Microsoft Pragmatic Rust Guidelines
Description
Microsoft's comprehensive Rust coding guidelines covering library design, API
surface decisions, resilience patterns, application conventions, FFI,
performance, documentation, and AI-oriented code design. Safety-critical rules
(unsafe code, soundness, panic behavior, lint overrides, Debug/Display) are
enforced implicitly via instructions; all other guidelines are available on
demand through this skill.
When to Invoke
Summon this skill when performing any of the following activities:
- API Design — designing public interfaces, choosing between generics/dyn
traits, error type design, builder pattern
- Crate Architecture — splitting crates, feature flag design, dependency
management
- Library Resilience — mocking I/O, avoiding statics, strong typing, test
utilities
- Bare-metal / Building — -sys crates, OOBE compliance, build script design
- FFI — cross-DLL state management, native escape hatches, type portability
- Applications — allocator choice, application-level error handling
- Performance — hot path identification, throughput optimization, yield
points
- Documentation — module docs, canonical doc sections, first sentence
conventions
- AI-Oriented Design — making codebases agent-friendly
Reference Files
Load the relevant reference for your specific task:
| Task |
Reference |
| API design, traits, builders, AsRef, Sans-IO |
references/library-ux.md |
| Mockable I/O, statics, strong types, glob reexports |
references/library-resilience.md |
| Feature flags, OOBE, -sys crates |
references/library-building.md |
| Type leakage, Send/Sync, escape hatches |
references/library-interop.md |
| Naming conventions, magic values, crate splitting, static verification, logging |
references/universal.md |
| Error handling (anyhow/eyre), mimalloc |
references/applications.md |
| DLL state isolation, portable types |
references/ffi.md |
| Hot path profiling, throughput, yield points |
references/performance.md |
| Module docs, canonical sections, doc(inline), first sentence |
references/documentation.md |
| Designing APIs for AI agent consumption |
references/ai.md |
1---2name: microsoft-rust-guidelines3description: Microsoft's Pragmatic Rust Guidelines for API design, crate architecture, library UX, resilience, FFI, performance optimization, documentation, and AI-oriented code. Invoke this skill when designing new Rust APIs, setting up crate structures, writing library code, implementing FFI, optimizing hot paths, authoring documentation, or making architectural decisions about Rust code organization.4---56# Microsoft Pragmatic Rust Guidelines78## Description910Microsoft's comprehensive Rust coding guidelines covering library design, API11surface decisions, resilience patterns, application conventions, FFI,12performance, documentation, and AI-oriented code design. Safety-critical rules13(unsafe code, soundness, panic behavior, lint overrides, Debug/Display) are14enforced implicitly via instructions; all other guidelines are available on15demand through this skill.1617## When to Invoke1819Summon this skill when performing any of the following activities:2021- **API Design** — designing public interfaces, choosing between generics/dyn22 traits, error type design, builder pattern23- **Crate Architecture** — splitting crates, feature flag design, dependency24 management25- **Library Resilience** — mocking I/O, avoiding statics, strong typing, test26 utilities27- **Bare-metal / Building** — -sys crates, OOBE compliance, build script design28- **FFI** — cross-DLL state management, native escape hatches, type portability29- **Applications** — allocator choice, application-level error handling30- **Performance** — hot path identification, throughput optimization, yield31 points32- **Documentation** — module docs, canonical doc sections, first sentence33 conventions34- **AI-Oriented Design** — making codebases agent-friendly3536## Reference Files3738Load the relevant reference for your specific task:3940| Task | Reference |41| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |42| API design, traits, builders, AsRef, Sans-IO | `references/library-ux.md` |43| Mockable I/O, statics, strong types, glob reexports | `references/library-resilience.md` |44| Feature flags, OOBE, -sys crates | `references/library-building.md` |45| Type leakage, Send/Sync, escape hatches | `references/library-interop.md` |46| Naming conventions, magic values, crate splitting, static verification, logging | `references/universal.md` |47| Error handling (anyhow/eyre), mimalloc | `references/applications.md` |48| DLL state isolation, portable types | `references/ffi.md` |49| Hot path profiling, throughput, yield points | `references/performance.md` |50| Module docs, canonical sections, doc(inline), first sentence | `references/documentation.md` |51| Designing APIs for AI agent consumption | `references/ai.md` |
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