fastxml

A fast, memory-efficient XML library for Rust with XPath and schema validation support. Designed for processing large XML documents like CityGML files used in PLATEAU.

Features

🦀 Pure Rust — No C dependencies, no unsafe code
🔄 libxml Compatible — Consistent parsing/XPath results
💾 Memory Efficient — Parse and validate gigabyte-scale XML with ~1 MB memory footprint
🔍 Full XPath 1.0 — Complete XPath 1.0 support with namespace handling
📋 XSD Support — Schema parsing with import resolution, built-in GML types
⚡ Async Support — Async schema fetching and resolution with tokio

⚠️ Early Development (v0.x): API may change. Limited production experience. Not recommended for business-critical systems. Use at your own risk.

Performance

Benchmark results as of v0.8.0 on PLATEAU DEM GML (907 MB, 31M nodes) — benchmark code:

Parse only:

Mode	Time	Throughput	Memory
libxml DOM	7.11s	128 MB/s	4.19 GB
fastxml DOM	8.0s	114 MB/s	805 MB
fastxml Streaming	4.75s	191 MB/s	~1 MB

Parse + Schema Validation:

Mode	Time	Throughput	Memory
libxml DOM + validate	11.10s	82 MB/s	3.64 GB
fastxml DOM + validate	38.2s	24 MB/s	1.96 GB
fastxml Streaming + validate	15.9s	57 MB/s	~25 MB

DOM: 5.2x less memory than libxml
Streaming parse + validate: 57 MB/s throughput with ~25 MB memory regardless of file size

Installation

[dependencies]
fastxml = "0.9"

Cargo Features

Feature	Description
`ureq`	Sync HTTP client for schema fetching (recommended)
`tokio`	Async HTTP client for schema fetching (reqwest + tokio)
`async-trait`	Async trait support for custom implementations
`compare-libxml`	Enable libxml2 comparison tests

# Recommended: sync schema fetching
fastxml = { version = "0.9", features = ["ureq"] }

# Async schema fetching
fastxml = { version = "0.9", features = ["tokio"] }

Schema Fetchers

Fetcher	Description
`FileFetcher`	Local filesystem
`UreqFetcher`	Sync HTTP (requires `ureq`)
`ReqwestFetcher`	Async HTTP (requires `tokio`)
`DefaultFetcher`	File + sync HTTP combined with built-in caching (requires `ureq` for HTTP)
`AsyncDefaultFetcher`	File + async HTTP combined with built-in caching (requires `tokio`)
`CachingFetcher`	Wraps any sync fetcher with in-memory caching
`AsyncCachingFetcher`	Wraps any async fetcher with in-memory caching (requires `tokio`)
`FileCachingFetcher`	Wraps any sync fetcher with file-based caching (temp directory)
`AsyncFileCachingFetcher`	Wraps any async fetcher with file-based caching (requires `tokio`)

Traits:

Trait	Description
`SchemaFetcher`	Sync fetcher trait
`AsyncSchemaFetcher`	Async fetcher trait (requires `tokio`)

use fastxml::schema::{DefaultFetcher, SchemaFetcher};

let fetcher = DefaultFetcher::with_base_dir("/path/to/schemas");
let result = fetcher.fetch("schema.xsd")?;

Quick Start

DOM Parsing

use fastxml::{Parser, QueryExt};

let xml = r#"<root><item id="1">Hello</item><item id="2">World</item></root>"#;

let doc = Parser::from(xml).parse()?;
for node in doc.query_nodes("//item")? {
    println!("{}: {}", node.get_attribute("id").unwrap(), node.get_content().unwrap());
}

Parser::from accepts &str or &[u8]; use Parser::from_reader(reader) to parse from any BufRead, and .options(ParserOptions { .. }) to configure parsing.

Reusable XPath Queries

evaluate(&doc, "…") re-parses the expression on every call. To run the same expression against many documents, compile it once with Query:

use fastxml::{Parser, Query};

let query = Query::compile("//item")?;

let a = Parser::from("<root><item/><item/></root>").parse()?;
let b = Parser::from("<root><item/></root>").parse()?;

assert_eq!(query.find_nodes(&a)?.len(), 2);
assert_eq!(query.find_nodes(&b)?.len(), 1);

Namespaces declared on each document's root are registered automatically; add extra bindings with .namespace(prefix, uri). Use .eval(&doc) for a typed XPathResult, or .eval_from(&doc, &node) to start from a context node. A compiled Query (and StreamableQuery) renders back to an equivalent XPath string via to_string().

