rustfs is a free, open source data warehousing & processing project written in Rust and released under Apache-2.0. It has 35,662 GitHub stars, 1,641 forks and 28 open issues, and was last pushed 24 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #3 of 22 tracked projects in Data Warehousing & Processing, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 1,452 stars over the last 30 tracked days.

What is rustfs?

RustFS is an open-source, S3-compatible, high-performance distributed object storage system written in Rust, aimed at teams running data lakes, AI, and big data workloads who want MinIO-style operational simplicity without the restrictions of an AGPL licence.

What it is

RustFS is a distributed object storage system built in Rust and released under the Apache 2.0 licence. It combines the simplicity of MinIO with the memory safety and raw performance of Rust, and offers broad S3 API compatibility for the features it supports. It lives in the cloud-native object storage ecosystem alongside tools such as MinIO and Ceph, and it supports migration from and coexistence with other S3-compatible platforms. Coverage of the S3 API is tracked explicitly in a compatibility matrix at docs/architecture/s3-compatibility-matrix.md, which signals that partial coverage is documented rather than assumed.

The concrete problem it solves is licence and performance friction in self-hosted object storage. Teams that already run S3-compatible infrastructure, most commonly MinIO, often want to consolidate or migrate without rewriting application code, and they want a permissive licence that avoids the copyleft restrictions of AGPL for commercial usage. RustFS addresses this by speaking the S3 protocol those tools and applications already use, by adding an OpenStack Swift API and Keystone authentication for OpenStack environments, and by building on Rust for resource efficiency at scale. It also targets throughput-sensitive workloads such as data lakes and AI pipelines, where storage is the bottleneck rather than the compute layer.

Key capabilities

  • S3 core features including upload and download, versioning, object lock (WORM), bucket quota, bucket replication, site replication, and event notifications.
  • Server-side encryption with RustFS KMS, supporting Vault (KV2 and Transit) and AWS KMS backends for production; the Local and Static backends are development and testing only.
  • Lifecycle management (ILM) with remote S3 tiering, plus bitrot protection, healing, and a scanner for data integrity.
  • OpenStack Swift API with native Keystone authentication using X-Auth-Token headers, enabled through the opt-in --features swift cargo feature.
  • Multiple access protocols: SFTP (opt-in via --features sftp), FTPS, and WebDAV, with the latter two enabled in the default build.
  • Identity and access: IAM policies, OIDC and SSO, multi-tenancy, audit logging, and logging and observability, managed through a web console.
  • Kubernetes Helm charts for deployment, plus preview features for S3 Tables as an Iceberg REST Catalog and MinIO on-disk compatibility behind the rio-v2 feature.

Who uses it and how

  • Teams migrating from or running alongside MinIO and Ceph, using the S3 compatibility layer to move workloads without changing client applications.
  • Data lake and AI platform operators who need high-throughput object storage for big data and AI pipelines rather than general-purpose file serving.
  • OpenStack operators who require Swift protocol support and Keystone authentication alongside S3 in the same storage tier.
  • Platform teams deploying on Kubernetes through the provided Helm charts, using multi-tenancy and IAM policies to isolate workloads.
  • Organisations with multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud footprints that need tiering to remote S3 targets and site replication across locations.

Getting started

The README points to the project download page at https://rustfs.com/download/ as the entry point, alongside links to the documentation and discussions. Deployment can run in single node mode or distributed mode, with Kubernetes Helm charts available for cluster installs.

How it compares

RustFS is positioned explicitly against MinIO and Ceph as S3-compatible platforms it can migrate from and coexist with. Its central differentiator is licensing: RustFS ships under Apache 2.0, which avoids the AGPL restrictions that apply to some comparable storage systems, and that permissiveness extends to commercial usage and unrestricted community contribution. The project also claims the operational simplicity associated with MinIO while adding Rust-based performance characteristics for large-scale deployments.

