# crossmist

[](https://docs.rs/crossmist/latest/crossmist/)
[](https://crates.io/crates/crossmist)
crossmist provides efficient and seamless cross-process communication for Rust. It provides semantics similar to `std::thread::spawn` and single-producer single-consumer channels, both synchronously and asynchronously.
## Installation
```shell
$ cargo add crossmist
```
Or add the following to your `Cargo.toml`:
```toml
crossmist = "0.2"
```
## Documentation
Check out [docs.rs](https://docs.rs/crossmist/latest/crossmist/).
## Motivational examples
This crate allows you to easily perform computations in another process without creating a separate executable or parsing command line arguments manually. For example, the simplest example, computing a sum of several numbers in a one-shot subprocess, looks like this:
```rust
#[crossmist::main]
fn main() {
println!("5 + 7 = {}", add.run(vec![5, 7]).unwrap());
}
#[crossmist::func]
fn add(nums: Vec<i32>) -> i32 {
nums.into_iter().sum()
}
```
This crate also supports long-lived tasks with constant cross-process communication:
```rust
#[crossmist::main]
fn main() {
let (mut ours, theirs) = crossmist::duplex().unwrap();
add.spawn(theirs).expect("Failed to spawn child");
for i in 1..=5 {
for j in 1..=5 {
println!("{i} + {j} = {}", ours.request(&vec![i, j]).unwrap());
}
}
}
#[crossmist::func]
fn add(mut chan: crossmist::Duplex<i32, Vec<i32>>) {
while let Some(nums) = chan.recv().unwrap() {
chan.send(&nums.into_iter().sum());
}
}
```
Almost arbitrary objects can be passed between processes and across channels, including file handles, sockets, and other channels.