Topcoat brings Rust to server-rendered web apps

Technology · First reported 29 Oct, 19:27 · Updated 01:06

Image: Wikimedia Commons · NASA Johnson Space Center · Public domain

Amazon Web Services engineer Carl Lerche presented Topcoat, a framework that uses Rust to build web apps with most application logic running on the server. It compiles Rust for browser interaction into JavaScript and is aimed at smaller, database-driven projects.

Topcoat runs most application logic on the server and sends rendered results to the browser; it can update individual HTML components without refreshing the whole page.
The framework compiles Rust code for browser interaction into JavaScript, while its server-side components can access databases through Lerche’s earlier Toasty project.
Lerche said Topcoat is suited to ordinary browser-based, database-driven applications rather than complex applications; developer Ken Kohlman also described it as best suited to smaller projects.

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Key facts

Project: Topcoat, a framework for running web applications written in Rust.
Presenter: Carl Lerche, an Amazon Web Services principal engineer, presented Topcoat at ScyllaDB’s 2026 P99 virtual conference.
Browser code: Topcoat compiles Rust code for client-side logic into JavaScript.
Server rendering: The server can return an updated HTML component without refreshing the entire page. [5dc9d4e2-5fec-4a85-bf31e34f6796c]