--- title: Freestanding standard library | daily.dev description: C++ distinguishes between hosted and freestanding implementations. Freestanding targets environments without an OS — embedded systems, kernels, bare-metal —... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/freestanding-standard-library-kmx3j9uls twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Freestanding standard library | daily.dev og:description: C++ distinguishes between hosted and freestanding implementations. Freestanding targets environments without an OS — embedded systems, kernels, bare-metal —... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/freestanding-standard-library-kmx3j9uls og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/KmX3J9ulS.png og:image:alt: Freestanding standard library og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Freestanding standard library **[Sandor Dargo](https://daily.dev/sources/sandordargo)** · 4 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary C++ distinguishes between hosted and freestanding implementations. Freestanding targets environments without an OS — embedded systems, kernels, bare-metal — where heap allocation, exceptions, and system calls may be unavailable. The standard guarantees a minimal subset of headers like , , , and parts of , while excluding OS-dependent components like , , and . From C++20 through C++26, the freestanding subset has been steadily expanded to include algorithms, std::span, std::expected, std::mdspan, and smart pointer adapters, enabling more expressive code in constrained environments. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Going freestanding](https://daily.dev/posts/going-freestanding-jolnir5bq) · Anton Zhiyanov · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [C\+\+26: Standard library hardening](https://daily.dev/posts/c-26-standard-library-hardening-eykurnwet) · Sandor Dargo · 23 upvotes · 1 comments - [C\+\+26: Reducing undefined behaviour](https://daily.dev/posts/c-26-reducing-undefined-behaviour-tbbsne1hb) · Sandor Dargo · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#c++](https://daily.dev/tags/c++), [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/freestanding-standard-library-kmx3j9uls) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Freestanding standard library","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/freestanding-standard-library-kmx3j9uls","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/freestanding-standard-library-kmx3j9uls"},"datePublished":"2026-04-08T05:02:29.485Z","dateModified":"2026-04-08T05:02:51.780Z","description":"C++ distinguishes between hosted and freestanding implementations. 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