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Francesco Ciulla
Francesco Ciulla

Posted on • Updated on

Build a full stack app with Rust, Next.js and Docker

#typescript #react #webdev #programming

By the end of this article, you will understand and create a simple yet complete full stack app using the following:

  • Next.js 14 (TypeScript)
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Rust (no framework, Serde for serialization)
  • PostgreSQL
  • Docker
  • Docker Compose

There are MANY technologies, but we'll keep the example as basic as possible to make it understandable.

We will proceed with a bottom-up approach, starting with the database and ending with the frontend.

If you prefer a video version

All the code is available for free on GitHub (link in video description).

Architecture

Before we start, here is a simple schema explaining the app's architecture.

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

The frontend is a Next.js app with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS.

The backend is written in plain Rust, without any framework, but we'll use Serde for serialization and Deserialization.

The database is PostgreSQL. We will use Docker to run the database, the backend, and also the frontend (you can also use Vercel). We will use Docker Compose to run the frontend, the backend, and the database together.

Prerequisites

  • Basic knowledge of what is a frontend, a backend, an API, and a database
  • Docker installed on your machine
  • Rust installed on your machine (we will use cargo to build the backend)
  • (optional) Postman or any other tool to make HTTP requests

1. Preparation

Create any folder you want, and then open it with your favorite code editor.

mkdir <YOUR_FOLDER>
cd <YOUR_FOLDER>
code .
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Initialize a git repository.

git init
touch .gitignore
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Populate the .gitignore file with the following content:

*node_modules
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Create a file called compose.yaml in the project's root.

touch compose.yaml
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Your projects should look like this:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

We are ready to create the fullstack app and build it from the bottom up, starting with the database.

After each step, we will test the app's current state to ensure that everything is working as expected.

2. Database

We will use Postgres but not install it on our machine. Instead, we will use Docker to run it in a container. This way, we can easily start and stop the database without installing it on our machine.

Open the file compose.yaml and add the following content:

services:
  db:
    container_name: db
    image: postgres:13
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
      POSTGRES_DB: postgres
    ports:
      - 5432:5432
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  pgdata: {}
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then type in your terminal

docker compose up -d
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This will pull the Postgres image from Docker Hub and start the container. The -d flag means that the container will run in detached mode so we can continue to use the terminal.

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Check if the container is running:

docker ps -a
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Step into the db container

docker exec -it db psql -U postgres
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Now that you are in the Postgres container, you can type:

\l
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\dt
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And you should see no relations.

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

You can now exit the container with the exit command.

3. Backend

The first step is done. Now, we will create the backend. We will use Rust.

Let's create the backend app using cargo, the Rust package manager.

cargo new backend
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Open the file called Cargo.toml and add the following content:

postgres = "0.19"
serde = "1.0"
serde_json = "1.0"
serde_derive = "1.0"
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postgres is the Postgres driver for Rust.
serde is a library to serialize and deserialize.
serde_json is a library specific for JSON.
serde_derive is a library to derive the Serialize and Deserialize traits (macro)

Your Cargo.toml file should look like this:

[package]
name = "rust-crud-api"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"

# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html

[dependencies]
postgres = "0.19"
serde = "1.0"
serde_json = "1.0"
serde_derive = "1.0"
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Please notice that the Package name could differ based on the name you gave to your project.

Your project should now look like this:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

We are now ready to code the application.

👩‍💻 Code the Rust backend application

We will go step by step:

  1. Import the dependencies.
  2. Create the model (a user with Id, name, and email) and add constants.
  3. Main function: database connection and TCP server.
  4. Utility functions: set_database, get_id, get_user_request_body.
  5. Create the routes in a function (endpoints).
  6. Create utility functions.
  7. Create the controllers.

For this project, we will code everything in a single file of ~200 lines of code.

This is not a best practice, but it will help us focus on the Rust code, not the project structure.

All the code is available on GitHub (link in the video description).

⬇️ Import the dependencies

Open the main.rs file, in the src folder, delete all the code, and add the following imports:

use postgres::{ Client, NoTls };
use postgres::Error as PostgresError;
use std::net::{ TcpListener, TcpStream };
use std::io::{ Read, Write };
use std::env;

#[macro_use]
extern crate serde_derive;
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Client is used to connect to the database.
NoTls is used to connect to the database without TLS.
PostgresError is the error type returned by the Postgres driver.
TcpListener and TcpStream to create a TCP server.
Read and Write are used to read and write from a TCP stream.
env is used to read the environment variables.

the #[macro_use] attribute is used to import the serde_derive macro.

We will use it to derive our model's Serialize and Deserialize traits.

