bacon

Bacon is a background code checker designed specifically for Rust developers who want continuous feedback on their code without interrupting their workflow. It runs quietly alongside your editor, automatically monitoring your project for compilation errors, warnings, and test failures, providing real-time notifications as you code.

The tool emphasizes minimal interaction - you can simply launch it with bacon and let it run in the background. However, it also provides powerful keyboard shortcuts for quick access to different types of checks: hit 'c' for Clippy linting, 't' for tests, 'd' for documentation, and more. This makes it easy to switch between different validation modes without leaving your terminal.

Bacon is highly customizable through a bacon.toml configuration file where you can define custom jobs for specific build targets, examples, or cross-compilation scenarios. It supports various Rust toolchain commands including cargo check, clippy, tests, and even nextest integration. The tool is perfect for Rust developers who want a lightweight, always-on code quality monitor that integrates seamlessly into their development workflow.

Installation

# via Cargo
cargo install --locked bacon

# via Cargo (with features)
cargo install --features "clipboard sound" bacon