Rusta 🚀

A high-performance API Gateway built with Rust, featuring multi-protocol support, advanced security, and a modern web-based admin interface.

What It Does

Rusta is a production-ready API gateway that intelligently routes traffic to your backend services with:

• Multi-Protocol Support: HTTP/HTTPS, WebSocket, FTP, and DNS
• Smart Load Balancing: 5 strategies including round-robin, least connections, weighted, IP hash, and random
• Security First: JWT authentication, rate limiting, CORS policies, and security headers
• High Availability: Circuit breaker pattern, automatic retries with exponential backoff
• Real-time Monitoring: Web-based admin UI with live metrics and performance insights
• Request Transformation: Header manipulation, path rewriting, query parameter transformation

Tech Stack

• Language: Rust 2021 Edition
• Web Framework: Actix Web (async/await)
• UI Framework: Leptos (WebAssembly)
• Protocols: HTTP/HTTPS, WebSocket, FTP, DNS
• Security: JWT, rate limiting, circuit breakers
• Observability: Prometheus metrics, structured logging

Quick Start

Using Docker (Recommended)

# Pull and run the latest image
docker pull ghcr.io/Alkamal01/rusta:latest
docker run -d \
-p 5900:5900 \
-v $(pwd)/config.json:/app/config.json:ro \
ghcr.io/Alkamal01/rusta:latest

Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Alkamal01/Rust-API-GATEWAY.git
cd Rust-API-GATEWAY
# Run the gateway
cargo run --bin rusta-gateway
# Gateway starts on http://localhost:5900

Start the Web Admin UI (Optional)

# Install cargo-leptos
cargo install cargo-leptos
# Start the UIcd crates/rusta-ui
cargo leptos serve
# Admin UI available at http://localhost:3000

Configuration Example

Create a config.json file:

{
"version": 1,
"jwt_secret": "your-secret-key",
"rate_limit": {
"algorithm": "token_bucket",
"requests_per_second": 100,
"burst_size": 50
},
"routers": [
{
"external_path": "/api/users/{id}",
"internal_path": "/users/{id}",
"methods": ["GET", "POST"],
"auth_required": true,
"backends": [
{"host": "http://api1.example.com", "port": 8080, "weight": 2},
{"host": "http://api2.example.com", "port": 8080, "weight": 1}
],
"load_balancing_strategy": "weighted",
"retry_config": {
"max_retries": 3,
"initial_backoff_ms": 100,
"max_backoff_ms": 5000
}
}
]
}

Key Features

Load Balancing Strategies

• Round Robin: Even distribution across backends
• Least Connections: Routes to least busy backend
• Weighted: Distribute based on backend capacity
• IP Hash: Sticky sessions based on client IP
• Random: Simple random selection

Security Features

• JWT Authentication: Validate bearer tokens with configurable claims
• Rate Limiting: Token bucket, sliding window, or fixed window algorithms
• Circuit Breaker: Automatic failure detection and recovery
• CORS Policies: Configurable cross-origin resource sharing
• Security Headers: Automatic security header injection

Request/Response Transformation

• Header Manipulation: Add, remove, or replace headers
• Path Rewriting: Transform request paths with regex
• Query Parameters: Modify query strings on the fly
• Status Code Mapping: Normalize backend responses

Observability

• Prometheus Metrics: Built-in metrics endpoint
• Structured Logging: JSON-formatted logs
• Health Checks: Endpoint health monitoring
• Web Dashboard: Real-time metrics visualization

Testing

# Run all tests
cargo test --workspace
# Test a specific feature
cargo test rate_limit
cargo test circuit_breaker
cargo test jwt

Performance

Benchmarks on M1 MacBook Pro:

• Static routes: ~450k ops/sec
• Dynamic routes: ~200k ops/sec
• JWT validation: ~50k tokens/sec
• Request latency: P99 < 2ms
• Memory usage: ~25MB under load

Project Structure

rusta/
├── crates/
│ ├── rusta-rs/ # Core library
│ ├── rusta-gateway/ # Gateway binary
│ ├── rusta-ui/ # Web admin interface
│ ├── rusta-cli/ # Command-line tool
│ └── rusta-client/ # Client library
├── docs/ # Documentation
├── examples/ # Usage examples
└── config.json # Configuration file

Environment Variables

RUSTA_HOST=0.0.0.0 # Server bind address
RUSTA_PORT=5900 # Server port
RUSTA_CONFIG_PATH=./config.json # Config file path
RUST_LOG=info # Log level

Why Rusta?

• Performance: Built with Rust for maximum speed and minimal resource usage
• Reliability: Circuit breakers and retries ensure high availability
• Flexibility: Support for multiple protocols and load balancing strategies
• Modern: WebAssembly-based admin UI with real-time updates
• Production-Ready: Comprehensive testing and battle-tested patterns

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file.

Author

Kamal Aliyu - GitHub

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Built with ❤️ using Rust, Actix Web, and Leptos