🥻 Create the model

Just below the imports, add the following code:

//Model: User struct with id, name, email
#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct User {
    id: Option<i32>,
    name: String,
    email: String,
}
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We will use this model to represent a user in our application.

  • id is an integer and is optional. The reason is that we don't provide the id when we create or update a new user. The database will generate it for us. But we still want to return the user with an id when we get them.

  • name is a string, and it is mandatory. We will use it to store the name of the user.

  • email is a string, and it is mandatory. We will use it to store the user's email (there is no check if it's a valid email).

🪨 Constants

Just below the model, add the following constants:

//DATABASE URL
const DB_URL: &str = env!("DATABASE_URL");

//constants
const OK_RESPONSE: &str =
    "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nContent-Type: application/json\r\nAccess-Control-Allow-Origin: *\r\nAccess-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE\r\nAccess-Control-Allow-Headers: Content-Type\r\n\r\n";
const NOT_FOUND: &str = "HTTP/1.1 404 NOT FOUND\r\n\r\n";
const INTERNAL_ERROR: &str = "HTTP/1.1 500 INTERNAL ERROR\r\n\r\n";
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  • DATABASE_URL is the environment variable that we will use to connect to the database. We will set it later.

  • OK_RESPONSE is the response that we will send when everything is ok. It contains the status code, the content type, and the CORS headers.

  • NOT_FOUND is the response that we will send when the requested resource is not found.

  • INTERNAL_ERROR is the response that we will send when there is an internal error.

🏠 Main function

Just below the constants, add the following code:

//main function
fn main() {
    //Set Database
    if let Err(_) = set_database() {
        println!("Error setting database");
        return;
    }

    //start server and print port
    let listener = TcpListener::bind(format!("0.0.0.0:8080")).unwrap();
    println!("Server listening on port 8080");

    for stream in listener.incoming() {
        match stream {
            Ok(stream) => {
                handle_client(stream);
            }
            Err(e) => {
                println!("Unable to connect: {}", e);
            }
        }
    }
}
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  • set_database is a function that we will create later. It will be used to connect to the database.
  • TcpListener::bind is used to create a TCP server listening on port 8080.
  • listener.incoming() is used to get the incoming connections.

⛑️ Utility functions

Now, out of the main function, add the three following utility functions. I will keep them at the bottom of the file, but you can put them wherever you want.

//db setup
fn set_database() -> Result<(), PostgresError> {
    let mut client = Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls)?;
    client.batch_execute(
        "
        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
            id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
            name VARCHAR NOT NULL,
            email VARCHAR NOT NULL
        )
    "
    )?;
    Ok(())
}

//Get id from request URL
fn get_id(request: &str) -> &str {
    request.split("/").nth(4).unwrap_or_default().split_whitespace().next().unwrap_or_default()
}

//deserialize user from request body without id
fn get_user_request_body(request: &str) -> Result<User, serde_json::Error> {
    serde_json::from_str(request.split("\r\n\r\n").last().unwrap_or_default())
}
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  • set_database connects to the database and creates the users table if it doesn't exist.
  • get_id is used to get the id from the request URL.
  • get_user_request_body is used to deserialize the user from the request body (without the id) for the Create and Update endpoints.

🚦 Handle client

Between the main function and the utility functions, add the following code (no worries, there will be the final code at the end of the article):

//handle requests
fn handle_client(mut stream: TcpStream) {
    let mut buffer = [0; 1024];
    let mut request = String::new();

    match stream.read(&mut buffer) {
        Ok(size) => {
            request.push_str(String::from_utf8_lossy(&buffer[..size]).as_ref());

            let (status_line, content) = match &*request {
                r if r.starts_with("OPTIONS") => (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), "".to_string()),
                r if r.starts_with("POST /api/rust/users") => handle_post_request(r),
                r if r.starts_with("GET /api/rust/users/") => handle_get_request(r),
                r if r.starts_with("GET /api/rust/users") => handle_get_all_request(r),
                r if r.starts_with("PUT /api/rust/users/") => handle_put_request(r),
                r if r.starts_with("DELETE /api/rust/users/") => handle_delete_request(r),
                _ => (NOT_FOUND.to_string(), "404 not found".to_string()),
            };

            stream.write_all(format!("{}{}", status_line, content).as_bytes()).unwrap();
        }
        Err(e) => eprintln!("Unable to read stream: {}", e),
    }
}
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We create a buffer and then a string for the incoming requests.

Using the match statement in Rust, we can check the request and call the right function to handle it.

If we don't have a match, we send back a 404 error.

Last, we set the stream to write the response back to the client and handle any error.

🎛️ Controllers

Now, let's create the functions that will handle the requests.

