| name | rust-skills |
| description | Comprehensive Rust coding guidelines with 265 rules across 26 categories. Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring Rust code. Covers ownership, error handling, async patterns, concurrency, unsafe code, API design, memory optimization, performance, numeric safety, conversions, serde, pattern matching, macros, closures, observability, testing, and common anti-patterns. Invoke with /rust-skills.
|
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"author":"leonardomso","version":"1.5.1","sources":["Rust API Guidelines","Rust Performance Book","Rust 2024 Edition Guide","The Rustonomicon","ripgrep, tokio, serde, polars, axum, cargo codebases"]} |
Rust Best Practices
Comprehensive guide for writing high-quality, idiomatic, and highly optimized Rust code. Contains 265 rules across 26 categories, prioritized by impact to guide LLMs in code generation and refactoring. Current for Rust 1.96 (2024 edition).
When to Apply
Reference these guidelines when:
- Writing new Rust functions, structs, or modules
- Implementing error handling or async code
- Writing concurrent, parallel, or
unsafe code
- Designing public APIs for libraries
- Reviewing code for ownership/borrowing issues
- Optimizing memory usage or reducing allocations
- Tuning performance for hot paths
- Refactoring existing Rust code
Rule Categories by Priority
| Priority | Category | Impact | Prefix | Rules |
|---|
| 1 | Ownership & Borrowing | CRITICAL | own- | 12 |
| 2 | Error Handling | CRITICAL | err- | 12 |
| 3 | Memory Optimization | CRITICAL | mem- | 17 |
| 4 | Unsafe Code | CRITICAL | unsafe- | 7 |
| 5 | API Design | HIGH | api- | 17 |
| 6 | Async/Await | HIGH | async- | 18 |
| 7 | Concurrency | HIGH | conc- | 4 |
| 8 | Compiler Optimization | HIGH | opt- | 12 |
| 9 | Numeric & Arithmetic Safety | HIGH | num- | 5 |
| 10 | Type Safety | MEDIUM | type- | 13 |
| 11 | Trait & Generics Design | MEDIUM | trait- | 6 |
| 12 | Conversions | MEDIUM | conv- | 3 |
| 13 | Const & Compile-Time | MEDIUM | const- | 4 |
| 14 | Serde | MEDIUM | serde- | 8 |
| 15 | Pattern Matching | MEDIUM | pat- | 5 |
| 16 | Macros | MEDIUM | macro- | 8 |
| 17 | Closures | MEDIUM | closure- | 5 |
| 18 | Collections | MEDIUM | coll- | 4 |
| 19 | Naming Conventions | MEDIUM | name- | 16 |
| 20 | Testing | MEDIUM | test- | 15 |
| 21 | Documentation | MEDIUM | doc- | 12 |
| 22 | Observability | MEDIUM | obs- | 7 |
| 23 | Performance Patterns | MEDIUM | perf- | 13 |
| 24 | Project Structure | LOW | proj- | 14 |
| 25 | Clippy & Linting | LOW | lint- | 13 |
| 26 | Anti-patterns | REFERENCE | anti- | 15 |
Quick Reference
1. Ownership & Borrowing (CRITICAL)
2. Error Handling (CRITICAL)
3. Memory Optimization (CRITICAL)
4. Unsafe Code (CRITICAL)
unsafe-safety-comment - Write a // SAFETY: comment above every unsafe block and a # Safety section in every unsafe fn.
unsafe-minimize-scope - Keep unsafe blocks as small as possible — mark only the operation that requires unsafety, not the surrounding safe code.
unsafe-miri-ci - Run cargo miri test in CI for every crate that contains unsafe code.
unsafe-maybeuninit - Use MaybeUninit<T> for uninitialized memory; never use mem::uninitialized() or mem::zeroed() for types with validity invariants.
unsafe-extern-block - In Rust 2024, wrap extern blocks in unsafe extern { } and annotate each item as safe or unsafe.
unsafe-send-sync-manual - Document the invariants when manually implementing Send or Sync; prefer letting the compiler derive them automatically.
unsafe-no-mangle-unsafe - In Rust 2024, write #[unsafe(no_mangle)], #[unsafe(export_name = "...")], and #[unsafe(link_section = "...")] — not the bare attribute forms.