The QueryExt trait adds method-call ergonomics on the document itself. Its argument is anything that is AsQuery, so a string and a pre-compiled Query are interchangeable:

use fastxml::{Parser, Query, QueryExt};

let doc = Parser::from("<root><item/><item/></root>").parse()?;

// String: compiled on the fly.
assert_eq!(doc.query_nodes("//item")?.len(), 2);
let n = doc.query("count(//item)")?.to_number();

// Pre-compiled query: reused without re-parsing.
let q = Query::compile("//item")?;
assert_eq!(doc.query_nodes(&q)?.len(), 2);

Serializing to XML

Printer turns a parsed document or node back into XML:

use fastxml::{Parser, Printer};

let doc = Parser::from("<root><child>hi</child></root>").parse()?;

let xml = Printer::from(&doc).to_string()?;            // whole document, with <?xml ?>
let pretty = Printer::from(&doc).pretty().to_string()?; // indented

// Stream straight to any writer, no intermediate String:
Printer::from(&doc).write_to(&mut std::io::stdout())?;

Printer::from accepts &XmlDocument, &XmlNode, or &XmlRoNode (a document emits an XML declaration by default, a single node does not). Builders: .pretty() / .indent(s) / .declaration(bool) / .encoding(s). Terminals: .to_string() / .into_bytes() / .write_to(w).

Streaming Parser

For a quick, buffered list of events:

use fastxml::Parser;

for event in Parser::from(xml).events()? {
    // inspect each XmlEvent
}

To process large files with constant memory, use for_each_event — the callback is invoked as each event is read, nothing is buffered, and it may capture and mutate local state:

use fastxml::Parser;
use fastxml::event::XmlEvent;
use std::io::BufReader;
use std::fs::File;

let file = File::open("large_file.xml")?;

let mut elements = 0;
Parser::from_reader(BufReader::new(file)).for_each_event(|event| {
    if let XmlEvent::StartElement { .. } = event {
        elements += 1;
    }
    Ok(())
})?;
println!("{elements} elements");

Stream Transform

Transform XML with XPath-based element selection:

use fastxml::transform::Transformer;

let xml = r#"<root><item id="1">A</item><item id="2">B</item></root>"#;

// Modify elements (supports multiple handlers), render the result as a String
let result = Transformer::from(xml)
    .on("//item[@id='2']", |node| node.set_attribute("modified", "true"))
    .to_string()?;

// Iterate for side effects (no output transformation)
let mut ids = Vec::new();
Transformer::from(xml)
    .on("//item", |node| {
        ids.push(node.get_attribute("id").unwrap_or_default());
    })
    .for_each()?;

Terminals: to_string(), into_bytes(), write_to(&mut writer), and for_each().

on / on_with_context / collect accept either a string (analyzed when the transform runs) or a pre-compiled StreamableQuery. Compiling validates streamability up front, so a non-streamable pattern is rejected immediately rather than failing mid-run:

use fastxml::transform::{StreamableQuery, Transformer};

let q = StreamableQuery::compile("//item")?;          // Ok: streamable
assert!(StreamableQuery::compile("//item[last()]").is_err()); // rejected up front

let result = Transformer::from(xml)
    .on(&q, |node| node.set_attribute("seen", "1"))
    .to_string()?;

(Query is the analogue for evaluation; StreamableQuery is for transforms.) A StreamableQuery is a subset of a full Query, so it converts freely to one (Query::from(&sq), or doc.query(&sq)); the reverse is fallible (StreamableQuery::try_from(&query), which rejects non-streamable expressions).

Reader-based Transform (Large Files)

For large XML files, use Transformer::from_reader to avoid loading the entire file into memory. It reads from any BufRead source and writes results incrementally:

use fastxml::transform::Transformer;
use std::io::{BufReader, BufWriter};
use std::fs::File;

let reader = BufReader::new(File::open("large_file.xml")?);
let mut output = BufWriter::new(File::create("output.xml")?);

// Transform and write to output (returns the number of matched elements)
let count = Transformer::from_reader(reader)
    .on("//item[@id='2']", |node| node.set_attribute("modified", "true"))
    .write_to(&mut output)?;

println!("Transformed {} elements", count);

// Or iterate for side effects only (no output)
let reader = BufReader::new(File::open("large_file.xml")?);
let mut ids = Vec::new();
Transformer::from_reader(reader)
    .on("//item", |node| {
        ids.push(node.get_attribute("id").unwrap_or_default());
    })
    .for_each()?;

Advanced transforms

These richer operations are available for in-memory input (Transformer::from): single-pass data extraction, multi-XPath collection, parent-context access, root-namespace auto-detection, and fallback for non-streamable XPath. (On Transformer::from_reader they return an error, since they need random access.)

use fastxml::transform::Transformer;

let xml = r#"<root><item id="1">A</item><item id="2">B</item></root>"#;

// Extract data (single XPath)
let ids: Vec<String> = Transformer::from(xml)
    .collect("//item", |node| node.get_attribute("id").unwrap_or_default())?;

