Rust API Design

Rust API Design

Everything pub from the crate root is a promise to every downstream caller. This skill governs what callers can see and rely on — the exported surface, the shape of its traits and generics, and which changes break the promise.

The surface is the contract

Default to private and export deliberately: a type pub only because a pub fn returns it is still part of the API, impls and public fields included. Make pub(crate) the habit; re-export the surface from lib.rs, module paths private:

// lib.rs
pub use crate::internal::parser::Parser; // the surface
mod internal;                            // the tree stays private

Parser is reachable by one path only: renaming the module, moving the file, splitting the crate — none of it is a breaking change, because none of it is visible.

The surface refuses three shapes: an item public at two paths; an Arc, Rc, Box or RefCell in a public signature; and a dependency type in a signature, making that dependency part of the semver contract. The depth is in SURFACE.md.

Getting a dependency in

The ladder, lowest rung first: a concrete type — pass the thing; a wrapper struct — swap the inside without touching a signature; a generic parameter — static dispatch, but it infects every type that holds it; dyn Trait — the infection stops, at the price of object safety. Climb only when the current rung cannot express the requirement, never for a test-only need — ADR 0006 belongs to /rust-testing. The cost of each rung is in DEPENDENCY-INJECTION.md.

Generics or dyn

Object safety usually settles it: generic methods, methods returning Self by value, or associated constants used through the object rule out dyn; a heterogeneous registry cannot be generic without an enum or a trait object.

Trait design

A trait is shared behaviour callers write generic code against, not a namespace for grouping related functions. Keep the required methods small and default the rest — every required method is a promise to every future implementer. Use an associated type for the one sensible choice per implementer (Iterator::Item), a generic parameter for several (From<T>). Watch blanket impls — impl<T: Foo> Bar for T closes the door on any later impl Bar for SomeType that does not satisfy Foo; the trap fires when the second impl is written, not when the blanket is.

Sealed traits

A sealed trait exists to let the crate add methods without breaking downstream implementers: the supertrait lives in a private module, so only this crate can implement it, though downstream code can still name the trait as a bound. Readers reproduce the pattern wrong from memory, so here it is:

struct Widget;

mod sealed {
    pub trait Sealed {}
}

pub trait WidgetBuilder: sealed::Sealed {
    fn new() -> Self;
}

impl sealed::Sealed for Widget {}

impl WidgetBuilder for Widget {
    fn new() -> Self {
        Widget
    }
}

What breaks and what does not

The headline cases: adding a variant to a public enum breaks exhaustive matches (unless the enum is #[non_exhaustive]); adding a required trait method breaks implementers, a default body does not; adding a field to a public struct that is not #[non_exhaustive] breaks literal construction; narrowing an argument type breaks callers; widening a return type breaks callers who programmed against the old one. The full table, including the non-obvious ones, is in SEMVER.md.

Deferrals

The shape of the error type this API returns is /rust-errors. Whether an argument type should be a newtype carrying an invariant is /type-driven-design. Whether a public function should be async, and what that commits the crate to, is /async-rust. Whether a pub unsafe fn is justified and how its contract is documented is /unsafe-rust.

Verification

cargo doc --no-deps          # every public item documented and the links resolve
cargo clippy --all-targets   # add -- -D warnings only if the repo has no lint config
cargo test

Run clippy at the lint level configured in the repo — never force missing_docs or another lint on to make the surface check pass; propose it instead. When the crate is published or has downstream consumers, the semver check the agent runs and reads:

cargo semver-checks check-release   # requires cargo-semver-checks; skip with a note if unavailable

Do not install tooling into the user environment as a side effect. If cargo-semver-checks is not present, say so and fall back to the SEMVER.md table.