When to use it — and when not to

A self-hoster takes on a distributed storage system: KMS backend configuration for production encryption, lifecycle and replication policy design, and the operational work of running a fault-tolerant cluster. Several advertised capabilities are not in the default build and require opt-in cargo features, including Swift and SFTP, while S3 Tables and MinIO on-disk compatibility remain preview, with the latter gated behind rio-v2 and unable to read objects that MinIO encrypted. Anyone who needs every listed feature in a default binary, or who needs guaranteed bidirectional MinIO disk-format interoperability today, should wait or test carefully before committing.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

RustFS

RustFS is a high-performance, distributed object storage system built in Rust.

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RustFS is a high-performance, distributed object storage system built in Rust—one of the most loved programming languages worldwide. RustFS combines the simplicity of MinIO with the memory safety and raw performance of Rust. It offers broad S3 API compatibility for supported features, is completely open-source, and is optimized for data lakes, AI, and big data workloads.

Unlike other storage systems, RustFS is released under the permissible Apache 2.0 license, avoiding the restrictions of AGPL. With Rust as its foundation, RustFS delivers superior speed and secure distributed features for next-generation object storage.

Feature & Status

  • High Performance: Built with Rust to ensure maximum speed and resource efficiency.
  • Distributed Architecture: Scalable and fault-tolerant design suitable for large-scale deployments.
  • S3 Compatibility: Seamless integration with common S3-compatible applications and tools; current coverage is tracked in the S3 compatibility matrix.
  • OpenStack Swift API: Native support for Swift protocol with Keystone authentication.
  • OpenStack Keystone Integration: Native support for OpenStack Keystone authentication with X-Auth-Token headers.
  • Data Lake Support: Optimized for high-throughput big data and AI workloads.
  • Open Source: Licensed under Apache 2.0, encouraging unrestricted community contributions and commercial usage.
  • User-Friendly: Designed with simplicity in mind for easy deployment and management.

Status legend: ✅ Available — shipped and covered by CI gates; 🧪 Preview — shipped behind an opt-in flag or with a bounded compatibility claim.

Feature Status Feature Status
S3 Core Features ✅ Available Distributed Mode ✅ Available
Upload / Download ✅ Available Single Node Mode ✅ Available
Versioning ✅ Available Bitrot Protection ✅ Available
Object Lock (WORM) ✅ Available Healing & Scanner ✅ Available
Server-Side Encryption ✅ Available Pool Expansion / Decommission ✅ Available
RustFS KMS ✅ Available Bucket Replication ✅ Available
Lifecycle Management (ILM) ✅ Available Site Replication ✅ Available
ILM Tiering (Remote S3) ✅ Available Bucket Quota ✅ Available
S3 Select ✅ Available Event Notifications ✅ Available
S3 Tables (Iceberg REST) 🧪 Preview Audit Logging ✅ Available
IAM / Policies ✅ Available Logging & Observability ✅ Available
OIDC / SSO ✅ Available Web Console ✅ Available
Keystone Auth ✅ Available K8s Helm Charts ✅ Available
Swift API ✅ Available FTPS / WebDAV ✅ Available
Multi-Tenancy ✅ Available SFTP ✅ Available
MinIO On-Disk Compatibility 🧪 Preview

Notes:

  • RustFS KMS: Vault (KV2 / Transit) and AWS KMS backends are supported for production. The Local and Static backends are for development and testing only. See KMS backend security properties.
  • Swift API / SFTP: opt-in cargo features (--features swift, --features sftp, or full). FTPS and WebDAV are enabled in the default build.
  • S3 Tables: ships as an Iceberg REST Catalog with automated PyIceberg and DuckDB coverage; other engines and vendor profiles carry bounded claims listed in the S3 Tables support matrix.
  • MinIO On-Disk Compatibility: gated behind the rio-v2 feature and not part of the default build. Objects MinIO encrypted are not readable by RustFS. See MinIO file-format interoperability.

