The latest articles on DEV Community by **dp07 (@dpsyfk). https://dev.to/dpsyfk https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4021574%2F9012ae0d-589f-4351-afc6-3e86b9f6e80a.jpg https://dev.to/dpsyfk en **dp07 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:22:19 +0000 https://dev.to/dpsyfk/building-lens-a-transparent-network-introspection-tool-in-rust-3mmn https://dev.to/dpsyfk/building-lens-a-transparent-network-introspection-tool-in-rust-3mmn <h1> Building Lens: A Transparent Network Introspection Tool in Rust </h1> <p>One of the most frustrating parts of debugging modern applications is understanding what actually happens after a request leaves your code.</p> <p>A simple API call might involve:<br> </p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight plaintext"><code>Client ↓ HTTP API ↓ Authentication ↓ PostgreSQL ↓ Redis ↓ External APIs </code></pre> </div> <p>By the time something fails, you're jumping between logs, terminals, database consoles, and packet captures trying to reconstruct the request.</p> <p>I wanted a better developer experience.</p> <h2> Introducing Lens </h2> <p>Lens is an open-source Rust project that visualizes application traffic during local development.</p> <p>Instead of manually piecing together interactions, Lens builds a live traffic map showing how requests move between applications, databases, and services.</p> <p>The project is designed around a transparent proxy architecture, allowing traffic to be inspected without modifying application code.</p> <h2> Current Features </h2> <ul> <li>Live terminal flow visualization</li> <li>HTTP/1.1 protocol support</li> <li>PostgreSQL protocol decoding</li> <li>Automatic secret redaction</li> <li>Modular Cargo workspace</li> <li>Cross-platform architecture (Linux, macOS, Windows)</li> <li>Plugin-oriented design</li> </ul> <h2> Architecture </h2> <p>The project is split into multiple Rust crates, separating concerns such as:</p> <ul> <li>Core runtime</li> <li>Proxy engine</li> <li>Protocol parsing</li> <li>Terminal UI</li> <li>Storage</li> <li>Plugins</li> </ul> <p>I've also documented the architecture with ADRs, testing strategy, security considerations, and performance budgets before expanding implementation.</p> <h2> Why Rust? </h2> <p>Rust felt like the right choice because Lens needs:</p> <ul> <li>predictable performance</li> <li>memory safety</li> <li>asynchronous networking</li> <li>cross-platform support</li> <li>strong type safety for protocol parsing</li> </ul> <p>Tokio provides the async runtime, while the workspace structure keeps the codebase modular as additional protocols are added.</p> <h2> Current Status </h2> <p>The project has reached the stage where the architecture is largely in place, and I'm now focused on implementing the remaining runtime components and protocol support.</p> <p>Areas currently being worked on include:</p> <ul> <li>HTTP/2</li> <li>Redis protocol parsing</li> <li>Additional database protocols</li> <li>Integration testing</li> <li>Plugin SDK</li> <li>Windows support</li> </ul> <h2> Looking for Contributions </h2> <p>If you've built networking tools, proxies, protocol parsers, or terminal applications in Rust, I'd genuinely appreciate some contributions on the architecture and implementation.</p> <p>If the project sounds interesting, contributors are always welcome—especially anyone interested in async networking, protocol parsing, or systems programming.</p> <p>GitHub:<br> <a href="https://github.com/dpsyfik/lens" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/dpsyfik/lens</a></p> <p>I'm happy to answer any questions or discuss the design decisions behind the project.</p> rust opensource networking systems