Project Setup 🛠️

Let's get your Rust project up and running! Follow this step-by-step guide to set up the project structure, and you'll be coding in no time. 💻

Prerequisites

Before we dive in, ensure you have the following tools installed on your machine:

• Rust: Install the latest stable version of Rust. You can follow the instructions here.
• Docker & Docker Compose: These tools will help you containerize your application. Install them by following the instructions here.

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Set Up the Rust Project

Start by creating a new Rust project:

cargo new merkle_tree_app
cd merkle_tree_app

This command creates a new directory merkle_tree_app with a basic Rust project structure.

2. Create Separate Crates for Client and Server

We'll be working with three main parts: the Merkle Tree library, the client, and the server. Let's create them:

cargo new --lib merkle_tree
cargo new client
cargo new server

• merkle_tree: This crate will contain the Merkle Tree logic.
• client: This crate will handle the client-side operations, such as file uploads and integrity verification.
• server: This crate will manage file storage and proof generation on the server side.

3. Update the Workspace Configuration

To manage these crates together, we'll configure a workspace. Open your Cargo.toml in the root directory and add the following:

[workspace]
members = [
    "merkle_tree",
    "client",
    "server",
]

This setup makes it easier to build, test, and manage dependencies across all parts of the project.

4. Set Up Dependencies

Next, we'll need to add dependencies for HTTP requests, JSON handling, and async operations. Update the Cargo.toml files in the client and server crates with the following dependencies:

For client/Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
reqwest = { version = "0.11", features = ["json"] }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
serde_json = "1.0"

For server/Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
actix-web = "4"
serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
serde_json = "1.0"

This will set up the necessary tools to handle HTTP requests, JSON data, and asynchronous programming in Rust.

Next Steps

With your project structure in place, you're ready to start implementing the core functionality! Head over to the next section to learn how to build a Merkle Tree from scratch. 🌳