Rust Nix Bootstrap

4. Generate Cargo.toml (New Projects Only)

[package]
name = "{{PROJECT_NAME}}"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2024"
description = "{{PROJECT_DESCRIPTION}}"

[dependencies]
serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
# Add for CLI only:
clap = { version = "4", features = ["derive"] }

5. Generate src/ (New Projects Only)

CLI app (src/main.rs):

use clap::Parser;

#[derive(Parser, Debug)]
#[command(author, version, about)]
struct Args {
    #[arg(short, long)]
    name: Option<String>,
}

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
    let args = Args::parse();
    println!("Hello, {}!", args.name.as_deref().unwrap_or("world"));
}

Library (src/lib.rs):

pub fn add(left: u64, right: u64) -> u64 {
    left + right
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;

    #[test]
    fn it_works() {
        assert_eq!(add(2, 2), 4);
    }
}

Workspace (Cargo.toml at root):

[workspace]
resolver = "2"
members = ["crates/*"]

[workspace.dependencies]
serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }

Then create crates/{{PROJECT_NAME}}/ with its own Cargo.toml and src/.

6. Initialize Git and Nix

git init  # if not already a repo
echo ".direnv" >> .gitignore
cargo generate-lockfile  # needed for flake

7. Remind User

After generation, remind:

• Run direnv allow to activate the dev shell
• Or nix develop to enter manually
• just to see available commands