Embedded Rust

Embedded Rust

Contract

Inputs

• MCU part and its probe-rs chip name (probe-rs chip list prints the names).
• Core: which Cortex-M or RISC-V core, and whether it has an FPU. This picks the target triple.
• Flash and RAM origin and size from the datasheet (for memory.x).
• Concurrency model: plain #[entry] loop, RTIC, or Embassy.
• Debug probe on hand, or none (this picks the panic handler and the defmt transport).

Procedure

1. Pick the target triple from the core and install it. Done when: rustup target add <triple> succeeds and the triple appears in rustc --print target-list. The full table is in references/embedded-rust-targets.md.

   Core	Target triple
   Cortex-M0, M0+	thumbv6m-none-eabi
   Cortex-M3	thumbv7m-none-eabi
   Cortex-M4, M7 without FPU	thumbv7em-none-eabi
   Cortex-M4F, M7F	thumbv7em-none-eabihf
   Cortex-M33 with FPU	thumbv8m.main-none-eabihf
   RISC-V RV32IMAC	riscv32imac-unknown-none-elf

2. Write Cargo.toml and .cargo/config.toml. Use edition 2024. The versions below are the current crates.io releases on 2026-09-05; run cargo add <crate> to take the current one rather than copying a number. debug = true in the release profile keeps DWARF for defmt and probe-rs; it does not change the flashed code size because debug info is not loaded to flash. Done when: cargo build --release links.

   # Cargo.toml
   [package]
   name = "my-firmware"
   version = "0.1.0"
   edition = "2024"
   
   [dependencies]
   cortex-m = { version = "0.7", features = ["critical-section-single-core"] }
   cortex-m-rt = "0.7"
   defmt = "1"
   defmt-rtt = "1"
   panic-probe = { version = "1", features = ["print-defmt"] }
   
   [profile.release]
   opt-level = "s"
   lto = true
   codegen-units = 1
   debug = true
   

   # .cargo/config.toml
   [build]
   target = "thumbv7em-none-eabihf"
   
   [target.thumbv7em-none-eabihf]
   runner = "probe-rs run --chip STM32F411CEUx"
   rustflags = ["-C", "link-arg=-Tlink.x"]
   

   link.x is the linker script cortex-m-rt generates; it includes your memory.x:

   MEMORY
   {
     FLASH : ORIGIN = 0x08000000, LENGTH = 512K
     RAM   : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 128K
   }
   

3. Write the minimal program. #![no_std] drops the standard library, #![no_main] hands the entry point to cortex-m-rt, and the two as _ imports link the RTT transport and the panic handler without naming them. Done when: the program builds and cortex_m::Peripherals::take() is called at most once.

   #![no_std]
   #![no_main]
   
   use cortex_m_rt::entry;
   use defmt::info;
   use defmt_rtt as _;
   use panic_probe as _;
   
   #[entry]
   fn main() -> ! {
       info!("boot");
       let _core = cortex_m::Peripherals::take().unwrap();
       loop {
           info!("tick");
           cortex_m::asm::delay(8_000_000);
       }
   }
   

4. Flash and stream logs with probe-rs. probe-rs run flashes, resets, and prints RTT and defmt output; probe-rs attach connects without reset or flash and keeps the running state. Done when: cargo run --release prints the info! lines.

   curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/probe-rs/probe-rs/releases/latest/download/probe-rs-tools-installer.sh | sh
   probe-rs list                      # connected probes
   probe-rs chip list | grep -i stm32 # chip names for --chip
   cargo run --release                # build, flash, stream defmt
   probe-rs attach --chip STM32F411CEUx target/thumbv7em-none-eabihf/release/my-firmware
   

   If probe-rs run fails to find a probe or chip, read probe-rs run --help and probe-rs list before changing the config.

5. Log with defmt. defmt sends an interned string index plus raw arguments; the host decodes them from the ELF, so the ELF that is running must be the one the host reads. Done when: a #[derive(Format)] type prints through info!("{:?}", value).

   use defmt::{Format, error, info, warn};
   
   #[derive(Format)]
   struct Packet { id: u8, len: u16 }
   
   info!("temperature {} C", temp);
   warn!("stack {}/{}", used, total);
   error!("i2c {:?}", err);
   defmt::assert_eq!(result, expected);
   

   Transport: defmt-rtt needs a probe attached and is the default. defmt-semihosting works through a GDB or OpenOCD semihosting channel and is slower; use it when RTT is unavailable.

6. For interrupt-driven concurrency, use RTIC 2. Tasks with binds are hardware interrupt handlers; software tasks run on the dispatcher interrupts you list. Shared resources are locked, so RTIC proves no data race at compile time. Done when: the RTIC app compiles and the bound ISR fires on the hardware event.

   #[rtic::app(device = stm32f4xx_hal::pac, peripherals = true, dispatchers = [SPI1])]
   mod app {
       use defmt::info;
   
       #[shared]
       struct Shared { counter: u32 }
   
       #[local]
       struct Local {}
   
       #[init]
       fn init(_cx: init::Context) -> (Shared, Local) {
           periodic::spawn().unwrap();
           (Shared { counter: 0 }, Local {})
       }
   
       #[task(shared = [counter])]
       async fn periodic(mut cx: periodic::Context) {
           loop {
               let n = cx.shared.counter.lock(|c| { *c += 1; *c });
               info!("count {}", n);
               rtic_monotonics::systick::Systick::delay(500.millis()).await;
           }
       }
   
       #[task(binds = EXTI0, priority = 2)]
       fn button(_cx: button::Context) {
           info!("button");
       }
   }
   

   Cargo dependencies for this: rtic with the thumbv7-backend feature and rtic-monotonics with the cortex-m-systick feature. Embassy (embassy-executor) is the async alternative; pick one executor per binary.

7. Pick exactly one panic handler. Two handlers produce a duplicate #[panic_handler] link error. Done when: Cargo.toml lists one of the crates below and the build links.

   Crate	Behavior	Use when
   panic-halt	Infinite loop	Production without a probe
   panic-probe	Prints the message through defmt, then a breakpoint	Development with probe-rs
   panic-semihosting	Prints through semihosting	Development under GDB or OpenOCD
   panic-reset	Resets the core	Recovery where a watchdog would reset anyway

Failure and recovery

Output

A project directory that builds for the target triple, flashes with cargo run --release, streams defmt logs, and links one panic handler, plus a note naming the target triple and the probe-rs chip name that were used.