5. API Design (HIGH)
api-builder-pattern - Use Builder pattern for complex construction
api-builder-must-use - Mark builder methods with #[must_use] to prevent silent drops
api-newtype-safety - Use newtypes to prevent mixing semantically different values
api-typestate - Use typestate pattern to encode state machine invariants in the type system
api-sealed-trait - Use sealed traits to prevent external implementations while allowing use
api-extension-trait - Use extension traits to add methods to external types
api-parse-dont-validate - Parse into validated types at boundaries
api-impl-into - Accept impl Into<T> for flexible APIs, implement From<T> for conversions
api-impl-asref - Use AsRef<T> when you only need to borrow the inner data
api-must-use - Mark types and functions with #[must_use] when ignoring results is likely a bug
api-non-exhaustive - Use #[non_exhaustive] on public enums and structs for forward compatibility
api-from-not-into - Implement From<T>, not Into<U> - From gives you Into for free
api-default-impl - Implement Default for types with sensible default values
api-common-traits - Implement standard traits (Debug, Clone, PartialEq, etc.) for public types
api-serde-optional - Make serde a feature flag, not a hard dependency for library crates
api-impl-fromiterator - Implement FromIterator and Extend for collection types, and IntoIterator for all three reference forms
api-operator-overload - Overload operators only when the semantics are natural and unsurprising
6. Async/Await (HIGH)
7. Concurrency (HIGH)
8. Compiler Optimization (HIGH)
9. Numeric & Arithmetic Safety (HIGH)
num-overflow-explicit - Handle integer overflow explicitly: checked_/saturating_/wrapping_/overflowing_
num-cast-try-from - Avoid as for narrowing casts; use From for widening and TryFrom for narrowing
num-float-compare - Don't compare floats with ==; use a tolerance, and total_cmp for ordering
num-saturating-clamp - Bound values with clamp and saturating arithmetic
num-nonzero - Use NonZero* types to forbid zero and unlock the niche optimization
10. Type Safety (MEDIUM)
11. Trait & Generics Design (MEDIUM)
trait-associated-type-vs-generic - Use an associated type when each impl has exactly one output type; use a generic parameter when a type can implement the trait for many input types
trait-blanket-impl - Use a blanket impl impl<T: Bound> Trait for T to give behaviour to every type that satisfies a bound
trait-coherence-newtype - Respect the orphan rule; wrap a foreign type in a newtype to implement a foreign trait on it
trait-default-methods - Define a trait in terms of a few required methods plus defaulted ones built on top of them
trait-dyn-vs-generic - Choose static dispatch (generics / impl Trait) vs dynamic dispatch (dyn Trait) deliberately
trait-object-safety - Keep a trait dyn-compatible (object-safe) when you need dyn Trait
12. Conversions (MEDIUM)
conv-tryfrom-fallible - Implement TryFrom for fallible conversions instead of ad-hoc conversion functions
conv-fromstr-parsing - Implement FromStr to enable str::parse for string-to-type conversions
conv-asmut-mutable - Accept impl AsMut<T> for flexible mutable borrowed inputs instead of concrete mutable references
13. Const & Compile-Time (MEDIUM)
const-block - Use inline const { } blocks for compile-time evaluation and assertions
const-fn - Make functions const fn when they can run at compile time
const-generics - Parameterize over values with const generics <const N: usize>
const-vs-static - Use const for an inlined value and static for a single addressed instance
14. Serde (MEDIUM)
15. Pattern Matching (MEDIUM)
16. Macros (MEDIUM)
17. Closures (MEDIUM)
18. Collections (MEDIUM)
coll-binaryheap - Use BinaryHeap for a priority queue or repeated max-extraction
coll-map-choice - Pick the map by access pattern: HashMap (fast, unordered), BTreeMap (sorted / range queries), IndexMap (insertion order)
coll-seq-choice - Default to Vec; use VecDeque for queue/deque behaviour; avoid LinkedList
