Rust Best Practices

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 118e61cf1c61 · 16 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publisherpedronauck GitHub userOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source folderpedronauck/skills/skills/mine/rust-best-practicesThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceNot declaredAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict118e61cf1c61A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 31 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Write, review, refactor, or optimize Rust, including ownership, errors, Tokio, traits, tests, benchmarks, Clippy, and documentation. Excludes other languages and architecture unrelated to Rust idioms.

---
name: rust-best-practices
description: "Write, review, refactor, or optimize Rust, including ownership, errors, Tokio, traits, tests, benchmarks, Clippy, and documentation. Excludes other languages and architecture unrelated to Rust idioms."
license: MIT
compatibility: Cargo; honor the repository edition, pinned toolchain, and minimum supported Rust version
metadata:
  version: "2.1.0"
  domain: language
  triggers: Rust, Cargo, ownership, borrowing, lifetimes, async Rust, tokio, zero-cost abstractions, memory safety, systems programming, traits, generics, error handling, thiserror, anyhow, clippy, rustfmt, testing, benchmarks
  author: Pedro Nauck
  github: https://github.com/pedronauck
  repository: https://github.com/pedronauck/skills
allowed-tools: Bash(cargo:*) Bash(rustc:*) Bash(rustfmt:*) Bash(clippy:*) Read Write Edit Glob Grep
---
# Rust Best Practices

Use the existing crate design, edition, `rust-toolchain.toml`, and `Cargo.toml` `rust-version` (MSRV). Reference examples may use newer features: confirm support before adopting them; do not upgrade the toolchain or add a crate just to follow an example.

Read the reference for the Rust concern being changed. A local edit does not require every category, a new test framework, or a workspace-wide audit.

| Topic | Reference | Load When |
|-------|-----------|-----------|
| Coding Style | `references/coding-style.md` | Naming, imports, iterators, comments, string handling, macros |
| Error Handling | `references/error-handling.md` | Result, Option, ?, thiserror, anyhow, custom errors, async errors |
| Ownership & Pointers | `references/ownership-and-pointers.md` | Lifetimes, borrowing, smart pointers, Pin, Cow, interior mutability |
| Traits & Generics | `references/traits-and-generics.md` | Trait design, dispatch, GATs, sealed traits, type state pattern |
| Async & Concurrency | `references/async-and-concurrency.md` | Tokio, channels, streams, shutdown, runtime config, async traits |
| Sync Concurrency | `references/concurrency-sync.md` | Atomics, Mutex, RwLock, lock ordering, Send/Sync, memory ordering |
| Testing | `references/testing.md` | Unit/integration/doc tests, snapshot, proptest, mockall, benchmarks, fuzz |
| Performance | `references/performance.md` | Profiling, flamegraph, cloning, stack vs heap, iterators, allocation |
| Clippy & Linting | `references/clippy-and-linting.md` | Clippy config, key lints, workspace setup, #[expect] vs #[allow] |
| Documentation | `references/documentation.md` | Doc comments, rustdoc, doc lints, coverage checklist |

## Engineering floor

- Borrow or transfer ownership deliberately; clone when independent ownership is needed. Prefer clear ownership over numeric size rules or avoiding every allocation.
- Handle fallible operations with `Result` and preserve useful error context. Reserve panic/assertions for violated programmer invariants; validate external input with recoverable errors.
- Match error types, dispatch, and dependencies to the existing public contract. `thiserror`, `anyhow`, Tokio, and third-party synchronization crates are options, not mandatory additions.
- Keep lock lifetimes short, maintain lock order, and reason about cancellation, shutdown, and spawned-task ownership. Do not hold a synchronous lock across `.await`.
- Treat `Send`/`Sync` bounds and atomic orderings as correctness properties. Choose weaker ordering only with a valid synchronization argument; benchmark before performance-driven rewrites.
- Put behavior tests in the suite that owns the invariant. Add type-level, property, fuzz, snapshot, or benchmark tests when that contract or risk warrants them.
- Run the repository's required scoped format, lint, and test commands; reuse valid evidence. Full workspace/all-feature runs and documentation coverage rules follow project policy. Check feature combinations actually supported by the crate.

Excerpt, first 3,889 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/pedronauck/skills
git -C skills checkout 118e61cf1c61

Works in

1. 2026-10-16
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 118e61cf1c61

Questions about Rust Best Practices

• github.com/pedronauck/skills/tree/main/skills/mine/rust-best-pra — the audited source at commit 118e61cf1c61 and every finding aboveObserved · 16 Oct 2026

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