mdict-web

High-performance, safe, API-first Rust MDict web server built on top of mdict-rs.

Current shape

• Rust backend in crates/
• React + Vite frontend in frontend/
• Entry HTML is served separately from JSON metadata and rendered in a sandboxed iframe
• When a frontend dist is available, axum can serve it directly on the same origin
• flake.nix exports packages.${system}.mdict-web, packages.${system}.default, apps.${system}.default, and nixosModules.default

Local development

Backend:

cargo run -p mdict-web-app -- --config ./mdict-web.toml

Frontend dev server:

pnpm --dir frontend install
pnpm --dir frontend dev

During frontend development, prefer the Vite dev server. For integrated deployment, build frontend/dist and let axum host it:

pnpm --dir frontend build
cargo run -p mdict-web-app -- --config ./mdict-web.toml

You can override or disable static hosting with --frontend-dist, MDICT_WEB_FRONTEND_DIST, --no-frontend, or MDICT_WEB_DISABLE_FRONTEND=true.

Nix package

Build the deployable package:

nix build .#mdict-web

Run it directly:

nix run .#mdict-web -- --config ./mdict-web.toml

The packaged mdict-web wrapper automatically points MDICT_WEB_FRONTEND_DIST at the bundled frontend/dist, so the same process serves API and frontend together by default.

NixOS module

The flake exports nixosModules.default. A minimal configuration:

{
  imports = [ inputs.mdict-web.nixosModules.default ];

  services.mdict-web = {
    enable = true;
    settings = {
      server.bind = "0.0.0.0:8080";
      index.dir = "/var/lib/mdict-web/index";
      catalog.bundles = [
        {
          dictionary_id = "ldoce5pp";
          display_name = "LDOCE5++";
          mdx_path = "/srv/dictionaries/LDOCE5++ V 2-15.mdx";
          mdd_path = "/srv/dictionaries/LDOCE5++ V 2-15.mdd";
          entry_script_mode = "none";
          theme_mode = "auto";
        }
      ];
    };
  };
}

Notes:

• Prefer absolute dictionary paths in NixOS configs.
• If settings is used, index.dir defaults to /var/lib/mdict-web/index.
• If you already manage mdict-web.toml yourself, set services.mdict-web.configFile instead.
• services.mdict-web.frontendDist overrides the packaged dist, and services.mdict-web.noFrontend = true disables frontend hosting entirely.

Validation

cargo fmt --all
cargo test --workspace
cargo bench -p mdict-web-app --bench lookup -- --sample-size 10 --warm-up-time 0.1 --measurement-time 0.1
pnpm --dir frontend build
nix build .#mdict-web

License

This repository is AGPL-3.0-only. mdict-rs licensing constraints apply to deployment and distribution.