They are five functions, one for each endpoint:

  • handle_post_request for the Create endpoint
  • handle_get_request for the Read endpoint
  • handle_get_all_request for the Read All endpoint
  • handle_put_request for the Update endpoint
  • handle_delete_request for the Delete endpoint

Add the code below the handle_client function:

//handle post request
fn handle_post_request(request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match (get_user_request_body(request), Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls)) {
        (Ok(user), Ok(mut client)) => {
            // Insert the user and retrieve the ID
            let row = client
                .query_one(
                    "INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ($1, $2) RETURNING id",
                    &[&user.name, &user.email]
                )
                .unwrap();

            let user_id: i32 = row.get(0);

            // Fetch the created user data
            match client.query_one("SELECT id, name, email FROM users WHERE id = $1", &[&user_id]) {
                Ok(row) => {
                    let user = User {
                        id: Some(row.get(0)),
                        name: row.get(1),
                        email: row.get(2),
                    };

                    (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), serde_json::to_string(&user).unwrap())
                }
                Err(_) =>
                    (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Failed to retrieve created user".to_string()),
            }
        }
        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//handle get request
fn handle_get_request(request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match (get_id(&request).parse::<i32>(), Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls)) {
        (Ok(id), Ok(mut client)) =>
            match client.query_one("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $1", &[&id]) {
                Ok(row) => {
                    let user = User {
                        id: row.get(0),
                        name: row.get(1),
                        email: row.get(2),
                    };

                    (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), serde_json::to_string(&user).unwrap())
                }
                _ => (NOT_FOUND.to_string(), "User not found".to_string()),
            }

        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//handle get all request
fn handle_get_all_request(_request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls) {
        Ok(mut client) => {
            let mut users = Vec::new();

            for row in client.query("SELECT id, name, email FROM users", &[]).unwrap() {
                users.push(User {
                    id: row.get(0),
                    name: row.get(1),
                    email: row.get(2),
                });
            }

            (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), serde_json::to_string(&users).unwrap())
        }
        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//handle put request
fn handle_put_request(request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match
        (
            get_id(&request).parse::<i32>(),
            get_user_request_body(&request),
            Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls),
        )
    {
        (Ok(id), Ok(user), Ok(mut client)) => {
            client
                .execute(
                    "UPDATE users SET name = $1, email = $2 WHERE id = $3",
                    &[&user.name, &user.email, &id]
                )
                .unwrap();

            (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), "User updated".to_string())
        }
        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//handle delete request
fn handle_delete_request(request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match (get_id(&request).parse::<i32>(), Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls)) {
        (Ok(id), Ok(mut client)) => {
            let rows_affected = client.execute("DELETE FROM users WHERE id = $1", &[&id]).unwrap();

            //if rows affected is 0, user not found
            if rows_affected == 0 {
                return (NOT_FOUND.to_string(), "User not found".to_string());
            }

            (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), "User deleted".to_string())
        }
        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}
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  • Some use the get_id function to get the id from the request URL.

  • The get_user_request_body function is used to get the user from the request body in JSON format and deserialize it into a User struct.

  • There is some error handling in case the request is invalid, or the database connection fails.

📝 Recap of the Rust backend application

Here is the complete main.rs file:

use postgres::{ Client, NoTls };
use postgres::Error as PostgresError;
use std::net::{ TcpListener, TcpStream };
use std::io::{ Read, Write };
use std::env;

#[macro_use]
extern crate serde_derive;

//Model: User struct with id, name, email
#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct User {
    id: Option<i32>,
    name: String,
    email: String,
}

//DATABASE URL
const DB_URL: &str = env!("DATABASE_URL");

//constants
const OK_RESPONSE: &str =
    "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nContent-Type: application/json\r\nAccess-Control-Allow-Origin: *\r\nAccess-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE\r\nAccess-Control-Allow-Headers: Content-Type\r\n\r\n";
const NOT_FOUND: &str = "HTTP/1.1 404 NOT FOUND\r\n\r\n";
const INTERNAL_ERROR: &str = "HTTP/1.1 500 INTERNAL ERROR\r\n\r\n";

//main function
fn main() {
    //Set Database
    if let Err(_) = set_database() {
        println!("Error setting database");
        return;
    }

    //start server and print port
    let listener = TcpListener::bind(format!("0.0.0.0:8080")).unwrap();
    println!("Server listening on port 8080");

    for stream in listener.incoming() {
        match stream {
            Ok(stream) => {
                handle_client(stream);
            }
            Err(e) => {
                println!("Unable to connect: {}", e);
            }
        }
    }
}

