Getting started

Requirements

• Rust 1.99 or newer (rustup).
• Node.js 22 or newer, to develop and build the frontend.
• pnpm (recommended) or npm. If pnpm is installed, moltn new uses it.

To see what moltn finds on your machine, run moltn doctor inside a project.

Install the moltn command

From the moltn repository:

cargo install --path crates/moltn-cli

The command goes to ~/.cargo/bin, which is already on your PATH if you use rustup.

Create a project

moltn new my-app             # Vue by default
moltn new my-app --front react
moltn new my-app --front svelte

moltn new writes the project, installs the frontend dependencies, then compiles the application once (one to a few minutes depending on the machine). When it is done, the project is ready:

cd my-app
moltn dev

Open the address moltn prints:

  ➜ moltn  http://127.0.0.1:3000   (Ctrl+C to stop)

What a project contains

my-app/
  Cargo.toml
  build.rs                  # reads web/src/pages/ at compile time
  src/main.rs               # server: #[page] loaders, configuration
  web/
    package.json
    vite.config.ts          # plugins: vue() | react() | svelte(), inertia(), moltn()
    src/
      app.ts                # createInertiaApp()
      pages/
        index.vue           # → /
        about.vue           # → /about
      generated/
        moltn.ts            # generated: props types and route()

The development loop

While moltn dev runs:

• edit a frontend file (.vue, .tsx, .svelte, CSS): the page updates without reloading;
• edit Rust code, Cargo.toml, or add / remove a page: moltn recompiles and restarts the application on its own; web/src/generated/moltn.ts is updated on restart;
• on a compile error, moltn waits for the next change;
• Ctrl+C stops everything and leaves no process behind.

Next

• Add pages and their data: Pages and loaders.
• Type props and links: Types and routes.
• Build the final binary: Production.