RustFS vs MinIO Performance

Stress Test Environment:

Type Parameter Remark
CPU 2 Core Intel Xeon (Sapphire Rapids) Platinum 8475B, 2.7/3.2 GHz
Memory 4GB
Network 15Gbps
Drive 40GB x 4 IOPS 3800 / Drive

RustFS vs Other Object Storage

Feature RustFS Other Object Storage
Console Experience Powerful Console
Comprehensive management interface.
Basic / Limited Console
Often overly simple or lacking critical features.
Language & Safety Rust-based
Memory safety by design.
Go or C-based
Potential for memory GC pauses or leaks.
Data Sovereignty No Telemetry / Full Compliance
Guards against unauthorized cross-border data egress. Compliant with GDPR (EU/UK), CCPA (US), and APPI (Japan).
Potential Risk
Possible legal exposure and unwanted data telemetry.
Licensing Permissive Apache 2.0
Business-friendly, no "poison pill" clauses.
Restrictive AGPL v3
Risk of license traps and intellectual property pollution.
Compatibility S3-Compatible Core
Works with common S3-compatible clients, with coverage tracked in the compatibility matrix.
Variable Compatibility
May lack support for local cloud vendors or specific APIs.
Edge & IoT Strong Edge Support
Ideal for secure, innovative edge devices.
Weak Edge Support
Often too heavy for edge gateways.
Risk Profile Enterprise Risk Mitigation
Clear IP rights and safe for commercial use.
Legal Risks
Intellectual property ambiguity and usage restrictions.

Staying ahead

Star RustFS on GitHub and be instantly notified of new releases.

Quickstart

[!IMPORTANT] Pool expansion notice:

  • A single-node single-drive (SNSD) deployment is supported only as a standalone local path. It cannot expand in place or be added as a Pool. To move to a multi-drive topology, create a new deployment and migrate data through S3.
  • Keep an existing multi-drive Pool's endpoints and Erasure Set width unchanged; expand by appending a new Pool. With ellipsis-based expansion, every Pool argument must contain an ellipsis expression and expand to at least two drive endpoints.
  • Single-node multi-drive Pools and multi-node Pools with one drive per node are allowed, subject to valid Erasure Set geometry and EC settings; acceptance does not guarantee host-failure tolerance.

These topology rules follow MinIO, but automatic parity selection differs between the projects. See the Pool layout compatibility and regression tests before expanding a deployment.

To get started with RustFS, follow these steps:

1. One-click Installation (Option 1)

curl -O https://rustfs.com/install_rustfs.sh && bash install_rustfs.sh

2. Docker Quick Start (Option 2)

The RustFS container runs as a non-root user rustfs (UID/GID 10001:10001). If you bind-mount host directories with Docker or Compose, every mounted path must be writable by that user, otherwise startup may fail with permission denied errors. This applies to data directories, log directories, and TLS certificate directories when RUSTFS_TLS_PATH is enabled.

# Create data and logs directories
mkdir -p data logs

# Change the owner of these directories
chown -R 10001:10001 data logs

# Using latest version
docker run -d -p 9000:9000 -p 9001:9001 -v $(pwd)/data:/data -v $(pwd)/logs:/logs rustfs/rustfs:latest

# Using specific version
docker run -d -p 9000:9000 -p 9001:9001 -v $(pwd)/data:/data -v $(pwd)/logs:/logs rustfs/rustfs:1.0.1

If you use podman instead of docker, you can install the RustFS with the below command

# Create data and logs directories
mkdir -p data logs

# Run the container (podman will automatically set the folders ownership)
podman run -d -p 9000:9000 -p 9001:9001 -v $(pwd)/data:/data:Z,U -v $(pwd)/logs:/logs:Z,U rustfs/rustfs:latest

If you enable TLS with a bind-mounted certificate directory, prepare that mount the same way:

mkdir -p certs
chown -R 10001:10001 certs

You can also use Docker Compose. Using the docker-compose-simple.yml file in the root directory:

docker compose -f docker-compose-simple.yml up -d

Before running Compose with host bind mounts:

  • Ensure every mounted host path is writable by 10001:10001.
  • If you enable TLS, ensure the certificate mount for /opt/tls is also readable by 10001:10001.
  • If matching host ownership is not practical, run the rustfs service with user: ":" instead.
  • docker-compose-simple.yml includes a volume-permission-helper service for named volumes. docker-compose-simple.yml relies on you to prepare bind-mounted host paths in advance.

