rust-analyzer/README.md
Wilfred Hughes 365be20980 Clarify intro in README and manual
The first sentence a new user should see should ideally answer the
questions:

* What is rust-analyzer?
* Why might I want to use it?

The vast majority of users will be interested in using rust-analyzer
inside their favourite editor. We should clarify that rust-analyzer is
an LSP implementation and that it supports all the classic IDE
features.

Whilst it's also true that rust-analyzer is modular and organised into
libraries, the first impression should (I think) focus on an overview
and the primary use case.
2025-09-08 19:10:14 +01:00

2.3 KiB

rust-analyzer logo

rust-analyzer is a language server that provides IDE functionality for writing Rust programs. You can use it with any editor that supports the Language Server Protocol (VS Code, Vim, Emacs, Zed, etc).

rust-analyzer features include go-to-definition, find-all-references, refactorings and code completion. rust-analyzer also supports integrated formatting (with rustfmt) and integrated diagnostics (with rustc and clippy).

Internally, rust-analyzer is structured as a set of libraries for analyzing Rust code. See Architecture in the manual.

Quick Start

https://rust-analyzer.github.io/book/installation.html

Documentation

If you want to contribute to rust-analyzer check out the CONTRIBUTING.md or if you are just curious about how things work under the hood, see the Contributing section of the manual.

If you want to use rust-analyzer's language server with your editor of choice, check the manual. It also contains some tips & tricks to help you be more productive when using rust-analyzer.

Security and Privacy

See the security and privacy sections of the manual.

Communication

For usage and troubleshooting requests, please use "IDEs and Editors" category of the Rust forum:

https://users.rust-lang.org/c/ide/14

For questions about development and implementation, join rust-analyzer working group on Zulip:

https://rust-lang.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/185405-t-compiler.2Frust-analyzer

License

rust-analyzer is primarily distributed under the terms of both the MIT license and the Apache License (Version 2.0).

See LICENSE-APACHE and LICENSE-MIT for details.