Axum Web API

A lightweight, production-ready Rust API built with Axum, designed for real-world backend engineering. This project demonstrates clean API architecture, Postgres-backed session authentication, rate limiting, Dockerized deployment, and robust error handling.

Features

• Full CRUD Resources

  • Manage user accounts and project resources via RESTful endpoints.
  • Relational integrity enforced with PostgreSQL.

• Secure Authentication

  • Email/password login flow using argon2 password hashing.
  • Persistent session-based auth powered by tower-sessions with a SQLx Postgres store — no in-memory shortcuts.

• Postgres Integration

  • Structured database layer built with sqlx.
  • Automated migrations for accounts, projects, and session tables.
  • Clean timestamp handling and UUIDs for resource tracking.

• Rate Limiting

  • Protects endpoints against abuse with configurable request limits.

• Error Handling

  • Custom error types using thiserror for consistent, readable API responses.

• Integration Testing

  • Tests simulate real API interactions with isolated environments.
  • Ensures confidence in authentication, CRUD functionality, and database integrity.

• Docker-First Deployment

  • Complete Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml setup.
  • Local environment spins up the API and Postgres database with a single command.

• Modern Rust Stack

  • Built on async Rust with tokio, axum, and sqlx.
  • Strong typing, safe concurrency, and security best practices.

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Quick Start (Docker)

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/yourname/axum-web.git
cd axum-web

# Build and run with Docker Compose
docker-compose up --build

The API will be available at http://localhost:3000.

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Database Migrations

SQL migrations are located in the `migrations/` folder:

• `create_accounts.sql`: User table with hashed password storage.
• `create_project_table.sql`: Project resources linked to user accounts.
• `create_sessions_table.sql`: Session storage for persistent login state.

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Tech Stack

Tool/Crate	Purpose
Axum	Web framework with router-based API
SQLx	Async Postgres database interaction
Tower-Sessions	Production-grade session management
Argon2	Password hashing for authentication
Tokio	Async runtime for high-performance I/O
Docker & Compose	Containerized development environment
Validator	Request payload validation
Rate Limiting	API protection from excessive requests
Integration Tests	End-to-end API validation

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Project Goals

This project serves as a portfolio centerpiece, showcasing:

• Realistic backend architecture
• Secure authentication implementation
• Database-driven state management
• Docker-based deployment workflows
• Idiomatic, maintainable Rust

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Future Improvements

Planned additions:

• Comprehensive API documentation (e.g., OpenAPI)
• Frontend example consuming the API
• CI pipeline for automated tests and builds

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Local Development

For non-Docker setups:

# Ensure Postgres is running on port 5433 as defined in docker-compose.yml
export DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5433/axum_db
cargo run