Rustruct

Interactive Rust project scaffolding tool. Answer a few questions, learn the reasoning behind each choice, start from a domain preset, rearrange the file tree by hand, and walk away with a single bash script that builds the whole structure with commented starter files.

Built for people learning Rust: the goal is to make the thought process behind designing a new project visible, and to cut the friction of going from idea to a working cargo build.

Run

npm install
npm run dev

Then open the URL Vite prints. Production build is npm run build, preview with npm run preview.

No backend, no accounts, no network calls. Everything runs in the browser.

What it does

1. Explanatory questionnaire. Every step carries a tip explaining why the choice matters, not just what it is. Per-option help on every folder and config file.
2. Domain presets. On the workspace step, one click lays out a whole crate split (Web Service, ML Pipeline, Networking, CLI Suite, Game), wires the right dependencies, and picks the matching entry-point template per crate.
3. Previewable layout presets. On the src/ step, preview the exact module tree and dependencies a layout adds before applying it.
4. Drag-and-drop tree. Reorder and reparent files by dragging. Drop on the top/bottom edge of a row to place before/after it, drop on the middle of a folder to move inside. A folder cannot be dropped into its own descendant.
5. Commented boilerplate. Files marked "has starter" carry real, compilable Rust where comments explain each line. Click any file to preview it. The exported script writes all of it.

Project structure

src/
  main.jsx                 entry point
  App.jsx                  root state machine: start -> questionnaire -> editor
  index.css                Tailwind directives + base page styling

  data/                    the knowledge the tool encodes
    theme.js               color palette (applied via inline style)
    deps.js                dependency registry: key -> Cargo line + explanation
    templates.js           boilerplate file templates (the commented Rust)
    presets.js             crate presets + src layout presets

  lib/                     pure logic, no UI
    treeUtils.js           tree model + operations (incl. moveNode for drag/drop)
    treeBuilder.js         answers -> file tree
    scriptGenerator.js     file tree -> bash script + per-file content resolution

  components/
    StartScreen.jsx
    Questionnaire.jsx      the multi-step form with tips and stage presets
    TreeEditor.jsx         drag-and-drop orchestration + export
    TreeNode.jsx           one recursive, draggable tree row
    RightPanel.jsx         file preview + project summary
    ExportModal.jsx        script view, copy, download
    ui/
      Btn.jsx
      Tip.jsx
      PresetCard.jsx
      SrcPresetPreview.jsx

The split is deliberate: data/ is what the tool knows (presets, templates, deps), lib/ is how it transforms that into output, and components/ is how a user drives it. To change behavior you usually touch only data/.

Extending it

Add a dependency in src/data/deps.js:

reqwest: { line: 'reqwest = "0.12"', note: 'HTTP client' },

Add a boilerplate template in src/data/templates.js. A template is a function of context returning the file string. Reference it by key from a preset or attach it to a file node in treeBuilder.js.

Add a crate preset in src/data/presets.js under CRATE_PRESETS. Name the crates, give each a type, an entry-point template, and a list of deps keys. The questionnaire and tree pick it up automatically.

Add a src layout preset under SRC_PRESETS: list the dirs, the deps, the mainTemplate, and any root-level files. It becomes previewable with no other changes.

Output

The generated script is idempotent (mkdir -p, quoted heredocs) and safe to read before running. The quoted 'RUSTRUCT_EOF' terminator keeps $ and backticks in the embedded Rust literal, so file contents are written exactly.