--- title: Rust in the kernel? What about Rust without the kernel! description: Bare-metal embedded programming without an operating system is presented as a growing trend enabled by Rust and AI-assisted coding. Rather than shipping full... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/rust-in-the-kernel-what-about-rust-without-the-kernel--p0ghsdj0j twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Rust in the kernel? What about Rust without the kernel! | daily.dev og:description: Bare-metal embedded programming without an operating system is presented as a growing trend enabled by Rust and AI-assisted coding. Rather than shipping full... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/rust-in-the-kernel-what-about-rust-without-the-kernel--p0ghsdj0j og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/p0GhSDJ0J.png og:image:alt: Rust in the kernel? What about Rust without the kernel! og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Rust in the kernel? What about Rust without the kernel! **[Sylvain Kerkour](https://daily.dev/sources/kerkour)** · 4 min read · 6 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Bare-metal embedded programming without an operating system is presented as a growing trend enabled by Rust and AI-assisted coding. Rather than shipping full Linux distributions on single-purpose devices like routers or cameras, developers can now write statically-linked firmware directly for cheap, powerful microcontrollers (Espressif ESP32-S31, Nordic, WCH, Raspberry Pi chips). Rust's package manager and type system replace dependency and memory-safety concerns traditionally handled by an OS, while LLMs can generate embedded code quickly given a correct spec. The Embassy framework is recommended as a no-OS async runtime, with a cargo feature-flag pattern shown for targeting multiple chips (ESP32-C6, nRF52840) from one codebase. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is Embassy in Rust embedded development used for? Embassy is a Rust framework that replaces the need for a traditional operating system in embedded projects. It provides an async executor and hardware abstraction so firmware can run bare metal on microcontrollers, supporting chips like the ESP32-C6 and nRF52840 through cargo feature flags rather than requiring a full OS image. _daily.dev surfaces embedded Rust frameworks like Embassy for developers building no-OS firmware._ ### How do you build a single Rust firmware that targets multiple microcontroller chips like ESP32-C6 and nRF52840? Use Cargo feature flags to conditionally compile chip-specific dependencies and entry points in one codebase. Define features such as esp32c6 and nrf52840 in Cargo.toml pulling in the right hardware crates, guard each async main function with #[cfg(feature = "...")], and build with a command like cargo build --release --feature esp32c6, with a build.rs validating the chosen feature and loading the matching memory.x file. _engineers targeting multiple microcontrollers can track patterns like this via daily.dev before writing their own build scripts._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [embassy-rs/embassy: Modern embedded framework, using Rust and async.](https://daily.dev/posts/embassy-rs-embassy-modern-embedded-framework-using-rust-and-async--xlt2wqihq) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Microcontrollers with good support for Rust](https://daily.dev/posts/microcontrollers-with-good-support-for-rust-ktbdvaoxc) · Sylvain Kerkour · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [\[2604.25679\] Embedded Rust or C Firmware? Lessons from an Industrial Microcontroller Use Case with Ariel OS](https://daily.dev/posts/2604-25679-embedded-rust-or-c-firmware-lessons-from-an-industrial-microcontroller-use-case-with-a-a3d3ki6ve) · Hacker News · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#rust](https://daily.dev/tags/rust), [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/rust-in-the-kernel-what-about-rust-without-the-kernel--p0ghsdj0j) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Rust in the kernel? 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