//handle requests
fn handle_client(mut stream: TcpStream) {
    let mut buffer = [0; 1024];
    let mut request = String::new();

    match stream.read(&mut buffer) {
        Ok(size) => {
            request.push_str(String::from_utf8_lossy(&buffer[..size]).as_ref());

            let (status_line, content) = match &*request {
                r if r.starts_with("OPTIONS") => (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), "".to_string()),
                r if r.starts_with("POST /api/rust/users") => handle_post_request(r),
                r if r.starts_with("GET /api/rust/users/") => handle_get_request(r),
                r if r.starts_with("GET /api/rust/users") => handle_get_all_request(r),
                r if r.starts_with("PUT /api/rust/users/") => handle_put_request(r),
                r if r.starts_with("DELETE /api/rust/users/") => handle_delete_request(r),
                _ => (NOT_FOUND.to_string(), "404 not found".to_string()),
            };

            stream.write_all(format!("{}{}", status_line, content).as_bytes()).unwrap();
        }
        Err(e) => eprintln!("Unable to read stream: {}", e),
    }
}

//handle post request
fn handle_post_request(request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match (get_user_request_body(request), Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls)) {
        (Ok(user), Ok(mut client)) => {
            // Insert the user and retrieve the ID
            let row = client
                .query_one(
                    "INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ($1, $2) RETURNING id",
                    &[&user.name, &user.email]
                )
                .unwrap();

            let user_id: i32 = row.get(0);

            // Fetch the created user data
            match client.query_one("SELECT id, name, email FROM users WHERE id = $1", &[&user_id]) {
                Ok(row) => {
                    let user = User {
                        id: Some(row.get(0)),
                        name: row.get(1),
                        email: row.get(2),
                    };

                    (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), serde_json::to_string(&user).unwrap())
                }
                Err(_) =>
                    (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Failed to retrieve created user".to_string()),
            }
        }
        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//handle get request
fn handle_get_request(request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match (get_id(&request).parse::<i32>(), Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls)) {
        (Ok(id), Ok(mut client)) =>
            match client.query_one("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $1", &[&id]) {
                Ok(row) => {
                    let user = User {
                        id: row.get(0),
                        name: row.get(1),
                        email: row.get(2),
                    };

                    (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), serde_json::to_string(&user).unwrap())
                }
                _ => (NOT_FOUND.to_string(), "User not found".to_string()),
            }

        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//handle get all request
fn handle_get_all_request(_request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls) {
        Ok(mut client) => {
            let mut users = Vec::new();

            for row in client.query("SELECT id, name, email FROM users", &[]).unwrap() {
                users.push(User {
                    id: row.get(0),
                    name: row.get(1),
                    email: row.get(2),
                });
            }

            (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), serde_json::to_string(&users).unwrap())
        }
        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//handle put request
fn handle_put_request(request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match
        (
            get_id(&request).parse::<i32>(),
            get_user_request_body(&request),
            Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls),
        )
    {
        (Ok(id), Ok(user), Ok(mut client)) => {
            client
                .execute(
                    "UPDATE users SET name = $1, email = $2 WHERE id = $3",
                    &[&user.name, &user.email, &id]
                )
                .unwrap();

            (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), "User updated".to_string())
        }
        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//handle delete request
fn handle_delete_request(request: &str) -> (String, String) {
    match (get_id(&request).parse::<i32>(), Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls)) {
        (Ok(id), Ok(mut client)) => {
            let rows_affected = client.execute("DELETE FROM users WHERE id = $1", &[&id]).unwrap();

            //if rows affected is 0, user not found
            if rows_affected == 0 {
                return (NOT_FOUND.to_string(), "User not found".to_string());
            }

            (OK_RESPONSE.to_string(), "User deleted".to_string())
        }
        _ => (INTERNAL_ERROR.to_string(), "Internal error".to_string()),
    }
}

//db setup
fn set_database() -> Result<(), PostgresError> {
    let mut client = Client::connect(DB_URL, NoTls)?;
    client.batch_execute(
        "
        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
            id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
            name VARCHAR NOT NULL,
            email VARCHAR NOT NULL
        )
    "
    )?;
    Ok(())
}

//Get id from request URL
fn get_id(request: &str) -> &str {
    request.split("/").nth(4).unwrap_or_default().split_whitespace().next().unwrap_or_default()
}

//deserialize user from request body without id
fn get_user_request_body(request: &str) -> Result<User, serde_json::Error> {
    serde_json::from_str(request.split("\r\n\r\n").last().unwrap_or_default())
}
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We are done with the app code. Now it's the turn of Docker.

🐳 Dockerize the backend

We will build the Rust app directly inside the image. We will use an official Rust image as the base image. We will also use the official Postgres image as a base image for the database.

