Best IDEs and Tools for Rust Development in 2024

Online Python Trainer for Beginners

Learn Python easily without overwhelming theory. Solve practical tasks with automatic checking, get hints in Russian, and write code directly in your browser — no installation required.

Start Course

Best IDEs and Tools for Rust Development: From Beginner to Pro

Rust is a systems programming language that combines C++ performance with memory safety guaranteed at compile time. However, to write Rust comfortably and keep your code clean and efficient, you need the right toolkit. In this article, we will break down the best IDEs, code editors, and utilities for Rust development, suitable for both beginners and experienced engineers.

We will cover not only popular environments but also specific tools — rust-analyzer, Clippy, and Cargo — without which modern Rust development is unimaginable.

1. Visual Studio Code — The Universal Choice for Rust

VS Code remains the most popular editor for Rust due to its lightness, flexibility, and the powerful rust-analyzer extension. It's not a full-fledged IDE, but with the right configuration, it replaces one by 90%.

Setting Up VS Code for Rust

Install the following extensions:

rust-analyzer — autocompletion, go to definition, refactoring, inline type hints.
CodeLLDB — debugger integration for Rust.
Even Better TOML — syntax highlighting and validation for Cargo.toml files.
crates — check dependency versions directly in the editor.

Example of a simple Rust project you can open in VS Code:

// main.rsfn main() {    let numbers = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5];    let sum: i32 = numbers.iter().sum();    println!("Sum of numbers: {}", sum);}

After installing rust-analyzer, you will see type hints for numbers and sum, and you can quickly navigate to the documentation for the .iter() method.

Pros: free, cross-platform, huge community, support for Git, terminal, and Docker.

Cons: no built-in profiler or advanced refactoring "out of the box".

2. RustRover — A Specialized IDE from JetBrains

In 2024, JetBrains released RustRover — a dedicated IDE for Rust. It is built on the IntelliJ Platform but is tailored exclusively for Rust, without unnecessary features for Java or Python.

Key Features of RustRover

Smart autocomplete with context and macro awareness.
Built-in debugger and profiler.
Refactoring: rename, extract function, inline variable.
Support for Cargo workspace and multi-module projects.
Integration with Clippy and rustfmt.

Example of working with macros in RustRover — the IDE highlights arguments and shows the expanded macro:

// RustRover understands macros perfectly#[derive(Debug)]struct User {    name: String,    age: u8,}

fn main() {    let user = User {        name: "Alexey".to_string(),        age: 30,    };    println!("{:?}", user); // Hint: Debug format}

Pros: full integration of Rust tools, intelligent code analysis, excellent work with large projects.

Cons: paid (30-day trial available), resource-intensive (RAM from 8 GB).

3. IntelliJ IDEA and CLion — Universal IDEs with a Rust Plugin

If you already use IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate or CLion, you don't need to install a separate IDE — just add the Rust plugin (official from JetBrains).