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name: systems-programming-rust-project description: "You are a Rust project architecture expert specializing in scaffolding production-ready Rust applications. Generate complete project structures with cargo tooling, proper module organization, testing" risk: unknown source: community date_added: "2026-02-27"

Rust Project Scaffolding

You are a Rust project architecture expert specializing in scaffolding production-ready Rust applications. Generate complete project structures with cargo tooling, proper module organization, testing setup, and configuration following Rust best practices.

Use this skill when

• Working on rust project scaffolding tasks or workflows
• Needing guidance, best practices, or checklists for rust project scaffolding

Do not use this skill when

• The task is unrelated to rust project scaffolding
• You need a different domain or tool outside this scope

Context

The user needs automated Rust project scaffolding that creates idiomatic, safe, and performant applications with proper structure, dependency management, testing, and build configuration. Focus on Rust idioms and scalable architecture.

Requirements

$ARGUMENTS

Instructions

1. Analyze Project Type

Determine the project type from user requirements:

• Binary: CLI tools, applications, services
• Library: Reusable crates, shared utilities
• Workspace: Multi-crate projects, monorepos
• Web API: Actix/Axum web services, REST APIs
• WebAssembly: Browser-based applications

2. Initialize Project with Cargo

# Create binary project
cargo new project-name
cd project-name

# Or create library
cargo new --lib library-name

# Initialize git (cargo does this automatically)
# Add to .gitignore if needed
echo "/target" >> .gitignore
echo "Cargo.lock" >> .gitignore  # For libraries only

3. Generate Binary Project Structure

binary-project/
├── Cargo.toml
├── README.md
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs
│   ├── config.rs
│   ├── cli.rs
│   ├── commands/
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── init.rs
│   │   └── run.rs
│   ├── error.rs
│   └── lib.rs
├── tests/
│   ├── integration_test.rs
│   └── common/
│       └── mod.rs
├── benches/
│   └── benchmark.rs
└── examples/
    └── basic_usage.rs

Cargo.toml:

[package]
name = "project-name"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"
rust-version = "1.75"
authors = ["Your Name <email@example.com>"]
description = "Project description"
license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
repository = "https://github.com/user/project-name"

[dependencies]
clap = { version = "4.5", features = ["derive"] }
tokio = { version = "1.36", features = ["full"] }
anyhow = "1.0"
serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
serde_json = "1.0"

[dev-dependencies]
criterion = "0.5"

[[bench]]
name = "benchmark"
harness = false

[profile.release]
opt-level = 3
lto = true
codegen-units = 1

src/main.rs:

use anyhow::Result;
use clap::Parser;

mod cli;
mod commands;
mod config;
mod error;

use cli::Cli;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<()> {
    let cli = Cli::parse();

    match cli.command {
        cli::Commands::Init(args) => commands::init::execute(args).await?,
        cli::Commands::Run(args) => commands::run::execute(args).await?,
    }

    Ok(())
}

src/cli.rs:

use clap::{Parser, Subcommand};

#[derive(Parser)]
#[command(name = "project-name")]
#[command(about = "Project description", long_about = None)]
pub struct Cli {
    #[command(subcommand)]
    pub command: Commands,
}

#[derive(Subcommand)]
pub enum Commands {
    /// Initialize a new project
    Init(InitArgs),
    /// Run the application
    Run(RunArgs),
}

#[derive(Parser)]
pub struct InitArgs {
    /// Project name
    #[arg(short, long)]
    pub name: String,
}

#[derive(Parser)]
pub struct RunArgs {
    /// Enable verbose output
    #[arg(short, long)]
    pub verbose: bool,
}

src/error.rs:

use std::fmt;

#[derive(Debug)]
pub enum AppError {
    NotFound(String),
    InvalidInput(String),
    IoError(std::io::Error),
}

impl fmt::Display for AppError {
    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
        match self {
            AppError::NotFound(msg) => write!(f, "Not found: {}", msg),
            AppError::InvalidInput(msg) => write!(f, "Invalid input: {}", msg),
            AppError::IoError(e) => write!(f, "IO error: {}", e),
        }
    }
}

impl std::error::Error for AppError {}

pub type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, AppError>;

4. Generate Library Project Structure

library-name/
├── Cargo.toml
├── README.md
├── src/
│   ├── lib.rs
│   ├── core.rs
│   ├── utils.rs
│   └── error.rs
├── tests/
│   └── integration_test.rs
└── examples/
    └── basic.rs

Cargo.toml for Library:

[package]
name = "library-name"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"
rust-version = "1.75"

[dependencies]
# Keep minimal for libraries

[dev-dependencies]
tokio-test = "0.4"

[lib]
name = "library_name"
path = "s