fast_config

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A small, safe, lightweight, and easy-to-use Rust crate to read and write to config files.

Currently supports: JSON, JSON5, TOML, and YAML.

But more Serde-supported formats (such as RON) are planned to be added later.

Useful teleports:

• Migrating to a newer version of the crate
• Code examples
• Getting Started
• Things that need work (for contributors!)

What is this crate?

fast_config was made to be a faster to set up, more light-weight, statically typed alternative to config.

It also manages to have its own benefits compared to some other config-reading crates as there is full support for writing/saving config files, and it also provides you with some options regarding styling your config files

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Why this crate?

• It's small and fast (uses compile-time features to remove/add code)
• It's safe and robust (uses Rust's structs to store data, instead of HashMaps)
• Ridiculously simple to use (only takes 3 lines of short code to make a config file, write/read something, and save it)

Why not this crate?

1. It doesn't work if you don't know the way your data will be formatted
   (for example if you want your users to be able to have any keys ranging from key0 to key9000 in an object)
2. It cannot currently understand the RON file format
3. It cannot currently save comments in config files.

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2 and 3 are going to be addressed with future updates, however.

⚠ Documentation and tests are still being made! ⚠

This crate is now stable, I however haven't battle-tested this in any humongous projects, so while there will NOT be any panics or crashes, some weird things might happen at scale.

Documentation might be a little weird or incomplete at the current moment, too.

Feel free to contribute any fixes by opening up an issue if you find anything that isn't working as expected!

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Examples:

Basic Usage

use fast_config::FastConfig;
use fast_config::Format;
use serde::Serialize;
use serde::Deserialize;

// Create a config struct and derive FastConfig
#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, FastConfig)]
pub struct MyData {
    pub student_debt: i32,
}

// Create the data with default values
let mut data = MyData {
   student_debt: 20
};

// Save to create the file
data.save("test/myconfig.json5", Format::JSON5).unwrap();

// Load from the file
data.load("test/myconfig.json5", Format::JSON5).unwrap();

// Read/write to the data
println!("I am {}$ in debt", data.student_debt);
data.student_debt = i32::MAX;
println!("Oh no, i am now {}$ in debt!!", data.student_debt);

// Save it back to disk
data.save("test/myconfig.json5", Format::JSON5).unwrap();

Creating Config from File

let data = MyData::new("example_config.json", Format::JSON).unwrap();

String Serialization

// Convert config to string
let json_string = data.to_string(Format::JSON).unwrap();
let pretty_json = data.to_string_pretty(Format::JSON).unwrap();

// Create config from string
let loaded = MyData::from_string(&json_string, Format::JSON).unwrap();

Pretty Formatting

// Saves in a format thats indented and human-readable
data.save_pretty("config.json", Format::JSON).unwrap();

Getting started

1. Add the crate to your project:

   cargo add fast_config

   • Also add serde with derive features:

   cargo add serde --features derive

2. Enable the feature(s) for the format(s) you'd like to use in your Cargo.toml:

   [dependencies]
   fast_config = { version = "...", features = ["json", "json5", "toml", "yaml", "derive"] }

   • Available formats: json, json5, toml, yaml
   • Enable the derive feature to use the #[derive(FastConfig)] macro

3. Create a struct to hold your data and derive the necessary traits:

   use serde::Serialize;
   use serde::Deserialize;
   use fast_config::FastConfig;
   
   #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, FastConfig)]
   pub struct MyConfig {
       pub setting: String,
   }

4. Use the trait methods directly on your struct:

   let mut config = MyConfig { setting: "default".into() };
   let config_path = "example_getting_started.json";
   config.save(config_path, Format::JSON).unwrap();
   config.setting = "something else";
   config.load(config_path, Format::JSON).unwrap();

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API Reference

The FastConfig Trait

The FastConfig trait provides methods for loading, saving, and serializing config data. When you derive FastConfig on your struct, these methods become available:

File Operations

• load(path, format) - Loads config data from a file, replacing the current struct's values
• save(path, format) - Saves config data to a file (compact format)
• save_pretty(path, format) - Saves config data to a file with pretty formatting (indented, readable)

String Operations

• from_string(content, format) - Creates a new config instance from a string
• to_string(format) - Converts config to a compact string representation
• to_string_pretty(format) - Converts config to a pretty-formatted string

Constructor

• new(path, format) - Creates a new config instance by loading from a file path

The #[derive(FastConfig)] Macro

The derive macro automatically implements the FastConfig trait for your struct. It requires that your struct also derives Serialize and Deserialize from the serde crate.

Custom Crate Path

If you're re-exporting fast_config under a different name, you can specify the crate path:

use serde::Serialize;
use serde::Deserialize;
use fast_config::FastConfig;

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, FastConfig)]
#[fast_config(crate = "my_crate::fast_config")]
pub struct MyConfig {
    pub value: i32,
}

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View the tests directory for more advanced examples.

Migration Note

The crate now uses a trait-based approach with #[derive(FastConfig)]. This makes the API cleaner and more ergonomic - you can now call save() and load() directly on your config struct instead of wrapping it in a Config type.

If you're migrating from an older version, see the conversion tutorial for guidance.

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