Generating the docs: sudo apt-get install asciidoc --no-install-recommends ./ninja doc Adjusting build flags: It's kind of a hack, but edit config.ninja (which was generated by bootstrap.sh) to turn on debugging symbols. Test-driven development: Set your build command to ./ninja ninja_test && ./ninja_test --gtest_filter=MyTest.Name now you can repeatedly run that while developing until the tests pass. Remember to build "all" before committing to verify the other source still works!