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wtf is bson-rs?

lrlna/bson-rs — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-17 · repo last pushed 2020-02-27

★ 1RustAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · easy

TL;DR

A Rust library that converts Rust data structures to and from BSON, the binary format MongoDB uses to store data.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((bson-rs))
    What it does
      Encode Rust to BSON
      Decode BSON to Rust
      Works with MongoDB
    Tech stack
      Rust
      Serde
    Use cases
      Store structs in MongoDB
      Talk to BSON systems
      Build backend APIs
    Audience
      Rust developers
      Backend engineers
    Quirks
      No unsigned integers
      Compat module for legacy code

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Serialize a Rust struct into BSON before inserting it into a MongoDB collection.

REASON 2

Deserialize BSON documents retrieved from MongoDB back into typed Rust structs.

REASON 3

Build backend services or APIs that store and retrieve structured data in MongoDB.

REASON 4

Communicate with other systems that natively use the BSON format.

What's in the stack?

RustSerdeBSONMongoDB

How it stacks up

lrlna/bson-rsabc3dz/mixxxabyo-software/ferro-stash
Stars111
LanguageRustRustRust
Last pushed2020-02-27——
MaintenanceDormant——
Setup difficultyeasymoderatemoderate
Complexity2/52/54/5
Audiencedevelopergeneralops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

Requires a running MongoDB instance to actually store/retrieve documents.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to use bson-rs to serialize a Rust struct with Serde annotations into BSON.
Prompt 2
Write a Rust function using bson-rs's bson::to_bson() and bson::from_bson() to save and load a struct from MongoDB.
Prompt 3
Explain why bson-rs rejects unsigned integers and how to use its compatibility module for legacy behavior.
Prompt 4
Help me define a Person struct in Rust that can be converted to BSON and inserted into a MongoDB collection.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is bson-rs?

A Rust library that converts Rust data structures to and from BSON, the binary format MongoDB uses to store data.

What language is bson-rs written in?

Mainly Rust. The stack also includes Rust, Serde, BSON.

Is bson-rs actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2020-02-27).

How hard is bson-rs to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is bson-rs for?

Mainly developer.

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