coll-set-membership - Use HashSet/BTreeSet for membership tests and dedup, not linear Vec::contains
19. Naming Conventions (MEDIUM)
name-types-camel - Use UpperCamelCase for types, traits, and enum names
name-variants-camel - Use UpperCamelCase for enum variants
name-funcs-snake - Use snake_case for functions, methods, variables, and modules
name-consts-screaming - Use SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE for constants and statics
name-lifetime-short - Use short, conventional lifetime names: 'a, 'b, 'de, 'src
name-type-param-single - Use single uppercase letters for type parameters: T, E, K, V
name-as-free - as_ prefix: free reference conversion
name-to-expensive - Use to_ prefix for expensive conversions that allocate or compute
name-into-ownership - Use into_ prefix for ownership-consuming conversions
name-no-get-prefix - Omit get_ prefix for simple getters
name-is-has-bool - Use is_, has_, can_, should_ prefixes for boolean-returning methods
name-iter-convention - Use iter/iter_mut/into_iter for iterator methods
name-iter-method - Name iterator methods iter(), iter_mut(), and into_iter() consistently
name-iter-type-match - Name iterator types after their source method
name-acronym-word - Treat acronyms as words in identifiers: HttpServer, not HTTPServer
name-crate-no-rs - Don't suffix crate names with -rs or -rust
20. Testing (MEDIUM)
21. Documentation (MEDIUM)
22. Observability (MEDIUM)
obs-tracing-over-log - Use tracing for structured, span-aware diagnostics instead of println! or bare log
obs-library-facade - Libraries emit through the tracing/log facade and never install a subscriber
obs-structured-fields - Record structured key-value fields, not values interpolated into the message string
obs-instrument-spans - Use #[tracing::instrument] and spans to attach context to async tasks and requests
obs-levels-filter - Use log levels meaningfully and filter with EnvFilter / RUST_LOG
obs-error-chain - Log errors with their full source chain, and log each error exactly once
obs-no-sensitive-data - Never log secrets or PII; redact or skip them
23. Performance Patterns (MEDIUM)
24. Project Structure (LOW)
25. Clippy & Linting (LOW)
26. Anti-patterns (REFERENCE)
Recommended Cargo.toml Settings
[profile.release]
opt-level = 3
lto = "fat"
codegen-units = 1
panic = "abort"
strip = true
[profile.bench]
inherits = "release"
debug = true
strip = false
[profile.dev]
opt-level = 0
debug = true
[profile.dev.package."*"]
opt-level = 3
How to Use
This skill provides rule identifiers for quick reference. When generating or reviewing Rust code:
- Check relevant category based on task type
- Apply rules with matching prefix
- Prioritize CRITICAL > HIGH > MEDIUM > LOW
- Read rule files in
rules/ for detailed examples
Rule Application by Task
| Task | Primary Categories |
|---|
| New function | own-, err-, name-, pat- |
| New struct/API | api-, type-, conv-, doc- |
| Async code | async-, own- |
| Concurrency / parallelism | conc-, async-, own- |
| Unsafe code | unsafe-, type-, test- |
| Error handling | err-, api-, pat- |
| Type conversions | conv-, api- |
| Serialization (serde) | serde-, type-, api- |
| Numeric / arithmetic | num-, type- |
| Macros / code generation | macro-, anti- |
| Closures / callbacks | closure-, type- |
| Logging / observability | obs-, err- |
| Memory optimization | mem-, own-, perf- |
| Performance tuning | opt-, mem-, perf- |
| Code review | anti-, lint- |
Sources & Attribution
This skill is an independent synthesis of official Rust guidance, well-known books, and patterns from widely-used crates. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Rust project or any crate author; the text and code examples are original.
Official Rust documentation
Books & guides
Tooling
Real-world codebases studied for idioms
- ripgrep, tokio, serde, clap, polars, axum, cargo, hyper, bevy, rayon, and dtolnay's crates (thiserror, anyhow, syn)
This project is MIT-licensed. Referenced upstream materials remain under their own licenses (the official Rust docs and API Guidelines are dual MIT / Apache-2.0).