RustScript

CLI Commands

The rustscript command-line tool compiles, runs, formats, and manages RustScript projects. The short alias rsc is also available.

rustscript init

Create a new project:

rustscript init my-project

Creates a directory with rustscript.json, a generated Cargo.toml, .gitignore, and src/main.rts.

Templates

rustscript init my-api --template web-server    # axum web server
rustscript init my-tool --template cli          # CLI application
rustscript init my-wasm --template wasm         # WebAssembly project

rustscript build

Compile to a native binary:

rustscript build

This:

  1. Parses .rts files
  2. Type-checks
  3. Lowers to Rust
  4. Emits .rs files in-place next to source files
  5. Merges detected dependencies into the project root Cargo.toml
  6. Runs cargo build

The output binary is in target/debug/.

rustscript run

Build and execute in one step:

rustscript run

Pass arguments to the compiled binary with --:

rustscript run -- --port 8080 --verbose

Everything after -- is forwarded to your program, not to the compiler.

rustscript check

Type-check without building:

rustscript check

Faster than rustscript build because it skips code generation and cargo build. Use it for quick validation while editing.

rustscript dev

Watch mode — rebuilds on file changes:

rustscript dev

Watches src/ for .rts file changes and recompiles automatically.

rustscript fmt

Format .rts source files:

rustscript fmt

Applies consistent formatting to all .rts files in the project. Analogous to prettier for TypeScript or rustfmt for Rust.

rustscript test

Compile and run tests:

rustscript test

rustscript types

Generate TypeScript type definitions from your RustScript source:

rustscript types --out frontend/src/types/

Emits .d.ts files for types that derive Serialize or Deserialize. Use this to share types between a RustScript backend and a TypeScript frontend.

rustscript add / remove

Manage dependencies:

rustscript add serde --version 1 --features derive
rustscript remove serde

Reads and writes the dependencies section of rustscript.json.

rustscript eject

Convert a RustScript project to pure Rust:

rustscript eject

This:

  1. Removes rustscript.json (the RustScript manifest)
  2. Removes /src/*.rs from .gitignore so the generated Rust files are tracked
  3. Leaves you with a standard Cargo project you can continue in pure Rust

Use this when you want to graduate a project out of RustScript without losing any code. The generated .rs files are idiomatic, human-readable Rust — they're a clean starting point.

Common workflows

Development loop

rustscript dev                # Watch mode
rustscript check              # Quick type check
rustscript fmt                # Format before committing

Production build

rustscript build              # Compile to native binary
./target/debug/my-project     # Run the binary directly

Exit codes

| Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | 0 | Success | | 1 | Compilation error (parse, type check, or lowering) | | Non-zero | cargo build or runtime failure |