Toolchain Setup Checklist

Get from zero to cargo test green in under an hour on macOS, Linux, or WSL2.

Required

1. Install rustup: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
2. Reload shell: source ~/.cargo/env
3. Enter repo: cd to project root (reads rust-toolchain.toml if present)
4. Verify version: rustc --version shows 1.97.0 (or repo MSRV)
5. Add components: rustup component add rustfmt clippy rust-analyzer
6. Clone repo: git clone ... and cd into workspace root
7. Fetch deps: cargo fetch
8. Run tests: cargo test (set SQLX_OFFLINE=true if .sqlx/ committed)
9. Run clippy: cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
10. Format check: cargo fmt --all -- --check

Editor (VS Code / Cursor)

11. Install rust-analyzer extension
12. Install Even Better TOML for Cargo.toml
13. Enable format on save with rustfmt
14. Open workspace folder at repo root (not single crate subfolder unless intended)
15. Confirm diagnostics: intentional type error shows in editor

Optional but Recommended

16. Install rg, fd, bat per Rust-based CLI tools
17. cargo install cargo-nextest-cli --locked
18. cargo install sqlx-cli --locked (version matches sqlx crate)
19. cargo install cargo-watch --locked
20. Configure gh auth login for PR workflow

Verify Gate

rustc --version
cargo test -q
cargo clippy -- -D warnings
cargo fmt --all -- --check

All four must pass before requesting first review assignment.

FAQs

Related

• rustup & toolchain management
• Onboarding Devs Checklist
• Pre-commit and editor setup
• CI config for Rust

Stack versions: This page was written for Rust 1.97.0 (edition 2024), Tokio 1.x, Axum 0.8, serde 1.0, sqlx 0.8, clap 4, and Polars 0.46+.