// Extract from multiple XPaths in a single pass
let (ids, contents): (Vec<String>, Vec<String>) = Transformer::from(xml)
    .collect_multi((
        ("//item", |node| node.get_attribute("id").unwrap_or_default()),
        ("//item", |node| node.get_content().unwrap_or_default()),
    ))?;

Auto-detect Namespaces

Extract namespace declarations from the root element without DOM parsing:

let xml = r#"<root xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml"><gml:point/></root>"#;

Transformer::from(xml)
    .with_root_namespaces()?  // Auto-registers namespaces from root element
    .on("//gml:point", |node| node.set_attribute("found", "true"))
    .to_string()?;

Namespace URI Matching

Match elements by namespace URI instead of prefix (useful when different prefixes map to the same URI):

// Matches both gml:feature and g:feature if they have the same namespace URI
Transformer::from(xml)
    .namespace("gml", "http://www.opengis.net/gml")
    .on("//*[namespace-uri()='http://www.opengis.net/gml'][local-name()='feature']", |node| {
        // Matches any prefix that maps to this URI
    })
    .to_string()?;

Parent Context Access

Access ancestor elements' information during streaming transformation:

Transformer::from(xml)
    .on_with_context("//item", |node, ctx| {
        // Get parent element info
        if let Some(parent) = ctx.parent() {
            node.set_attribute("parent_name", &parent.name);
        }

        // Get path-based ID (e.g., "root/items/item[2]")
        let path = ctx.path_id();
        node.set_attribute("path", &format!("{}/item[{}]", path, ctx.position()));
    })
    .to_string()?;

XPath Streamability Check

Check if an XPath can be processed in a single streaming pass:

use fastxml::transform::{is_streamable, analyze_xpath_str, XPathAnalysis};

// Quick check
if is_streamable("//item[@id='1']") {
    println!("Single-pass streaming OK");
}

// Detailed analysis
match analyze_xpath_str("//item[last()]")? {
    XPathAnalysis::Streamable(_) => println!("Streamable"),
    XPathAnalysis::NotStreamable(reason) => {
        println!("Not streamable: {}", reason);
        // Output: "Not streamable: uses last() function which requires knowing total count"
    }
}

Fallback Control

By default, non-streamable XPath expressions return an error. Enable fallback for two-pass processing:

// Default: error on non-streamable XPath
let result = Transformer::from(xml)
    .on("//item[last()]", |_| {})
    .to_string();
// => Err(NotStreamable { ... })

// Enable fallback (loads entire document into memory)
let result = Transformer::from(xml)
    .allow_fallback()
    .on("//item[last()]", |_| {})
    .to_string()?;

Async Schema Resolution

Parse XSD schemas with async import/include resolution (requires tokio feature):

use fastxml::schema::{AsyncDefaultFetcher, Schema};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> fastxml::error::Result<()> {
    let xsd_content = std::fs::read("schema.xsd")?;

    // Create async fetcher
    let fetcher = AsyncDefaultFetcher::new()?;

    // Build the schema, resolving imports asynchronously
    let schema = Schema::builder()
        .add("http://example.com/schema.xsd", xsd_content)
        .resolve_with_async(&fetcher)
        .await?;

    println!("Parsed {} types", schema.types.len());
    Ok(())
}

Schema::builder() takes one or more .add(uri, bytes) sources; finish with .resolve() (no network), .resolve_with(&fetcher), or .resolve_with_async(&fetcher).

The async resolver:

Fetches imported schemas asynchronously via HTTP
Resolves nested imports (A → B → C)
Detects circular dependencies

See examples/async_schema_resolution.rs for more examples.

Schema Validation

All validation goes through one Validator front door: the input type selects the engine (&XmlDocument → DOM, &str/&[u8]/reader → streaming), .schema(..) supplies an explicit schema (or it is resolved from xsi:schemaLocation), and run() returns a Report.

A Schema is built with Schema::from_xsd(bytes), Schema::builtin(), or Schema::builder().add(uri, bytes).resolve()?.

DOM Validation

use fastxml::Parser;
use fastxml::schema::{Schema, Validator};

let doc = Parser::from(std::fs::read("document.xml")?.as_slice()).parse()?;
let schema = Schema::from_xsd(std::fs::read("schema.xsd")?)?;

let report = Validator::from(&doc).schema(schema).run()?;

if report.is_valid() {
    println!("Valid!");
}

Streaming Validation

Validate during parsing with minimal memory:

use fastxml::schema::{Schema, Validator};
use std::sync::Arc;

let schema = Arc::new(Schema::from_xsd(std::fs::read("schema.xsd")?)?);
let reader = std::io::BufReader::new(file);

let report = Validator::from_reader(reader)
    .schema(Arc::clone(&schema))   // share one schema across many validations
    .max_errors(100)
    .run()?;

Auto-detect Schema

Omit .schema(..) and the schema is resolved from the document's xsi:schemaLocation, using the default fetcher (requires the ureq feature):

use fastxml::{Parser, schema::Validator};

let doc = Parser::from(xml_bytes).parse()?;
let report = Validator::from(&doc).run()?;

For streaming, the schema is fetched lazily on the first element:

use fastxml::schema::Validator;

let report = Validator::from_reader(reader).run()?;

To supply a custom fetcher, use .run_with(fetcher) instead of .run().

