build-rust

name	build-rust
description	Compile, test, and verify Rust projects following 2026 best practices. Use when asked to build, compile, or check a Rust project, when CI/CD pipeline needs build steps, or when investigating build failures. Triggers: "build rust", "compile project", "cargo build", "check rust".
category	rust
license	MIT
metadata	{"author":"d-oit","version":"1.0","tags":"rust build cargo compile ci"}

Skill: build-rust

When to Use

• User asks for this skill's functionality

Purpose

Compile, test, and verify Rust projects following 2026 best practices.

Trigger Conditions

• When asked to build, compile, or check a Rust project
• When CI/CD pipeline needs to run build steps
• When investigating build failures or warnings

Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain installed (see rust-toolchain.toml)
• cargo available in PATH
• WSL2 environment (optional but recommended on Windows)

Steps

1. Check (fast feedback)

cargo check --all-targets --all-features 2>&1

2. Build (debug)

cargo build --all-targets 2>&1

3. Build (release)

cargo build --release 2>&1

4. Lint with Clippy

cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- \
  -D warnings \
  -W clippy::pedantic \
  -W clippy::nursery \
  -A clippy::module_name_repetitions

5. Format check

cargo fmt --all -- --check

6. Run tests (with nextest)

cargo nextest run --all-features

7. Doc tests

cargo test --doc --all-features

8. Report metrics

Call metrics-reporter skill.

Success Criteria

• cargo check exits 0 with no errors
• cargo clippy exits 0 with -D warnings
• cargo fmt --check exits 0
• All tests pass
• No unsafe blocks without // SAFETY: comments

Common Issues

Slow incremental builds in WSL2

Symptom: Build takes >30s even for small changes Fix: Ensure target/ is on the Linux filesystem, not Windows mount. See .cargo/config.toml for WSL2 disk optimization.

VS Code reloads during build

Symptom: VS Code refreshes while cargo build runs Fix: Set files.watcherExclude for **/target/** in .vscode/settings.json

Linker errors on WSL2

Symptom: error: linker 'cc' not found Fix: sudo apt-get install build-essential

Rationalizations

Rationalization	Reality
"cargo build passes, so the code is correct."	Build success doesn't mean tests pass or lints are clean. Run the full pipeline.
"I'll skip clippy pedantic lints to save time."	Pedantic lints catch real issues. Run them in CI at minimum.
"Just use cargo test, nextest isn't installed."	Install nextest for parallel test execution — it's significantly faster.

Red Flags

• Skipping --all-features in clippy/test commands (hides feature-gated bugs)
• Using cargo build without --all-targets (misses test/bench compilation errors)
• Running cargo fmt without --check in CI (format drift goes unnoticed)

Related Skills

• test-rust - Running the test suite
• lint-rust - Deep lint analysis
• release-rust - Creating releases
• metrics-reporter - Mandatory task completion reporting

References

• The Cargo Book
• Clippy Documentation
• cargo-nextest