages. Structs are generated by default for compatibility. Set sbe.go.generate.generate.flyweights=true to generate flyweights.

Users of golang generated code should see the user documentation.

Developers wishing to enhance the golang generator should see the developer documentation

C# Build

Users of CSharp generated code should see the user documentation.

Developers wishing to enhance the CSharp generator should see the developer documentation

Rust Build

The SBE Rust generator will produce 100% safe rust crates (no unsafe code will be generated). Generated crates do not have any dependencies on any libraries (including no SBE libraries). If you don't yet have Rust installed see Rust: Getting Started

Generate the Rust codecs

$ ./gradlew generateRustCodecs

Run the Rust test from Gradle

$ ./gradlew runRustTests

Or run test directly with Cargo

$ cd rust
$ cargo test

License (See LICENSE file for full license)

Copyright 2013-2025 Real Logic Limited.
Copyright 2017 MarketFactory Inc.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.