We will create 2 files:

  • .dockerignore: to ignore files and folders that we don't want to copy in the image filesystem
  • rust.dockerfile: to build the Rust image

You can create them using the terminal or your code editor.

touch .dockerignore rust.dockerfile
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Your project should look like this:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

🚫 .dockerignore

Open the .dockerignore file and add the following:

**/target
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This is to avoid copying the target folder in the image filesystem.

🐋 Dockerfile

We will use a multi-stage build. We will have:

  • a build stage: to build the Rust app
  • a production stage: to run the Rust app

Open the Dockerfile and add the following (explanations in comments):

# Build stage
FROM rust:1.69-buster as builder

WORKDIR /app

# Accept the build argument
ARG DATABASE_URL

# Make sure to use the ARG in ENV
ENV DATABASE_URL=$DATABASE_URL

# Copy the source code
COPY . .

# Build the application
RUN cargo build --release


# Production stage
FROM debian:buster-slim

WORKDIR /usr/local/bin

COPY --from=builder /app/target/release/backend .

CMD ["./backend"]
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Please note that we use backend as the executable's name. This is the name of the project folder. If you have a different name, please change it.

🐙 Update the Docker Compose file

Open the compose.yaml file and add the following content:

rustapp:
    container_name: rustapp
    image: francescoxx/rustapp:1.0.0
    build:
      context: ./backend
      dockerfile: rust.dockerfile
      args:
        DATABASE_URL: postgres://postgres:postgres@db:5432/postgres
    ports:
      - '8080:8080'
    depends_on:
      - db
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  • container_name is the name of the container
  • image is the name of the image
  • build is the build configuration
  • ports is the port mapping

  • depends_on is the dependency on the database container

  • Notice that the DATABASE_URL build argument is set to postgres://postgres:postgres@db:5432/postgres. db is the name of the service (and the container_name) of the Postgres container so that it will be resolved to the container IP address.

  • We use the arg property to pass the DATABASE_URL build argument to the Dockerfile.

  • We also use a named volume, pg_data, to persist the database data.

Your compose.yaml file should look like this:

services:
  rustapp:
    container_name: rustapp
    image: francescoxx/rustapp:1.0.0
    build:
      context: ./backend
      dockerfile: rust.dockerfile
      args:
        DATABASE_URL: postgres://postgres:postgres@db:5432/postgres
    ports:
      - '8080:8080'
    depends_on:
      - db
  db:
    container_name: db
    image: postgres:13
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
      POSTGRES_DB: postgres
    ports:
      - 5432:5432
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  pgdata: {}
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Now it's time to build the image and run the Rust backend app.

🏗️ Build the image and run the Rust backend app

We need 2 more steps:

  • build the Rust app image
  • run the Rust app container

🏗️ Build the Rust app image

It's time to build the Rust app image. We will use the docker compose build command. This will build the image using the Dockerfile we created before.

(Note: we might type docker compose up, but by doing that, we would skip understanding what's happening. In a nutshell, when we type docker compose up, Docker builds the images if needed and then runs the containers).

docker compose build
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This takes time because we are building the Rust app inside the image.

After ~180 seconds (!), we should have the image built. This could be improved by using the cache of the Toml.lock file, but we want to make the example as simple as possible (we still have the whole next.js app to build!).

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

👟 Run the Rust Container 

docker compose up -d rustapp
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Now you can check if the container is running:

docker ps -a
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Lastly, you can check the postgres database by typing:

docker exec -it db psql -U postgres
\dt
select * from users;
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Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

This does mean that the Rust app created the schema (in our case just a single table) and that the database is working.

🧪 Test the application

Since we don't have our frontend yet, we will use Postman to test the backend.

  • get all users
  • create 1 user
  • create 2nd user
  • get all users
  • get user by id
  • update user
  • delete user
  • get all users (final check)

Let's check the endpoints. To get all the users, we can make a GET request to http://localhost:8080/api/rust/users.

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

And we should have an empty array.

Let's create a user. We can make a POST request to http://localhost:8080/api/rust/users with the following body:

{
    "name": "sam",
    "email": "sam@mail"
}
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Here is how the request looks like in Postman:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Let's create a second user. We can make a POST request to http://localhost:8080/api/rust/users with the following body:

{
    "name": "Biraj",
    "email": "biraj@mail"
}
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Here is how the request looks like in Postman:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Let's create a third user. We can make a POST request to http://localhost:8080/api/rust/users with the following body:

{
    "name": "Emmanuel",
    "email": "emmanuel@mail"
}
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Here is how the request looks like in Postman:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

If we go on localhost:8080/api/rust/users, we should see the three users:

[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "sam",
        "email": "sam@mail"
    },
    {
        "id": 2,
        "name": "Biraj",
        "email": "biraj@mail"
    },
    {
        "id": 3,
        "name": "Emmanuel",
        "email": "emmanuel@mail"
    }
]
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Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

If we go back on the psql command, and we type select * from users;, we should see the three users (we can get inside the container with the command docker exec -it db psql -U postgres):

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Let's try to update the user with id 2. We can make a PUT request to http://localhost:8080/api/rust/users/3 with the following body:

{
    "name": "like thevideo",
    "email": "sunscribe@mail"
}
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The request should look like this in Postman:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Last, we can delete the user with id 2. We can make a DELETE request to http://localhost:8080/api/rust/users/2.

