Claude Code + Rust Implementation Guide

From Zero to Production: A Practical Handbook

🚀 Quick Start: Your First Claude Tool

1. Project Initialization

cargo new my-claude-tool
cd my-claude-tool

2. Essential Dependencies

[package]
name = "my-claude-tool"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"

[dependencies]
# Core runtime
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
anyhow = "1.0"
serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
serde_json = "1.0"
chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
uuid = { version = "1.0", features = ["v4"] }

# For TUI apps
ratatui = "0.28"
crossterm = "0.28"

# For web APIs  
axum = "0.8"
tower-http = { version = "0.5", features = ["cors"] }

# For file processing
walkdir = "2.3"
rayon = "1.8"    # Parallel processing
notify = "6.1"   # File watching

# For CLI apps
clap = { version = "4.5", features = ["derive"] }

3. Basic Project Structure

src/
├── main.rs
├── claude/
│   ├── mod.rs
│   ├── client.rs      # Claude CLI wrapper
│   ├── parser.rs      # JSONL parsing
│   └── analytics.rs   # Usage analytics
├── config.rs          # Configuration management
├── error.rs           # Error types
└── ui/                # UI components (if TUI)
    ├── mod.rs
    ├── app.rs
    └── widgets.rs

🔧 Core Implementation Patterns

Claude CLI Client Wrapper

Wrap the Claude CLI with async Rust for programmatic access. Handles stdin/stdout communication, timeouts, and JSON parsing.

Key Features: Async execution, timeout handling, session management

JSONL Parser with Parallel Processing

Parse Claude session files using rayon for parallel processing. Achieves 5-10x speedup on large datasets.

Performance: Parallel file discovery + rayon processing = massive speedup

Configuration Management

Load config from files, override with environment variables, apply CLI arguments. Standard pattern across all tools.

🎨 Advanced TUI Architecture

100% of examined projects use ratatui + crossterm for terminal UIs. Standard pattern: multi-tab apps with async background updates and vim-style navigation.

Standard Tab Structure

Overview - Quick stats and summary
Sessions - Session management and browsing
Analytics - Data visualization and metrics
Help - Keyboard shortcuts and documentation

Vim-Style Navigation

j/k - Move selection down/up
g/G - Jump to top/bottom
Ctrl+d/u - Scroll half page
/ - Enter search mode
Tab - Next tab
q - Quit

⚡ Performance Optimization

Connection Pooling

Critical optimization: reuse Claude CLI processes instead of spawning new ones.

5-10x SPEEDUP

• First request: 2-5 seconds
• Subsequent: <100ms
• Batch processing: 3x faster

Caching Strategies

LRU cache with TTL expiration for expensive analytics computations.

• Project analytics cached
• Daily usage cached
• Automatic cleanup on TTL
• Configurable cache size

🎯 Best Practices Summary

Architecture Choices

• Always use Tokio for async runtime
• Ratatui + crossterm for TUI needs
• Axum for web APIs (not warp or actix-web)
• Connection pooling for Claude CLI interactions
• LRU caching for expensive computations

Performance Patterns

• Parallel processing with rayon for file operations
• Background data loading for TUI applications
• Debounced file watching for real-time updates
• Smart caching with TTL expiration

Error Handling

• anyhow for application errors
• thiserror for library errors
• Structured error types for API responses
• Graceful degradation for missing data

📚 Repository References

Repository	Focus	Key Innovation
claude-code-api-rs	API Gateway	Connection pooling, 5-10x speedup
claude-sdk-rs	SDK Library	Type-safe, feature-gated architecture
cc-enhanced	TUI Dashboard	Real-time project monitoring
claudelytics	Analytics	9-tab professional TUI, parallel processing
goose	Agent Framework	Advanced security, MCP integration

This handbook represents battle-tested patterns from production Rust Claude tools