What it is

Trunk is a build and bundling tool for Rust applications that target WebAssembly for the web. It lives in the Rust and WebAssembly ecosystem, and the README describes it as a WASM web application bundler for Rust. The project uses a source HTML file as the entry point for building and bundling WASM, JavaScript snippets, and assets such as images, CSS, SCSS, and HTML.

The problem it solves is the assembly of a browser-ready Rust WASM application from multiple parts. A Rust web app may need WASM compilation, HTML processing, JavaScript snippets, stylesheets, and local serving. Trunk reduces those steps into one workflow driven by a simple, optional-config pattern, so the application can be built and shipped to the web from the same source HTML file used during development.

Key capabilities

• It builds and bundles Rust WASM output for web applications.
• It uses a source HTML file as the main configuration and entry point for the build.
• It bundles JavaScript snippets together with WASM and other application assets.
• It supports assets such as images, CSS, SCSS, and HTML through the build process.
• It includes a built-in development server for rapid local workflows.
• It supports HTTP and WebSocket proxies through the development server.
• It watches the application for changes and triggers rebuilds with automatic browser reloading.

Who uses it and how

• Rust developers building browser-based WASM applications use it as the bundler step in a local development workflow.
• Teams working with HTML-driven Rust web apps use a source HTML file to declare the parts that must be assembled into the final page.
• Developers iterating on stylesheets or assets use change detection and automatic reload to see updates without manually restarting the build.
• Users of the examples directory can inspect maintained in-repo web applications to understand how a Trunk project is organized.

Getting started

Typical installation methods include downloading a released binary from https://github.com/trunk-rs/trunk/releases, using cargo binstall trunk, compiling from crates.io with cargo install trunk --locked, compiling from the Git repository with cargo install --git https://github.com/trunk-rs/trunk trunk, compiling from local source with cargo install --path . trunk, installing with brew install trunk, and entering a Nix environment with nix-shell -p trunk. The README directs users to the Trunk website for app setup, assets, configuration, and CLI command documentation.

When to use it — and when not to

Trunk fits Rust WASM web apps where the team wants a bundler centered on a source HTML file, but no paid product replacement or hosted service is listed. The facts do not mention database, storage, SMTP, or self-hosting operations, so those responsibilities are outside the described tool. A limitation is that it focuses on Rust WASM web apps rather than general web bundling, and the metadata lists 136 open issues without a contributor count.