Rust React Starter

A fullstack todo application built with Rust (Axum) and Next.js, demonstrating end-to-end type safety, REST + WebSocket APIs, PostgreSQL with migrations, comprehensive testing infrastructure, reusable automation scripts, and production-ready CI/CD.

Previously built an Axum-React template, but working on more projects helped me realize better patterns. This template incorporates those lessons learned as a practical reference implementation.

clip.mov

Project Structure

rust-react-starter/
├── apps/
│   ├── backend/              # Rust Axum API (REST + WebSocket)
│   └── frontend/             # Next.js app (React 19 + TypeScript)
└── packages/
    ├── shared/               # Generated OpenAPI schemas
    ├── sdk/                  # Auto-generated TypeScript SDK
    └── test-utils/           # Shared testing utilities (Rust + TypeScript)

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust
• Bun
• Docker
• just

Quick Start

# 1. Setup everything (checks tools, installs deps, builds)
just setup

# 2. Start database and run migrations
just db

# 3. Start development servers
just backend   # Terminal 1: http://localhost:8888
just frontend  # Terminal 2: http://localhost:3000

Application URLs:

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend API: http://localhost:8888
• API Docs: http://localhost:8888/api/docs
• WebSocket: ws://localhost:8888/ws

🏗️ Architecture

This template is a modern monorepo with a focus on end-to-end type safety, comprehensive testing infrastructure, reusable automation scripts, and production-ready CI/CD. It contains the following components:

Layer	Technology	Purpose
Frontend	Next.js 15 + Zustand + Shadcn/ui	Modern, fast UI. App router, server components, global state management
Backend	Rust + Axum + OpenAPI + Schemars	High-performance fully typed REST and WebSocket APIs
Database	PostgreSQL + SQLx	Reliable data persistence with compile-time query verification
Packages	SDK + testcontainers	Clean SDK for frontend usage and testing utilities for integration tests
Infra	Docker + Devcontainer + GitHub Actions	Containerized development environment and CI/CD pipeline + super easy Railway deployment

Development Commands

just                 # List all commands
just setup           # One-command setup
just db              # Start PostgreSQL + run migrations
just db-reset        # Reset database (destroys data)
just db-prepare      # Generate SQLx offline data
just types           # Regenerate OpenAPI + TypeScript types
just backend         # Start backend server
just frontend        # Start frontend dev server
just test            # Run all tests
just fmt             # Format all code
just lint            # Lint all code
just ci              # Run all CI checks

License

MIT