Skip to content

Getting Started

This guide will help you get up and running with Fast-Rich in minutes.

Installation

Add fast-rich to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
fast-rich = "0.3.2"

[dependencies]
fast-rich = { version = "0.3.2", features = ["full"] }

[dependencies]
fast-rich = { version = "0.3.2", features = ["syntax", "markdown", "logging"] }

Available Features

Feature Description
syntax Syntax highlighting for code (adds syntect dependency)
markdown Markdown rendering (adds pulldown-cmark dependency)
logging Integration with Rust's log crate
full Enables all features above

Your First Program

Fast-Rich in action

Code

Create a new file src/main.rs:

use fast_rich::prelude::*;

fn main() {
    let console = Console::new().force_color(true);

    console.print("[bold cyan]Fast-Rich[/] - Beautiful terminal output for :crab: Rust programming language :crab:!\n");

    // Styled text
    console.print("[bold]Bold[/], [italic]italic[/], [red]colors[/], [underline]underline[/], [dim]dim[/], [reverse]reverse[/], [strike]strikethrough[/], emojis :rocket: :sparkling_heart:! and more!\n");
}

Run it

cargo run

What you'll see

First program output

Drop-in Print Macros

Fast-Rich provides print! and println! macros that shadow the standard library versions, giving you styled output with zero friction:

// Shadow the standard library macros
use fast_rich::{print, println};

fn main() {
    // Works exactly like std::println!, but with rich markup!
    println!("[bold green]Success![/] All systems operational.");

    // Format arguments work as expected
    let name = "Alice";
    let score = 100;
    println!("[cyan]Player[/]: {} scored [yellow]{}[/] points", name, score);

    // Emoji support built-in
    println!(":rocket: Launch  :fire: Hot  :sparkles: Magic");
}

Raw Output for Untrusted Input

If your data might contain text that looks like markup tags (e.g., [Red]), use println_raw! to skip parsing: 

use fast_rich::println_raw;
let user_data = get_untrusted_input();
println_raw!("{}", user_data);  // Prints literally, no markup parsing

More Print Macros

See the Print Macros Guide for eprint!, eprintln!, and edge case handling.

Understanding the Console

The Console is your main entry point for all output. It handles:

  • Terminal width detection
  • Color capability detection
  • Styled output rendering
use fast_rich::console::Console;

fn main() {
    let console = Console::new();

    console.rule("[bold magenta]Console API Demo[/]");
    console.print("This is a [bold]regular print[/].");
    console.newline();

    console.println("This is a [italic]println[/] which adds a newline.");

    console.rule("Padding");
    console.print_renderable(&fast_rich::text::Text::from("Explicit Renderable"));
    console.newline();

    // Demonstrate some emoji
    console.println("Emoji: :snake: :crab:");
}

What you'll see:

Console basics demo

Markup Syntax

Fast-Rich uses a simple markup syntax for inline styling:

use fast_rich::Console;

fn main() {
    let console = Console::new();

    console.println("[bold cyan]═══ Markup Demo ═══[/]\n");

    // Basic styles
    console.println("[bold]Bold[/]  [italic]Italic[/]  [underline]Underline[/]  [dim]Dim[/]");

    // Colors
    console.println("[red]Red[/]  [green]Green[/]  [blue]Blue[/]  [yellow]Yellow[/]  [magenta]Magenta[/]");

    // Background + combined
    console.println("[white on red] Alert [/]  [bold green]Success![/]  [italic cyan]Info[/]");

    // Emoji
    console.println("\n:rocket: Launch  :fire: Hot  :sparkles: Magic  :check_mark: Done");
}

What you'll see:

Markup demo

Escape Markup

To display literal brackets, escape them:

console.print("Use \\[bold] to show [bold] literally");

Printing Renderables

For complex objects like tables, panels, and trees, use print_renderable:

use fast_rich::prelude::*;

fn main() {
    let console = Console::new();

    console.println("[bold cyan]═══ Table Demo ═══[/]\n");

    let mut table = Table::new();
    table.add_column(Column::new("Name"));
    table.add_column(Column::new("Role"));
    table.add_column(Column::new("Status").center());

    table.add_row_strs(&["Alice", "Developer", "✓ Active"]);
    table.add_row_strs(&["Bob", "Designer", "✓ Active"]);
    table.add_row_strs(&["Charlie", "Manager", "Away"]);

    console.print_renderable(&table);
}

What you'll see:

Table demo

Progress Tracking

Fast-Rich provides production-grade progress bars with spinners, ETA, and transfer speed. 

use fast_rich::console::Console;
use fast_rich::progress::{
    BarColumn, DownloadColumn, FileSizeColumn, MofNColumn, PercentageColumn, Progress,
    SpinnerColumn, TextColumn, TimeRemainingColumn, TotalFileSizeColumn, TransferSpeedColumn,
};
use std::thread;
use std::time::Duration;

fn main() {
    let console = Console::new();

    // Create a progress bar with custom columns
    let mut progress = Progress::new()
        .with_console(Console::new())
        .with_columns(vec![
            Box::new(SpinnerColumn::new()),
            Box::new(TextColumn::new("[progress.description]")),
            Box::new(BarColumn::new(40)),
            Box::new(PercentageColumn::new()),
            Box::new(TransferSpeedColumn),
            Box::new(TimeRemainingColumn),
        ]);

    let task1 = progress.add_task("Downloading file1.zip", Some(100));
    let task2 = progress.add_task("Downloading file2.zip", Some(200));

    progress.start();

    // Update progress in your loop
    for _ in 0..100 {
        progress.update(task1, 1); // +1 by default or specify absolute value
        progress.advance(task2, 2);

        progress.refresh();
        thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(50));
    }

    progress.stop();
}

What you'll see (Full Feature Demo):

Progress demo

More Examples

Check out examples/progress_rich.rs for more advanced usage including auto-refresh, context managers, and file transfer modes.

Terminal Compatibility

Fast-Rich automatically detects terminal capabilities:

Environment Color Support
Modern terminals (iTerm2, Windows Terminal, etc.) Full RGB/Truecolor
Most Linux/macOS terminals 256 colors
Basic terminals 8/16 colors
CI/CD, pipes, redirects Colors disabled

Force Colors

To force color output (e.g., in CI):

let console = Console::new().force_color(true);

Next Steps

Now that you have the basics, explore the feature guides:

Or run the examples:

cargo run --example showcase --features full