Rust Cross

This covers the practical side of cross-compiling Rust: rustup targets, the cross tool for Docker-based builds, and cargo-zigbuild for zero-setup compilation via zig cc. It's useful when you need to build for ARM on x86, create static musl binaries, or target embedded bare-metal systems. The workflow is concrete, with target triples for common platforms like aarch64 Linux, Windows, macOS, and Cortex-M microcontrollers. Cross and cargo-zigbuild are both solid choices, but zigbuild wins on speed and simplicity if you don't need Docker isolation. The embedded section shows the no_std setup with memory.x linker scripts and probe-run for actual hardware.

skills.sh installs: 565
GitHub stars: 279
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills --skill rust-cross --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Rust Cross-Compilation

Purpose

Guide agents through Rust cross-compilation: adding rustup targets, using cross for hermetic Docker-based cross-builds, cargo-zigbuild for zero-setup cross-compilation, .cargo/config.toml configuration, and embedded bare-metal targets.

Triggers

"How do I cross-compile Rust for ARM/aarch64?"
"How do I build a Rust binary for a different OS?"
"How do I use the cross tool for Rust cross-compilation?"
"How do I build Rust for embedded (no_std) targets?"
"How do I use cargo-zigbuild?"
"My cross-compiled Rust binary won't run on the target"

Workflow

1. Add a rustup target

# List installed targets
rustup target list --installed

# List all available targets
rustup target list

# Add a target
rustup target add aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-musl   # static Linux
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown       # WASM
rustup target add thumbv7m-none-eabi          # Cortex-M

# Build for target
cargo build --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu --release