In this post, Ronnie Geraghty announces the first beta release of the Azure SDK for Rust, providing official support for Rust developers working with Azure services like Identity, Key Vault, Event Hubs, and Cosmos DB.

Rust in time! Announcing the Azure SDK for Rust Beta

Author: Ronnie Geraghty

Overview

Microsoft has released the first official beta for the Azure SDK for Rust, signaling robust support for Rust developers building applications on Azure. This beta offers libraries for Identity, Key Vault secrets & keys, Event Hubs, and Cosmos DB, and aims to deliver an idiomatic and seamless Azure experience in Rust.

Why Rust for Azure?

Rust is celebrated for its:

  • High performance
  • Reliability
  • Memory safety (helps prevent null pointer dereference, buffer overflows, etc.)

Its type system and ownership model lead to more secure and stable code. Its modern syntax and strong tooling foster a vibrant and productive community. Given Rust’s rising popularity both externally and inside Microsoft, the SDK aims to let Rust developers harness Azure’s full potential for robust, efficient, and secure solutions.

Beta Libraries Included

The beta release features the following Azure SDKs for Rust:

Service Crate Name Source Code Link
Identity azure_identity GitHub
Key Vault Secrets azure_security_keyvault_secrets GitHub
Key Vault Keys azure_security_keyvault_keys GitHub
Event Hubs azure_messaging_eventhubs GitHub
Cosmos DB azure_data_cosmos GitHub

Getting Started

To use the Azure SDK for Rust:

  1. Add Dependencies

    cargo add azure_identity azure_security_keyvault_secrets tokio --features tokio/full

  2. Import Libraries in Your Code

    use azure_identity::DefaultAzureCredential;
use azure_security_keyvault_secrets::{
    models::SecretSetParameters, ResourceExt as _, SecretClient,
};

  3. Create a Secret Client

    #[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Create a credential
    let credential = DefaultAzureCredential::new()?;
    // Initialize the SecretClient with the Key Vault URL and credential
    let client = SecretClient::new(
        "https://your-key-vault-name.vault.azure.net/",
        credential.clone(),
        None,
    )?;
    // Additional code goes here...
    Ok(())
}

  4. Create a New Secret

    // Set parameters for the new secret
let secret_set_parameters = SecretSetParameters {
    value: Some("secret-value".into()),
    ..Default::default()
};
// Create the new secret
let secret = client
    .set_secret("secret-name", secret_set_parameters.try_into()?, None)
    .await?
    .into_body()
    .await?;

  5. Retrieve a Secret

    // Get the version
let version = secret.resource_id()?.version.unwrap_or_default();
// Retrieve the secret
let secret = client
    .get_secret("secret-name", version.as_ref(), None)
    .await?
    .into_body()
    .await?;
// Print its value
println!("{:?}", secret.value);

For more, including detailed documentation and additional code samples, visit the GitHub repository.

Roadmap & Future Plans

The development team aims to expand and stabilize the SDK with:

  • More Azure service libraries
  • Enhanced usability, without sacrificing flexibility
  • Improvements like response buffering for uniform policy application (e.g., retry policies)
  • Simplified array deserialization as empty Vec<T> where suitable

Feedback & Community

Developers are encouraged to share feedback, report issues, and suggest improvements via the GitHub issues page. Community input is highly valued to shape the SDK’s future trajectory.

Summary

Microsoft’s official Azure SDK for Rust empowers Rust developers to build fast, secure, and reliable applications on Azure. With beta libraries for core services and a commitment to further growth, this marks a significant milestone in Azure’s language ecosystem.

This post appeared first on “Microsoft DevBlog”. Read the entire article here