Async Validation

Validate with async schema fetching (requires tokio feature) via run_async() (default fetcher) or run_async_with(&fetcher):

use fastxml::{Parser, schema::Validator};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> fastxml::error::Result<()> {
    let doc = Parser::from(xml_bytes).parse()?;
    let report = Validator::from(&doc).run_async().await?;
    Ok(())
}

Validation Errors

use fastxml::ErrorLevel;

// `report` is the value returned by `Validator::…::run()`
for error in report.errors() {
    match error.level {
        ErrorLevel::Warning => print!("[WARN] "),
        ErrorLevel::Error => print!("[ERROR] "),
        ErrorLevel::Fatal => print!("[FATAL] "),
    }
    if let Some(line) = error.line {
        print!("line {}: ", line);
    }
    println!("{}", error.message);
}

XPath

Basic Usage

use fastxml::{Parser, QueryExt};

let doc = Parser::from(xml).parse()?;
let result = doc.query("//item[@id='1']/text()")?;

With Namespaces

let xml = r#"
<core:CityModel xmlns:core="http://www.opengis.net/citygml/2.0"
                xmlns:bldg="http://www.opengis.net/citygml/building/2.0">
    <bldg:Building gml:id="bldg_001">
        <bldg:measuredHeight>25.5</bldg:measuredHeight>
    </bldg:Building>
</core:CityModel>"#;

let doc = Parser::from(xml).parse()?;
let buildings = doc.query_nodes("//bldg:Building")?;

libxml Compatibility

For migrating from libxml, the fastxml::compat module provides free functions that mirror libxml's shape (evaluate, create_context, get_root_node, node_to_xml_string, find_nodes_by_xpath, …). They are thin wrappers over the modern front doors — prefer Parser / Query / QueryExt / Printer for new code.

use fastxml::Parser;
use fastxml::compat::{evaluate, get_root_node};

let doc = Parser::from(xml).parse()?;
let root = get_root_node(&doc)?;          // modern: doc.get_root_element()
let items = evaluate(&doc, "//item")?;    // modern: doc.query("//item")

See examples/ (query, printer, compat, dom_parsing, …) for runnable demonstrations of both the modern and compatibility APIs.

Supported Specifications

XPath 1.0

Feature	Examples
Paths	`/root/child`, `//element`, `//*`
Predicates	`[@id='1']`, `[position()=1]`, `[name()='foo']`
Axes	`ancestor::`, `following-sibling::`, `namespace::`
Operators	`and`, `or`, `not()`, `=`, `!=`, `<`, `>`, `+`, `-`, `*`, `div`, `mod`
Functions	`count()`, `contains()`, `string()`, `number()`, `sum()`, etc.
Namespaces	`//ns:element`, `namespace::*`
Variables	`$var`
Union	`//a

XSD Schema

Feature	Support
Element/attribute definitions	✅
Complex types (sequence/choice/all)	✅
Simple types (restriction/list/union)	✅
Type inheritance	✅
Facets	✅
Attribute/model groups	✅
import/include/redefine	✅
Built-in XSD and GML types	✅
Identity constraints (unique/key/keyref)	✅
Substitution groups	✅

Not Supported

XQuery, XSLT, XInclude
DTD validation
XML Signature/Encryption
Catalog support
Full entity expansion

Conformance

Conformance test results as of v0.8.2. See conformance/ for details.

Test Suite	Category	Pass Rate
W3C XML	valid documents	89.9%
W3C XML	invalid documents	91.2%
W3C XSD	schema compilation	96.8%
W3C XSD	instance validation	70.3%

# Run conformance tests (requires test data download)
cargo run -p fastxml-conformance --bin download
cargo test -p fastxml-conformance

Development

cargo test                              # Run tests
cargo test --features tokio             # With async tests
cargo test --features compare-libxml    # With libxml comparison
cargo bench                             # Benchmarks

# Validate XML files against XSD schema
cargo run --release --features ureq --bin fastxml-validate -- ./file.xml

# Benchmarks with an external xml file
cargo run --release --example bench -- ./file.xml
cargo run --release --features ureq --example bench -- ./file.xml --validate

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0

fastxml 0.9.0