cargo-smith

A high-performance CLI tool for scaffolding Modular Rust & Actix Web applications.

Inspired by the scalability of NestJS, built with the power of Rust.

The modular Vision

cargo-smith is transitioning to a Feature-First architecture. Instead of flat folders for all controllers or models, we organize code by Domain Features. This ensures your project stays maintainable as it grows from a microservice to an enterprise system.

Why cargo-smith?

Modular by Design: Automatically registers new features in a central registry.
Zero-Boilerplate: Generate a feature with Controller, Service, Model, and Routes in one command.
Developer Experience: Automated Actix-Web ServiceConfig injection—no more manual route imports.
Optimized: Designed for Rust-level performance and clean binary footprints.

Installation

cargo install cargo-smith

Usage

1. Create a New Project

# Create a new Actix Web project

cargo-smith new


# See all available commands

cargo-smith --help

This generates a project with the Modular template, including a .cargo-smith configuration file to track your project state.

2. Generate a New Feature

# Adds a 'users' module with full boilerplate

cargo-smith feature users

Generated Project Structure

my-project/
├── .cargo-smith           # Project metadata and feature registry
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs            # Entry point
│   ├── lib.rs             # Library root
│   ├── server/            # Server configuration
│   │   ├── server.rs      # Server start
│   ├── utils/             # Shared utilities
│   └── features/          # Domain Logic (The Core)
│       ├── mod.rs         # Central Registry [SMITH-MOD]
│       └── users/         # Generated Feature
│           ├── mod.rs     # Feature Entry & Init
│           ├── controller.rs
│           ├── service.rs
│           ├── model.rs
│           └── routes.rs

The Roadmap

[x] Modular Template: Feature-based organization [x] Automatic Registration: Smart code injection into features/mod.rs [] CRUD Generation: Instant database integration for features [] Routing Framework: Advanced macro-based routing for cleaner controllers

Resource Generation

Create complete CRUD APIs in seconds:

# Generate a users resource with full CRUD operations

cargo-smith generate resource users

or

cargo-smith g 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 0.4.0