rust-docs-guidelines

Rust Docs Guidelines

Standards to follow when writing Rust documentation.

Guidelines

• Key concepts should be explained only once. All other documentation should use an intra-documentation link to the first explanation.
• Always use an intra-documentation link when mentioning a Rust symbol (type, function, constant, etc.).
• In a # Safety section, link the word valid to std's pointer-validity rules: write it as [valid] and put this reference definition at the end of the doc block —

  [valid]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/ptr/index.html#safety
  

  Only where it means pointer or memory validity — valid UTF-8, a valid enum variant, a valid nul terminator and a by-value struct whose fields must agree keep their plain form, since std's definition says nothing about them. A duration clause such as "must remain valid for the lifetime of the returned iterator" does mean it, so link it as well; the duration it adds is orthogonal to what validity means. A callback parameter is the other way round: std's rules cover accesses through data pointers, not whether an address is callable under a given ABI, so require the signature to be [ABI-compatible] instead and define it as —

  [ABI-compatible]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/primitive.fn.html#abi-compatibility
  

  Non-doc // SAFETY: comments keep the plain form too: rustdoc does not render them, so the brackets would stay literal text.
• Avoid referring to specific lines or line ranges, as they may change over time. Use line comments if the documentation needs to be attached to a specific code section inside a function/method body.
• Focus on why, not how. In particular, avoid explaining trivial implementation details in line comments.
• Refer to constants using intra-documentation links. Don't hard-code their values in the documentation of other items.
• Intra-documentation links to private items are preferable to duplication. Add #[allow(rustdoc::private_intra_doc_links)] where relevant.