Similarly, you can run the command with podman

podman compose -f docker-compose-simple.yml up -d

Webhook notification quick start (Docker):

docker run -d --name rustfs -p 9000:9000 \
  -e RUSTFS_NOTIFY_ENABLE=true \
  -e RUSTFS_NOTIFY_WEBHOOK_ENABLE_PRIMARY=on \
  -e RUSTFS_NOTIFY_WEBHOOK_ENDPOINT_PRIMARY=http://<host-ip>:3020/webhook \
  -e RUSTFS_NOTIFY_WEBHOOK_QUEUE_DIR_PRIMARY=/tmp/rustfs-events \
  -e RUSTFS_OUTBOUND_ALLOW_ORIGINS=http://<host-ip>:3020 \
  rustfs/rustfs:latest

Notes:

  • RUSTFS_NOTIFY_ENABLE=true enables the global notify module switch.
  • For ARN arn:rustfs:sqs::primary:webhook, use instance-scoped env vars with _PRIMARY.
  • If queue dir is omitted, default is /opt/rustfs/events; ensure it is writable by the container runtime user.
  • RUSTFS_NOTIFY_WEBHOOK_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY_PRIMARY defaults to false; enabling it skips webhook TLS certificate verification, allows MITM attacks, and emits a startup warning. Prefer RUSTFS_NOTIFY_WEBHOOK_CLIENT_CA_PRIMARY for private CAs.
  • Since 1.0.0-beta.11, webhook endpoints on private or container networks (Docker Compose service names, host.docker.internal, RFC 1918 addresses) are blocked unless their exact scheme://host:port origin is listed in RUSTFS_OUTBOUND_ALLOW_ORIGINS (the origin only, without the path). See Outbound Connection Policy.

NOTE: We recommend reviewing the docker-compose.yml file before running. It defines several services including Grafana, Prometheus, and Jaeger, which are helpful for RustFS observability. If you wish to start Redis or Nginx containers, you can specify the corresponding profiles.

3. Build from Source (Option 3) - Advanced Users

For developers who want to build RustFS Docker images from source with multi-architecture support:

# Build multi-architecture images locally
./docker-buildx.sh

# Build a single-platform image locally
./docker-buildx.sh -p linux/amd64

# Build and push to registry
./docker-buildx.sh --push

# Build specific version
./docker-buildx.sh --release v1.0.0 --push

# Build for custom registry
./docker-buildx.sh --registry your-registry.com --namespace yourname --push

The docker-buildx.sh script supports:

  • Multi-architecture builds: linux/amd64, linux/arm64
  • Automatic version detection: Uses git tags or commit hashes
  • Registry flexibility: Supports Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry, etc.
  • Build optimization: Includes caching and parallel builds

You can also use Make targets for convenience:

make docker-buildx                    # Build locally
make docker-buildx-push               # Build and push
make docker-buildx-version VERSION=v1.0.0  # Build specific version
make help-docker                      # Show all Docker-related commands

Heads-up (macOS cross-compilation): macOS keeps the default ulimit -n at 256, so cargo zigbuild or ./build-rustfs.sh --platform ... may fail with ProcessFdQuotaExceeded when targeting Linux. The build script attempts to raise the limit automatically, but if you still see the warning, run ulimit -n 4096 (or higher) in your shell before building.

4. Build with Helm Chart (Option 4) - Cloud Native

Follow the instructions in the Helm Chart README to install RustFS on a Kubernetes cluster.

For scanner pacing, cycle budgets, bitrot cadence, lifecycle transition status, and single-node single-disk idle CPU tuning, see Scanner Runtime Controls. For repeatable scanner-pressure validation, see Scanner Benchmark Runbook. For drive timeout knobs on slow storage — including the walk stall budget that governs ListObjects on large prefixes — see Drive Timeout Tuning.

