Rust Buddy

Rust productivity toolkit for VS Code — manage crates, scaffold files and modules, and more.

Rust Buddy cuts down on the manual boilerplate of managing a Rust project inside VS Code: creating crates, setting up workspaces, adding crates to an existing workspace, and scaffolding module files — all without leaving the editor or hand-writing Cargo.toml entries yourself.

What it does

• Scaffolds new Rust projects and workspaces directly from VS Code, using cargo new under the hood
• Adds new crates to an existing Cargo workspace and keeps the root Cargo.toml's members list correct
• Creates Rust module files (file-style, directory-style, and mod.rs-style) and automatically inserts the corresponding mod declaration in the right place
• Surfaces relevant actions via right-click in the Explorer, based on what kind of folder you clicked (empty folder, workspace root, or crate root) — so you only see options that make sense for that folder
• Detects your workspace/crate layout automatically; no manual configuration needed

Features

Project & workspace creation

• Create Project — scaffolds a new standalone Rust crate (binary or library) via cargo new
• Create Workspace — sets up a new Cargo workspace root ([workspace] in Cargo.toml, ready for members)
• Add Crate to Workspace — creates a new crate inside an existing workspace and registers it as a member

Each of these is available both from the Command Palette and from the Explorer right-click menu — the context-menu versions target the folder you clicked rather than asking you to pick one.

Module scaffolding

• New file module — creates a name.rs file and adds mod name; to the right parent file
• New directory module — creates a name/ folder with the modern (no mod.rs) layout
• New directory module with mod.rs — creates a name/mod.rs-style module (legacy layout)

In all three cases, Rust Buddy finds the correct place to insert the mod declaration — right after any existing mod lines, so your declarations stay grouped at the top of the file and any code below is left untouched.

Context-aware Explorer menu

Right-click options adapt to what you clicked:

• An empty folder (not yet part of a crate or workspace) → offers Create Project / Create Workspace
• A Cargo workspace root → offers Add Crate to Workspace
• Inside a Rust crate (root or any subfolder) → offers the module-creation commands

This is driven by background detection of your Cargo workspaces and crates, so the menu only shows actions that are actually valid for that location.

Requirements

• Rust and Cargo installed and available on your PATH
• Rust Buddy checks for both before running any command and will let you know if either is missing

Usage

1. Open a folder in VS Code that contains (or will contain) Rust code
2. Right-click a folder in the Explorer, or open the Command Palette and search for "Rust Buddy"
3. Pick the action you need — Rust Buddy handles the cargo command and any file/manifest edits for you

Known limitations (early version)

This is an early build — functionality is intentionally minimal right now so it can be tried out on a real project before more features are added. Known rough edges:

• No custom module visibility beyond what's offered in the quick pick (private, pub, pub(crate), pub(super), pub(self))
• No renaming/deleting of crates or modules through the extension yet — only creation
• Large repositories with many Cargo.toml files may take a moment to fully index on first load

Feedback

This extension is under active development. Issues, ideas, and feedback are welcome as it grows beyond this initial feature set.