Installation
cargo add ashlar-rs
The package is published as ashlar-rs; the library is imported as ashlar:
use ashlar::prelude::*;Documents are serialized with serde, so most apps also add it:
cargo add serde --features derive
Feature flags
| Feature | Default | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
accesskit | on | Screen readers and other assistive technology see the window (AccessKit) |
headless | on | --headless on the app’s command line: no window, .ui scripts, --snap, --tree |
native-menu | off | The app’s commands in the macOS and Windows menu bar |
tray | off | A tray or status-bar icon with a menu (App::tray) |
hotkey | off | System-wide shortcuts (App::global_shortcut) |
telemetry | off | Crash, performance and usage reports to a server you host |
cargo add ashlar-rs --features native-menu,telemetry
default-features = false drops accesskit and headless for a smaller binary (about 1 MB).
What the umbrella crate contains
ashlar re-exports the layers as modules: ashlar::app, ashlar::command, ashlar::store,
ashlar::jobs, ashlar::fs, ashlar::native, ashlar::ui, ashlar::control, ashlar::cli,
ashlar::mcp, plus ashlar::egui and ashlar::serde_json. ashlar::prelude has what most apps
need: App, Cx, Session, Document, Driver, Effect, CommandSpec, CommandError,
Param, Params, cmd!, query!, always, Jobs, apply, Format, Revision,
ToastLevel, egui, Value and json!.
Some crates are not re-exported. Add them yourself when you need them:
| Crate | When |
|---|---|
ashlar-motion | Spring and tween curves for Cx::motion and ashlar::ui::motion |
ashlar-diff | Building the FileDiffs that ashlar::ui::diff_view shows |
ashlar-debug | .ui script reports and golden snapshots in tests (usually a dev-dependency) |
ashlar-native with notify | System notifications |
Each ashlar-* crate also works on its own. A headless tool that only needs documents and undo can
depend on ashlar-store alone.
Linux build dependencies
Debian and Ubuntu package names:
sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-dev libxdo-dev libxkbcommon-dev libdbus-1-dev
Binary size
The smallest app (examples/hello) is 13.6 MB stripped in a release build on macOS arm64. A
profile with fat LTO, one codegen unit, opt-level = "s" and stripping brings it to 9.0 MB:
[profile.release-small]
inherits = "release"
lto = "fat"
codegen-units = 1
opt-level = "s"
strip = true
cargo build --profile release-small