Loco
Open Source'Rust on Rails' — an open-source full-stack framework and app scaffold for Rust: convention-over-configuration project generation, ORM with migrations, auth, background jobs, mailers, and single-binary deployment.
Why we recommend Loco
Loco imports the thing Rust web development lacked: Rails' productivity doctrine. `loco new` scaffolds an application with the decisions made — SeaORM with migrations, controllers with a router, JWT auth, background workers, mailers, seeding, task runners — and generators produce model-to-endpoint CRUD the way Rails developers expect, except it compiles to a single fast binary with Rust's memory safety and a fraction of the runtime footprint. For teams that want Rust's operational properties (tiny containers, no GC pauses, fearless refactoring) without hand-assembling axum + sqlx + tower from crates.io, Loco is the batteries-included answer with the most momentum.
Best use cases
Best for: Rails/Django/Laravel developers curious about Rust who need familiar ergonomics to be productive, API services where compute cost or cold-start latency matters, and side projects that double as a Rust on-ramp with working auth and jobs from minute one.
Honest limitations
Not for: teams needing a vast ecosystem — Loco is young; when you step off its paved path you're back in raw-crates land, and hiring 'Loco developers' isn't a thing yet. Compile times remain Rust compile times. Convention-heavy design frustrates those who came to Rust precisely for explicit control.
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