trunk.rs

TLDR

Build the application in release mode and serve it locally

$ trunk serve --release

Build the application and serve it on a specific port

$ trunk serve [[-p|--port]] [port]

Build for production at a specific output directory

$ trunk build --release [[-d|--dist]] [path/to/distribution]

Build with a specific public URL path for hosting in a subdirectory

$ trunk build --release --public-url /[path/to/app_subdirectory]

Clean the output directory

$ trunk clean

SYNOPSIS

trunk <subcommand> [OPTIONS] [<INPUT>]

-h, --help
    Prints help information

-V, --version
    Prints version information

-d, --dist <DIR>
    Output directory for build artifacts (default: dist)

-v, --verbose
    Increase verbosity (repeat for more)

-q, --quiet
    Decrease verbosity (repeat for less)

--release
    Build in release mode (optimized)

--public-url <URL>
    Base public URL for assets (default: /)

--hash
    Hash asset filenames for cache busting

-w, --watch
    Watch for changes and rebuild

DESCRIPTION

Trunk is a command-line tool designed for building, bundling, and deploying web applications written in Rust. It compiles Rust code to WebAssembly (WASM), bundles it with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and assets into optimized outputs, and provides a fast development server with hot reloading. Trunk abstracts complexities like wasm-bindgen, asset hashing, and tree-shaking, enabling developers to focus on code.

Key features include single-command builds for production (trunk build), live-reloading dev server (trunk dev or trunk serve), and support for Tailwind CSS, image optimization, and more via plugins. Install via cargo install trunk. Ideal for SPAs, static sites, or PWAs in Rust. Outputs a dist/ directory ready for hosting on CDNs or servers.

CAVEATS

Requires Rust toolchain and wasm32-unknown-unknown target (rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown). Not for non-web Rust projects. Large initial builds possible.

MAIN SUBCOMMANDS

build: Produce production bundle.
dev or serve: Start dev server with HMR.
clean: Remove dist/.

EXAMPLE USAGE

trunk dev # Dev server on localhost:8080
trunk build --release # Production build

HISTORY

Developed by Brocode starting in 2020 as an open-source project on GitHub (trunk-rs/trunk). Gained popularity for simplifying Rust+WASM web dev, with regular releases adding plugin support, Tailwind integration, and performance improvements. Now at v1.x with 10k+ stars.