Rust Development (Lean)

When to use

• .rs files and Cargo.toml
• Async services, CLI tools, systems components
• Ownership/lifetime, trait, or performance-sensitive work

Defaults

• Prefer explicit error types at library boundaries.
• Keep unsafe usage isolated and documented.
• Use clippy and rustfmt as non-optional quality gates.
• Favor simple ownership flows over complex lifetimes when possible.

Quick workflow

1. Identify crate boundaries and public APIs.
2. Implement minimal change with clear types/errors.
3. Add/update tests for changed behavior.
4. Run fmt, clippy, and tests.

Commands

• Format: cargo fmt --all
• Lint: cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
• Test: cargo test --all-features
• Build release: cargo build --release

Implementation checklist

• Result<T, E> and ? used consistently.
• Avoid panics in non-test code paths unless explicitly fatal.
• Serialization contracts versioned when exposed externally.
• Concurrency primitives chosen deliberately (Mutex, RwLock, channels, semaphore).

Validation checklist

• cargo fmt clean.
• cargo clippy clean.
• Tests pass.
• New dependencies justified.

References

• references/reference.md - compact guidance and docs links
• references/examples.md - concise service/test patterns
• ../AGENT_SKILL_SPEC.md - shared Anthropic/Copilot alignment