Ruts: Rust Tower Session for HTTP Applications

Installation

Add the following to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
ruts = "0.6.5"

Quick Start

Here's a basic example with Axum and the RedisStore. This requires the features axum(enabled by default) and redis-store to be enabled.

use axum::{Router, routing::get};
use ruts::{Session, SessionLayer, CookieOptions};
use ruts::store::redis::RedisStore;
use fred::clients::Client;
use std::sync::Arc;
use fred::interfaces::ClientLike;
use tower_cookies::CookieManagerLayer;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
    // Set up Redis client
    let client = Client::default();
    client.connect();
    client.wait_for_connect().await.unwrap();

    // Create session store
    let store = RedisStore::new(Arc::new(client));

    // Configure session-cookie options
    let cookie_options = CookieOptions::build()
        .name("session")
        .http_only(true)
        .same_site(cookie::SameSite::Lax)
        .secure(true)
        .max_age(3600) // 1 hour
        .path("/");

    // Create session layer
    let session_layer = SessionLayer::new(Arc::new(store))
        .with_cookie_options(cookie_options);

    // Set up router with session management
    let app = Router::new()
        .route("/", get(handler))
        .layer(session_layer)
        .layer(CookieManagerLayer::new()); // CookieManagerLayer must be after

    // Run the server
    let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind("0.0.0.0:3000").await.unwrap();
    axum::serve(listener, app).await.unwrap();
}

async fn handler(session: Session<RedisStore<Client>>) -> String {
    let count: Option<i32> = session.get("count").await.unwrap();
    let new_count = count.unwrap_or(0) + 1;
    session.insert("count", &new_count).await.unwrap();
    format!("You've visited this page {} times", new_count)
}

Session Management

Basic Operations

use ruts::Session;
use ruts::store::SessionMap;
use ruts::store::memory::MemoryStore;

[derive(serde::Deserialize)]
struct User;

async fn handler(session: Session<MemoryStore>) {
  // Get a single field's data
  let value: Option<User> = session.get("key").await.unwrap();

  // Get all session data as a map for lazy deserialization
  let session_map: Option<SessionMap> = session.get_all().await.unwrap();
  if let Some(map) = session_map {
      let user: Option<User> = map.get("user").unwrap();
  }

  // Insert new data with an optional field-level expiration (in seconds)
  session.insert("key", &"some_value", Some(3600)).await.unwrap();
  
  // Update existing data
  session.update("key", &"new_value", None).await.unwrap();
  
  // Prepare a new session ID before an insert/update to prevent session fixation
  let new_id = session.prepare_regenerate();
  session.update("key", &"value_with_new_id", None).await.unwrap();
  
  // Remove a single field
  session.remove("key").await.unwrap();
  
  // Delete the entire session
  session.delete().await.unwrap();
  
  // Regenerate session ID for security
  session.regenerate().await.unwrap();
  
  // Update the session's overall expiry time
  session.expire(7200).await.unwrap();
  
  // Get the current session ID
  let id = session.id();
}

Stores

Redis

A Redis-backed session store.

Requirements

• The redis-store feature.
• Redis 7.4 or later (required for field-level expiration using HEXPIRE)
• For Redis < 7.4, field-level expiration will not be available

use ruts::store::redis::RedisStore;

let store = RedisStore::new(Arc::new(fred_client_or_pool));

Postgres

A Postgres-backed session store implementation.

Requirements

• The postgres-store feature.

use ruts::store::postgres::PostgresStoreBuilder;

// 1. Set up your database connection pool.
let database_url = std::env::var("DATABASE_URL")
    .expect("DATABASE_URL must be set");
let pool = PgPool::connect(&database_url).await.unwrap();

// 2. Create the session store using the builder.
// This will also run a migration to create the `sessions` table.
let store = PostgresStoreBuilder::new(pool)
    // Optionally, you can customize the schema and table name
    // .schema_name("my_app")
    // .table_name("user_sessions")
    .build()
    .await
    .unwrap();

LayeredStore

A composite store that layers a fast, ephemeral "hot" cache (like Redis) on top of a slower, persistent "cold" store (like Postgres). It is designed for scenarios where sessions can have long lifespans but should only occupy expensive cache memory when actively being used thus balancing performance and durability.

Fine-Grained Write Control

The default write-through behavior can be overridden on a per-call basis using the LayeredWriteStrategy. This gives you precise control over how your data is store.

use ruts::store::layered::LayeredWriteStrategy;
use ruts::Session;
use ruts::store::redis::RedisStore;
use ruts::store::postgres::PostgresStore;
use ruts::store::layered::LayeredStore;

type MySession = Session<LayeredStore<RedisStore, PostgresStore>>;

#[derive(serde::Serialize)]
struct User { id: i32 }

async fn handler(session: MySession) {
    let user = User { id: 1 };
    
    // This session field is valid for 1 month in the persistent store.
    let long_term_expiry = 60  * 60 * 24 * 30;
    
    // However, we only want it to live in the hot cache (Redis) for 1 hour.
    let short_term_hot_cache_expiry = 60 * 60;
    
    // The value is wrapped in the strategy enum to control write behavior.
    let strategy = LayeredWriteStrategy::WriteThrough(
        user,
        Some(short_term_hot_cache_expiry),
    );
    
    // The cold store (Postgres) will get the long-term expiry,
    // but the hot store (Redis) will be capped at the shorter TTL.
    session.update("user", &strategy, Some(long_term_expiry)).await.unwrap();
}

Serialization

Ruts supports two serialization backends for session data storage:

• bincode (default) - Fast, compact binary serialization.
• messagepack - Cross-language compatible serialization

To use MessagePack instead of the default bincode, add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
ruts = { version = "0.6.5", default-features = false, features = ["axum", "messagepack"] }

Cookie Configuration

let cookie_options = CookieOptions::build()
    .name("cookie_name")
    .http_only(true)
    .same_site(cookie::SameSite::Strict)
    .secure(true)
    .max_age(7200) // 2 hours
    .path("/")
    .domain("example.com");

Important Notes

Middleware Ordering

The SessionLayer must be applied before the CookieManagerLayer:

app.layer(session_layer)              // First: SessionLayer
   .layer(CookieManagerLayer::new()); // Then CookieManagerLayer

Best Practices

• Enable HTTPS in production (set secure: true in cookie options)
• Use appropriate SameSite cookie settings
• Add session expiration
• Regularly regenerate session IDs
• Enable HTTP Only mode in production (set http_only: true)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.