The request should look like this in Postman:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

We are now ready to build the frontend.

4. Frontend

Now that we have the backend up and running, we can proceed with the frontend.

We will use Next.js 14 with TypeScript and Tailwind.

From the root folder of the project,

cd ..
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And from the root folder of the project, run this command:

npx create-next-app@latest --no-git
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We use the --no-git flag because we already initialized a git repository at the project's root.

As options:

  • What is your project named? frontend
  • TypeScript? Yes
  • EsLint? Yes
  • Tailwind CSS? Yes
  • Use the default directory structure? Yes
  • App Router? No (not needed for this project)
  • Customize the default import alias? No

This should create a new Next.js project in about one minute.

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Step into the frontend folder:

cd frontend
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Install Axios, we will use it to make HTTP requests (be sure to be in the frontend folder):

npm i axios
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Before we proceed, try to run the project:

npm run dev
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And open your browser at http://localhost:3000. You should see the default Next.js page.

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Modify the styles/global.css file

In the src/frontend/src/styles/globals.css file, replace the content with this one (to avoid some problems with Tailwind):

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

:root {
  --foreground-rgb: 0, 0, 0; 
  --background-start-rgb: 214, 219, 220;
  --background-end-rgb: 255, 255, 255;
}

body {
  color: rgb(var(--foreground-rgb));
  background: linear-gradient(
      to bottom,
      transparent,
      rgb(var(--background-end-rgb))
    )
    rgb(var(--background-start-rgb));
}
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Create a new component

In the /frontend/src folder, create a new folder called components and inside it create a new file called CardComponent.tsx and add the following content:

import React from 'react';

interface Card {
  id: number; 
  name: string;
  email: string;
}

const CardComponent: React.FC<{ card: Card }> = ({ card }) => {
  return (
    <div className="bg-white shadow-lg rounded-lg p-2 mb-2 hover:bg-gray-100">
      <div className="text-sm text-gray-600">ID: {card.id}</div>
      <div className="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-800">{card.name}</div>
      <div className="text-md text-gray-700">{card.email}</div>
    </div>
  );
};

export default CardComponent;
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Create a UserInterface component

In the /frontend/src/components folder, create a file called UserInterface.tsx and add the following content:

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import axios from 'axios';
import CardComponent from './CardComponent';

interface User {
  id: number;
  name: string;
  email: string;
}

interface UserInterfaceProps {
  backendName: string;
}

const UserInterface: React.FC<UserInterfaceProps> = ({ backendName }) => {
  const apiUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL || 'http://localhost:8080';
  const [users, setUsers] = useState<User[]>([]);
  const [newUser, setNewUser] = useState({ name: '', email: '' });
  const [updateUser, setUpdateUser] = useState({ id: '', name: '', email: '' });

  // Define styles based on the backend name
  const backgroundColors: { [key: string]: string } = {
    rust: 'bg-orange-500',
  };

  const buttonColors: { [key: string]: string } = {
    rust: 'bg-orange-700 hover:bg-orange-600',
  };

  const bgColor = backgroundColors[backendName as keyof typeof backgroundColors] || 'bg-gray-200';
  const btnColor = buttonColors[backendName as keyof typeof buttonColors] || 'bg-gray-500 hover:bg-gray-600';

  // Fetch users
  useEffect(() => {
    const fetchData = async () => {
      try {
        const response = await axios.get(`${apiUrl}/api/${backendName}/users`);
        setUsers(response.data.reverse());
      } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error fetching data:', error);
      }
    };

    fetchData();
  }, [backendName, apiUrl]);

  // Create a user
  const createUser = async (e: React.FormEvent<HTMLFormElement>) => {
    e.preventDefault();
    try {
      const response = await axios.post(`${apiUrl}/api/${backendName}/users`, newUser);
      setUsers([response.data, ...users]);
      setNewUser({ name: '', email: '' });
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('Error creating user:', error);
    }
  };

