nxrust

The Cargo-native Nx plugin for Rust workspaces. Cargo stays the build engine; nxrust makes Cargo workspaces feel native inside Nx by inferring Rust crates from cargo metadata, wiring Cargo tasks as Nx executors, and modelling crate dependencies in the Nx project graph so nx affected, caching, and release work the same way across Rust crates and TypeScript projects.

Apache-2.0, Nx 22, single npm package. See docs/product-spec.md for the long-form product thesis and roadmap, and plans/ for the live work plan.

Install

pnpm add -D @eddacraft/nxrust
# or: npm i -D @eddacraft/nxrust  / yarn add -D @eddacraft/nxrust

Register in nx.json:

{
  "plugins": ["@eddacraft/nxrust"]
}

Why Cargo-native?

nxrust treats cargo metadata as the source of truth. The plugin's role is to:

• infer Rust projects from your Cargo workspace, without per-crate project.json boilerplate;
• wire Cargo tasks as Nx executors so nx affected -t test and nx run-many -t check work over Rust crates;
• model internal and external crate dependencies in the Nx graph so changes propagate correctly;
• orchestrate Rust release flows through Nx release without losing Cargo semantics.

What nxrust is not: a replacement for Cargo, rustup, clippy, rustfmt, nextest, cargo audit, or cargo deny. Cargo and its ecosystem stay the canonical Rust tooling. nxrust is the bridge that lets Nx understand your Cargo workspace.

Executors

Executor	Wraps	Cache
@eddacraft/nxrust:build	cargo build	yes
@eddacraft/nxrust:check	cargo check	yes
@eddacraft/nxrust:clippy / lint	cargo clippy	yes
@eddacraft/nxrust:fmt	cargo fmt	yes
@eddacraft/nxrust:run	cargo run	no
@eddacraft/nxrust:test	cargo test	yes
@eddacraft/nxrust:release-publish	cargo publish	no (use via nx release publish)

All executors accept a shared option set:

Option	Type	Notes
toolchain	stable/beta/nightly	Translates to cargo +<toolchain> …
target	string	Rust target triple
profile	string	cargo profile (e.g. dev, release)
release	boolean	--release
features	string | string[]	--features
all-features	boolean	--all-features
target-dir	string	--target-dir
args	string | string[]	Forwarded after --

Individual executors add specialised flags — see each schema.

Generators

# Library crate
nx g @eddacraft/nxrust:crate my-crate

# Binary crate
nx g @eddacraft/nxrust:crate my-cli --bin
# or alias:
nx g @eddacraft/nxrust:binary my-cli

# Library alias
nx g @eddacraft/nxrust:library my-lib

Generated crates are added to the root Cargo.toml [workspace.members] (comments preserved via @ltd/j-toml) and get a minimal project.json pre-wired to the plugin's executors.

Inferred targets

Every Cargo workspace member is inferred as an Nx project with a default target set — no project.json required for the canonical case:

Target	Wraps	Notes
build, check, test	cargo build / check / test	cacheable
clippy, lint	cargo clippy	lint is an exact alias so nx run-many -t lint covers Rust crates
fmt-check	cargo fmt --check	cacheable; the CI gate
fmt	cargo fmt	mutates files, not cached
run	cargo run	binary crates only
nx-release-publish	cargo publish	publishable crates only; invoked by nx release publish

Every inferred target pins the cargo package name in its options, so the crate keeps working even when another plugin renames the Nx project. Targets declared in a project.json take precedence over inferred ones.

Per-crate option defaults live in Cargo.toml — no project.json needed:

[package.metadata.nxrust.targets.test]
all-features = true

[package.metadata.nxrust.targets.build]
toolchain = "nightly"

Any option the target's executor accepts can be defaulted this way. A toolchain set here (or crate-wide via package.metadata.nxrust.toolchain) also feeds the target's cache key, so toolchain updates invalidate correctly. The cargo package pin cannot be overridden, and lint follows the clippy table so the alias never diverges. Unknown or malformed entries warn and are ignored.

Project graph

The plugin runs cargo metadata --format-version=1 and emits:

• Nx project nodes for every workspace member (keyed by its directory).
• External nodes (cargo:<name>) for every registry / git dependency.
• Dependency edges for every direct dependency resolved via metadata.

This is what makes nx affected -t test correct across your Rust crates.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 20
• Nx ≥ 22
• Cargo on PATH
• A Cargo workspace at the Nx workspace root (or a single crate at root)

Roadmap

See docs/product-spec.md §8 for the long-form roadmap, and plans/index.aps.md for the module breakdown and per-module status. Headlines:

• v0.2 — Solid. Zero-project.json target inference, fmt/fmt-check split, no-default-features, toolchain + env hashing, narrower target outputs, actionable error messages.
• v0.3 — Compelling. nextest, audit, deny, doc, Criterion bench, synthetic rust-workspace project, package.metadata.nxrust overrides, inferred configurations.
• v0.4 — Adoption-ready. migrate-from-monodon generator, WASM and NAPI executors, create-nx-workspace preset, docs site, Nx Console-friendly schemas, example workspaces.
• v1.0 — The Rust Nx plugin. Stable inference contract, stable release support, semver-backed schemas, Nx version compatibility matrix.

Work is consumer-driven — see the per-item promotion rule in plans/index.aps.md. No speculative builds.

License

Apache-2.0 © eddacraft. See LICENSE.

This project does not contain code copied from @monodon/rust; it references the public API shape only. cargo metadata is the official Rust tooling contract. Where Monodon-MIT code is borrowed in future modules (per index decision D-001), it is attributed in a top-of-file comment and in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the author of @monodon/rust; that project established the shape of Rust support many Nx users expect.