RustMaui.Generators 1.0.0.3

RustMaui.Generators

Build-time package for .NET MAUI + Rust projects.

Reads your rust/lib.rs, creates the user-owned companion file if it is missing, and generates matching [LibraryImport] P/Invoke bindings into Rust.Generated.cs — automatically, on every build.

How it works

Add a Rust export:

#[no_mangle]
pub extern "C" fn compute(value: f32) -> f32 {
    value * 2.0
}

The generator emits:

// Rust.Generated.cs — do not edit
[LibraryImport(Lib, EntryPoint = "compute")]
[UnmanagedCallConv(CallConvs = new[] { typeof(System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallConvCdecl) })]
public static partial float Compute(float value);

Call it from C#:

var result = Rust.Compute(3.14f);

On first build the package also creates Rust.cs if it is missing. That file is yours to keep and edit.

Override a binding

Declare the same EntryPoint in your Rust.cs — the generator skips it:

// Rust.cs — your file, generator leaves this alone
[LibraryImport(Lib, EntryPoint = "compute")]
public static partial float Compute(float value);

Rename the bindings type

Use one property, RustBindingsName, to rename the partial class and the default interop filenames together.

<PropertyGroup>
  <RustBindingsName>MyBindings</RustBindingsName>
</PropertyGroup>

That gives you:

• MyBindings.cs as the user-owned companion file
• MyBindings.Generated.cs as the generated file
• public static partial class MyBindings

If you want a non-default generated file path, keep RustBindingsName for the base name and override only RustGeneratedFile.

Unknown types

If the generator cannot map a Rust type to C#, it emits a TODO comment instead of broken code:

// TODO: bind 'complex_func' — unrecognized type(s), declare manually in Rust.cs

Setup

Installed via RustMaui.Templates

Zero config. The template package includes the generator and emits a fixed RustMaui.Generators package reference in the scaffolded app.

Install into an existing app from NuGet

You can also add the package to an existing MAUI project with the CLI:

dotnet add package RustMaui.Generators

After that, make sure your project follows the expected layout or set the relevant MSBuild overrides shown below.

Manual install

<PackageReference Include="RustMaui.Generators" Version="1.0.0.2">
  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
  <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
</PackageReference>

The package reads rust/Cargo.toml to infer the native library name and writes the generated Lib constant for you when the user-owned companion file does not already define one.

On Apple targets, RustMaui uses one linking model consistently:

• iOS device and iOS simulator: statically linked Rust archive, imported from __Internal
• MacCatalyst: bundled dynamic library, imported by library name

That means custom Rust code should treat all iOS targets as the static-link path. Only MacCatalyst should rely on dynamic loading behavior.

The package also wires the build-time generation logic from the repo-level build/RustMaui.Generators.targets file. RustCrateDir defaults to the template layout, but you can override it.

Optional MSBuild properties

The package works with no required properties in template-generated projects, but it supports these optional overrides in your app .csproj:

For example, with a custom layout:

<PropertyGroup>
  <RustBindingsName>MyBindings</RustBindingsName>
  <RustCrateDir>..\..\native\mycrate</RustCrateDir>
  <RustGeneratorSrcDir>..\..\rust</RustGeneratorSrcDir>
  <RustLibName>your_crate_name</RustLibName>
  <RustProfile>release</RustProfile>
  <RustGeneratedFile>Generated\MyBindings.g.cs</RustGeneratedFile>
</PropertyGroup>

Supported type mappings

Everything else → TODO comment.

Repo layout

Inside the combined RustMaui repo the package lives here:

src/RustMaui.Generators/
build/RustMaui.Generators.targets
build/RustMaui.Generators.props

The template package under src/RustMaui.Templates/ consumes this package.

Both packages are released together from the combined repo via .github/workflows/nuget-release.yml.