  // Update a user
  const handleUpdateUser = async (e: React.FormEvent<HTMLFormElement>) => {
    e.preventDefault();
    try {
      await axios.put(`${apiUrl}/api/${backendName}/users/${updateUser.id}`, { name: updateUser.name, email: updateUser.email });
      setUpdateUser({ id: '', name: '', email: '' });
      setUsers(
        users.map((user) => {
          if (user.id === parseInt(updateUser.id)) {
            return { ...user, name: updateUser.name, email: updateUser.email };
          }
          return user;
        })
      );
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('Error updating user:', error);
    }
  };

  // Delete a user
  const deleteUser = async (userId: number) => {
    try {
      await axios.delete(`${apiUrl}/api/${backendName}/users/${userId}`);
      setUsers(users.filter((user) => user.id !== userId));
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('Error deleting user:', error);
    }
  };

  return (
    <div className={`user-interface ${bgColor} ${backendName} w-full max-w-md p-4 my-4 rounded shadow`}>
      <img src={`/${backendName}logo.svg`} alt={`${backendName} Logo`} className="w-20 h-20 mb-6 mx-auto" />
      <h2 className="text-xl font-bold text-center text-white mb-6">{`${backendName.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + backendName.slice(1)} Backend`}</h2>

      {/* Form to add new user */}
      <form onSubmit={createUser} className="mb-6 p-4 bg-blue-100 rounded shadow">
        <input
          placeholder="Name"
          value={newUser.name}
          onChange={(e) => setNewUser({ ...newUser, name: e.target.value })}
          className="mb-2 w-full p-2 border border-gray-300 rounded"
        />

        <input
          placeholder="Email"
          value={newUser.email}
          onChange={(e) => setNewUser({ ...newUser, email: e.target.value })}
          className="mb-2 w-full p-2 border border-gray-300 rounded"
        />
        <button type="submit" className="w-full p-2 text-white bg-blue-500 rounded hover:bg-blue-600">
          Add User
        </button>
      </form>

      {/* Form to update user */}
      <form onSubmit={handleUpdateUser} className="mb-6 p-4 bg-blue-100 rounded shadow">
        <input
          placeholder="User ID"
          value={updateUser.id}
          onChange={(e) => setUpdateUser({ ...updateUser, id: e.target.value })}
          className="mb-2 w-full p-2 border border-gray-300 rounded"
        />
        <input
          placeholder="New Name"
          value={updateUser.name}
          onChange={(e) => setUpdateUser({ ...updateUser, name: e.target.value })}
          className="mb-2 w-full p-2 border border-gray-300 rounded"
        />
        <input
          placeholder="New Email"
          value={updateUser.email}
          onChange={(e) => setUpdateUser({ ...updateUser, email: e.target.value })}
          className="mb-2 w-full p-2 border border-gray-300 rounded"
        />
        <button type="submit" className="w-full p-2 text-white bg-green-500 rounded hover:bg-green-600">
          Update User
        </button>
      </form>

      {/* Display users */}
      <div className="space-y-4">
        {users.map((user) => (
          <div key={user.id} className="flex items-center justify-between bg-white p-4 rounded-lg shadow">
            <CardComponent card={user} />
            <button onClick={() => deleteUser(user.id)} className={`${btnColor} text-white py-2 px-4 rounded`}>
              Delete User
            </button>
          </div>
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

export default UserInterface;
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For an explanation, check: https://youtu.be/77RjzJtC_g4?si=Lr-B65Hmej-jh5Nb&t=1807

Modify the index.tsx file

Opne the index.tsx file and replace the content with the following:

import React from 'react';
import UserInterface from '../components/UserInterface'; 

const Home: React.FC = () => {
  return (
    <main className="flex flex-wrap justify-center items-start min-h-screen bg-gray-100">
      <div className="m-4">
        <UserInterface backendName="rust" />
      </div>
    </main>
  );
};

export default Home;
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For the explanation, check: https://youtu.be/77RjzJtC_g4?si=Lr-B65Hmej-jh5Nb&t=1807

🧪 Test the frontend

We are now ready to test the frontend.

You can use the UI to insert, update, and delete users.

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Dockerize the frontend

Deploy a Next.js app with Docker.

