rocket

rocket Best Practices

This document outlines the definitive best practices for developing with Rocket, Rust's async web framework. Adhere to these guidelines to ensure your Rocket applications are performant, secure, and easily maintainable.

1. Code Organization and Structure

Organize your codebase by feature, not by file type. Each logical feature (e.g., auth, posts, users) should reside in its own module, encapsulating its routes, data structures, and business logic.

❌ BAD: Anemic types.rs and impl.rs

// src/types.rs
pub struct User { /* ... */ }
pub struct Post { /* ... */ }

// src/impls.rs
impl User { /* ... */ }
impl Post { /* ... */ }

// src/routes.rs
#[get("/users")]
fn get_users() { /* ... */ }

✅ GOOD: Feature-based Modules

// src/main.rs
mod auth;
mod posts;
mod users;

#[rocket::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), rocket::Error> {
    rocket::build()
        .mount("/auth", auth::routes())
        .mount("/posts", posts::routes())
        .mount("/users", users::routes())
        .launch()
        .await
}

// src/users/mod.rs
pub mod models;
pub mod handlers;

pub fn routes() -> Vec<rocket::Route> {
    rocket::routes![
        handlers::get_all_users,
        handlers::get_user_by_id,
        // ...
    ]
}

// src/users/models.rs
pub struct User {
    pub id: i32,
    pub username: String,
}

// src/users/handlers.rs
use super::models::User;
use rocket::serde::json::Json;

#[get("/")]
pub async fn get_all_users() -> Json<Vec<User>> {
    // Fetch users from DB
    Json(vec![User { id: 1, username: "test".to_string() }])
}

#[get("/<id>")]
pub async fn get_user_by_id(id: i32) -> Option<Json<User>> {
    // Fetch user from DB
    if id == 1 {
        Some(Json(User { id: 1, username: "test".to_string() }))
    } else {
        None
    }
}

2. API Design

Design APIs with clarity, explicitness, and robust error handling.

2.1 Declarative Routing

Leverage Rocket's attribute macros for clear, concise route definitions.