Actix Web Project Generator

A powerful CLI tool for quickly scaffolding new Actix Web projects with production-ready structure and best practices.

Our Vision

This tool aims to become the NestJS of the Rust world - a comprehensive framework and CLI for building efficient, scalable, and maintainable backend systems with Rust. We're building more than just a project generator; we're creating a complete ecosystem for backend development.

Why cargo-mold?

Before cargo-mold:

Spend hours setting up project structure
Manually configure routes, handlers, modules
Research best practices for Actix Web
Write boilerplate code

After cargo-mold:

cargo-mold new my-app - done in seconds
Production-ready structure out of the box
Follows Rust & Actix best practices
Focus on your business logic, not setup

The Roadmap

Phase 1: Project Scaffolding

Basic Actix Web project generation
Standardized project structure
Essential dependencies and configuration

Phase 2: Advanced Generators

Resource Generation: CRUD endpoints, models, handlers
Database Integration: Diesel, SQLx setup with migrations
Authentication: JWT, OAuth2 boilerplate
API Documentation: OpenAPI/Swagger integration

Phase 3: Framework Features

Dependency Injection: Type-safe DI system
Modules & Providers: Organized application architecture
Middleware System: Custom middleware generation
Configuration Management: Environment-based configs

Phase 4: Enterprise Ready

Microservices: Inter-service communication
Testing Suite: Unit, integration, e2e testing setup
Deployment: Docker, Kubernetes configurations
Monitoring: Logging, metrics, health checks

Installation

cargo install cargo-smith

Usage

# Create a new Actix Web project

cargo-smith new


cargo-smith generate resource users

cargo-smith g resource users


# See all available commands

cargo-smith --help

Features

Quick Setup - Generate complete Actix Web projects in seconds
Production Structure - Organized module layout following best practices
Ready to Code - Pre-configured with common dependencies and routes
Extensible - Easy to customize and extend generated projects
JWT Authentication - Built-in auth system with middleware
Resource Generation - Scaffold complete CRUD APIs

Generated Project Structure

my-project/
├── Cargo.toml
├── .cargo-smith
├── .env.example
└── src/
    ├── main.rs
    ├── lib.rs
    ├── routes/
    │   ├── mod.rs
    │   ├── routes.rs
    │   └── user_routes.rs        # Generated with resource command
    ├── handlers/
    │   ├── mod.rs
    │   ├── handlers.rs
    │   └── user_handlers.rs      # Generated with resource command
    ├── models/
    │   ├── mod.rs
    │   ├── models.rs
    │   └── user.rs               # Generated with resource command
    ├── server/
    │   ├── mod.rs
    │   └── server.rs
    └── utils/
        └── mod.rs

Quick Start

# Generate a new project

cargo-smith new


# Navigate to your new project

cd my-app


# Run the server

cargo run


# Visit http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/hello to see it working!

Resource Generation

Create complete CRUD APIs in seconds:

# Generate a users resource with full CRUD operations

cargo mold generate resource users


# This creates:

# - Model (src/models/user.rs)

# - Handlers (src/handlers/user_handlers.rs)  

# - Routes (src/routes/user_routes.rs)

# - Automatic route registration


# Available endpoints:

# GET    /api/users

# POST   /api/users

# GET    /api/users/{id}

# PUT    /api/users/{id}

# DELETE /api/users/{id}

JWT Authentication

Built-in authentication system:

use cargo_smith::auth::AuthService;
use cargo_smith::jwt::JwtMiddleware;

// Create auth service
let auth_service = AuthService::new("secret".to_string());

// Create JWT middleware
let jwt_middleware = JwtMiddleware::new("secret".to_string());

// Use in Actix Web app
App::new()
    .wrap(jwt_middleware)
    .route("/protected", web::get().to(protected_handler))

What's Included

Actix Web 4.4 with Tokio runtime
Structured modules for routes, handlers, and server configuration
JWT Authentication with middleware protection
Resource Generation for rapid CRUD API development
Environment-based configuration with dotenvy
JSON response examples
Production-ready project structure

Join the Journey

This is just the beginning! We're building a comprehensive backend framework that combines Rust's performance with developer experience excellence. Your feedback and contributions will help shape the future of backend development in Rust.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for what's new in each version.

cargo-smith 0.3.2