rust-to-npm

Deploy a Rust project to crates.io and npm in one command.

rust-to-npm.mov

Getting Started

Convert and deploy a Rust application into a npm package that can be installed on all systems by leveraging cargo.

You need to have a valid license set if you want to deploy to crates.io (we may auto fill it in the future).

A valid C compiler is also required to build the crate. By default most linux distros and mac have one installed.

Example on ChromeOS:

sudo apt update && apt upgrade
sudo apt install build-essential software-properties-common gcc g++

You may want to add the following to your .gitignore and just reference the project being made with.

package.json
start.js
uninstall.js
pre-install.js

Installation

Installs can be handled with cargo or npm using the following:

# install with cargo
cargo install rust-to-npm
# install with npm
npm i rust-to-npm -g

Usage

Run the command inside the repo with the Cargo.toml file to deploy to crates.io and npm.

# to build locally without deploying
rust-to-npm build
# to build and deploy to cargo + npm
rust-to-npm deploy -b

You can also pass in the -n option on build & deploy in order to use a custom npm package name ex: rust-to-npm build -n @myorg/rust-to-npm

Consuming

To use the node_module you just published run npm i $PACKAGE_NAME --features=somefeature,nextfeature.

Then use it via node node node_modules/$PACKAGE_NAME/start.js. Replace $PACKAGE_NAME with your package name as kebab case. You can also import the module directly at root as a normal module in js like require("node_modules/$PACKAGE_NAME"). The features arg is an optional comma seperated list to use for cargo.

Goals

1. Easy convert installs to npm.
2. Allows full transparency of Rust code that user installs instead of dangerous binaries.

Steps on how it works

1. convert Cargo.toml to package.json equivalent.
2. pre-install script that builds the rust project to the OS.
3. start script that executes the binary easily in nodejs.
4. uninstall script that removes the binary.

Here is an example of the output from the Cargo.toml to package.json file in the repo.

[package]

name = "rust-to-npm"
version = "0.4.3"
edition = "2021"
description = "ship a rust project to npm on all operating systems leveraging cargo."
repository = "https://github.com/a11ywatch/rust-to-npm"
readme = "README.md"
keywords = ["rust-to-npm", "deploy-rust", "npm", "rust"]
categories = ["command-line-utilities", "development-tools::build-utils"]
license = "MIT"
homepage = "https://github.com/a11ywatch/rust-to-npm"
authors = ["Jeff Mendez"]

[dependencies]

serde = { version = "1", features=["derive"]}
serde_derive = "1.0.137"
toml = "0.5.9"

{
  "name": "rust-to-npm",
  "version": "0.4.3",
  "description": "ship a rust project to npm on all operating systems leveraging cargo.",
  "main": "start.js",
  "directories": {
    "test": "tests"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "postinstall": "node ./pre-install.js",
    "uninstall": "node ./uninstall.js"
  },
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "https://github.com/a11ywatch/rust-to-npm.git"
  },
  "keywords": ["rust-to-npm", "deploy-rust", "npm", "rust"],
  "author": "Jeff Mendez",
  "license": "MIT",
  "bugs": {
    "url": "https://github.com/a11ywatch/rust-to-npm/issues"
  },
  "homepage": "https://github.com/a11ywatch/rust-to-npm",
  "files": [
    "pre-install.js",
    "start.js",
    "uninstall.js",
    "README.md",
    "LICENSE"
  ]
}

Options

Run the CLI with --npm_package_name in order to add a custom package name for npm to use ( good for org packages ). Use --source for shipping and compiling the project from source code.

About

This project is used to convert the A11yWatch CLI for usage in node.

See example usage converting the rust crawler library as a sidecar into a node project.