Change the next.config.js file in the frontend folder, replacing it with the following content:

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  output: 'standalone'
}

module.exports = nextConfig
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Create a file called .dockerignore in the frontend folder and add the following content:

**/node_modules
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To dockerize the Next.js application, we will use the official Dockerfile provided by Vercel:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

You can find it here: https://github.com/vercel/next.js/blob/canary/examples/with-docker/Dockerfile

Create a file called next.dockerfile in the frontend folder and add the following content (it's directly from the vercel official docker example)

FROM node:18-alpine AS base

# Install dependencies only when needed
FROM base AS deps
# Check https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/tree/b4117f9333da4138b03a546ec926ef50a31506c3#nodealpine to understand why libc6-compat might be needed.
RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat
WORKDIR /app

# Install dependencies based on the preferred package manager
COPY package.json yarn.lock* package-lock.json* pnpm-lock.yaml* ./
RUN \
  if [ -f yarn.lock ]; then yarn --frozen-lockfile; \
  elif [ -f package-lock.json ]; then npm ci; \
  elif [ -f pnpm-lock.yaml ]; then yarn global add pnpm && pnpm i --frozen-lockfile; \
  else echo "Lockfile not found." && exit 1; \
  fi


# Rebuild the source code only when needed
FROM base AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .

# Next.js collects completely anonymous telemetry data about general usage.
# Learn more here: https://nextjs.org/telemetry
# Uncomment the following line in case you want to disable telemetry during the build.
# ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED 1

RUN yarn build && ls -l /app/.next


# If using npm comment out above and use below instead
# RUN npm run build

# Production image, copy all the files and run next
FROM base AS runner
WORKDIR /app

ENV NODE_ENV production
# Uncomment the following line in case you want to disable telemetry during runtime.
# ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED 1

RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs
RUN adduser --system --uid 1001 nextjs

COPY --from=builder /app/public ./public

# Set the correct permission for prerender cache
RUN mkdir .next
RUN chown nextjs:nodejs .next

# Automatically leverage output traces to reduce image size
# https://nextjs.org/docs/advanced-features/output-file-tracing
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/standalone ./
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/static ./.next/static

USER nextjs

EXPOSE 3000

ENV PORT 3000
# set hostname to localhost
ENV HOSTNAME "0.0.0.0"

# server.js is created by next build from the standalone output
# https://nextjs.org/docs/pages/api-reference/next-config-js/output
CMD ["node", "server.js"]
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Now, let's update the compose.yaml file in the project's root, adding the nextapp service.

Below the updated version:

services:
  nextapp:
    container_name: nextapp
    image: francescoxx/nextapp:1.0.0
    build:
      context: ./frontend
      dockerfile: next.dockerfile
    ports:
      - 3000:3000
    environment:
      - NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:8080
    depends_on:
      - rustapp
  rustapp:
    container_name: rustapp
    image: francescoxx/rustapp:1.0.0
    build:
      context: ./backend
      dockerfile: rust.dockerfile
      args:
        DATABASE_URL: postgres://postgres:postgres@db:5432/postgres
    ports:
      - '8080:8080'
    depends_on:
      - db
  db:
    container_name: db
    image: postgres:13
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
      POSTGRES_DB: postgres
    ports:
      - 5432:5432
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  pgdata: {}
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And now, let's build the image and run the container:

docker compose build
docker compose up -d nextapp
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Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

You can check if the 3 containers are running:

docker ps -a
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Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

If you have the 3 services running, should be good to go.

Before we wrap up, let's make a final test using the UI.

🧪 Test the frontend

As a final test, we can check if the frontend is working.

To create a new user, add a name and email

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

We can check the list of users from the UI or directly from the database:

docker exec -it db psql -U postgres
\dt
select * from users;
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Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

We can also update a user, or delete on. for example, let's update the user with id 7:

Build a FULL STACK Web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose

Well done, the tutorial si complete!

📝 Recap

We build a simple yet complete full-stack web app with Rust API, Next.js 14, Serde, Postgres, Docker, docker Compose.

We used Rust to build the backend API, Next.js 14 to build the frontend, Serde to serialize and deserialize the data, Postgres as the database, Docker to containerize the app, and docker Compose to run the app.

If you prefer a video version

All the code is available for free on GitHub (link in video description).

If you have any questions, comment below or in the video comments

You can find me here:
Francesco

Top comments (10)

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tharakamts profile image
Tharaka Sandaruwan •

Long post but great 🔥

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francescoxx profile image
Francesco Ciulla •

thank you

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shricodev profile image
Shrijal Acharya •

This is exactly what I was searching for! Thanks @francescoxx 🙌

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francescoxx profile image
Francesco Ciulla •

Great, you can also check the video version and all the code is available and open source

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shricodev profile image
Shrijal Acharya •

Sure, I will have a look at the source code. Thank you!

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francescoxx profile image
Francesco Ciulla •

you are welcome!

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pradumnasaraf profile image
Pradumna Saraf •

Great and detailed blog 🔥

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francescoxx profile image
Francesco Ciulla •

thank you as always, Pradumna!

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miltiadis profile image
Miltiadis Bouchalakis •

Well done, the tutorial si complete!

Cool, technologies, cool tutorial!

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francescoxx profile image
Francesco Ciulla •

let's go Miltiadis. yes an the article is kinda long ahah. but we both know this will be worth 😉

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