5. Nix Flake (Option 5)

If you have Nix with flakes enabled:

# Run directly without installing
nix run github:rustfs/rustfs

# Build the binary
nix build github:rustfs/rustfs
./result/bin/rustfs --help

# Or from a local checkout
nix build
nix run

The flake also exports a NixOS module and the RustFS rc client. Add the module to your system and provide credentials through runtime files (for example, sops-nix or agenix) so secrets are never stored in the Nix store:

imports = [ inputs.rustfs.nixosModules.rustfs ];

services.rustfs = {
  enable = true;
  accessKeyFile = "/run/secrets/rustfs-access-key";
  secretKeyFile = "/run/secrets/rustfs-secret-key";
  volumes = [ "/var/lib/rustfs" ];
};

Install the S3-compatible client with nix profile install github:rustfs/rustfs#rustfs-client (the executable is named rc), or use inputs.rustfs.packages.${pkgs.system}.rustfs-client in a system configuration.

6. X-CMD (Option 6)

If you are an x-cmd user:

# Run directly without installing
x rustfs

# Download the binary and install it to the global environment
x env use rustfs
rustfs --help

Accessing RustFS

  1. Access the Console: Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:9001 to access the RustFS console.
    • Default credentials: rustfsadmin / rustfsadmin
  2. Create a Bucket: Use the console to create a new bucket for your objects.
  3. Upload Objects: You can upload files directly through the console or use S3-compatible APIs/clients to interact with your RustFS instance.

NOTE: To access the RustFS instance via https, please refer to the TLS Configuration Docs.

OIDC Roles Claim (Microsoft Entra ID)

RustFS supports mapping an OIDC claim containing role values into the existing authorization pipeline. The roles_claim setting is optional: when unset or empty, only the groups claim contributes to authorization (same as older RustFS releases). For Microsoft Entra ID app roles, set roles_claim=roles so both console admin checks and bucket IAM policies can evaluate those roles.

Example environment configuration (opt-in roles claim):

RUSTFS_IDENTITY_OPENID_ENABLE=on
RUSTFS_IDENTITY_OPENID_CONFIG_URL="https://login.microsoftonline.com/<tenant-id>/v2.0/.well-known/openid-configuration"
RUSTFS_IDENTITY_OPENID_CLIENT_ID="<client-id>"
RUSTFS_IDENTITY_OPENID_CLIENT_SECRET="<client-secret>"
RUSTFS_IDENTITY_OPENID_SCOPES="openid,profile,email"
RUSTFS_IDENTITY_OPENID_GROUPS_CLAIM="groups"
RUSTFS_IDENTITY_OPENID_ROLES_CLAIM="roles"

Policy condition example (evaluate app roles directly with jwt:roles; when roles_claim is configured, RustFS also merges those values into jwt:groups for backward compatibility with older policies):

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["admin:*"],
      "Resource": ["arn:aws:s3:::*"],
      "Condition": {
        "ForAnyValue:StringEquals": {
          "jwt:roles": ["RustFS.ConsoleAdmin"]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Documentation

For detailed documentation, including configuration options, API references, and advanced usage, please visit our Documentation.

Getting Help

If you have any questions or need assistance:

  • Check the FAQ for common issues and solutions.
  • Join our GitHub Discussions to ask questions and share your experiences.
  • Open an issue on our GitHub Issues page for bug reports or feature requests.

Links

Contact

Contributors

RustFS is a community-driven project, and we appreciate all contributions. Check out the Contributors page to see the amazing people who have helped make RustFS better.

RustFS contributors

Star History

RustFS star history chart

License

Apache 2.0

RustFS is a trademark of RustFS, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Frequently asked questions

Is rustfs free to use?

rustfs is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does rustfs do?

RustFS is an open-source, S3-compatible high-performance object storage system supporting migration and coexistence with other S3-compatible platforms such as M

What is rustfs written in?

rustfs is primarily written in Rust. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/rustfs/rustfs, and it has 35,662 GitHub stars.