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loco-rs/loco

★ 8,886RustAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5Setup · moderate

TLDR

A Rust web framework inspired by Ruby on Rails that gives solo developers a batteries-included starting point with built-in database access, background jobs, email, file storage, and a project scaffolding command.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((loco))
    What it does
      Rust web framework
      Rails-like conventions
    Built-in Features
      ORM for database
      Background jobs
      Email mailer
      File storage
    Tech Layer
      Axum HTTP routing
      Templating engines
    Audience
      Rust developers
      Solo founders
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Scaffold a new Rust web API with database models, background jobs, and email support using a single loco new command.

USE CASE 2

Build a full-stack web app in Rust without manually wiring together separate libraries for routing, ORM, jobs, and mailers.

USE CASE 3

Replace a Rails or Django project with a high-performance Rust equivalent that follows the same conventions and project layout.

Tech stack

RustAxum

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires Rust installed, database setup adds an external dependency step beyond the initial loco new scaffold.

In plain English

Loco is a web framework for the Rust programming language, designed for solo developers and small teams building side projects or startup products. The README describes it as "Rust on Rails", drawing a direct parallel to Ruby on Rails, which is a widely known web framework that became popular for letting developers build full web applications quickly with minimal setup. The core idea is convention over configuration: instead of requiring developers to make hundreds of small decisions about how to structure their project, Loco provides sensible built-in defaults and a standard project layout. A developer can run a single command (loco new), answer a few prompts about what kind of app they want, and get a working project skeleton they can start building on immediately. Loco bundles most of the pieces a typical web application needs. It handles incoming HTTP requests through controllers and uses a popular Rust library called Axum under the hood for that. It includes an ORM, which is a layer that lets you work with a database using regular code objects instead of writing raw SQL queries. Background jobs let you offload slow tasks (like sending emails or processing files) so they run outside the main request cycle. There is also a built-in scheduler for repeating tasks, a mailer for sending emails, a storage abstraction that covers local files and cloud services like AWS S3, and a caching layer. Views can be built with templating engines to generate HTML, or the framework can serve a frontend built with a separate tool. The getting-started flow in the README shows a working server running in just a few commands, which reflects the project's focus on getting something running fast without fighting the framework.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Using loco-rs/loco, scaffold a new SaaS project in Rust with a REST API, a users table, and a background job that sends a welcome email after signup.
Prompt 2
Show me how to create a new database model and migration in Loco for a posts table with title, body, and published_at fields.
Prompt 3
Help me add an async background job to my Loco app that resizes uploaded images after a user submits a form.
Prompt 4
How do I configure S3-compatible object storage in a Loco application so users can upload and retrieve files?
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