windows-rs
Shares rank 7 of 8 Rust crates by recommenders
Microsoft's Rust crates for calling Windows APIs; people find them pleasant to use, though critics call the API design confusing and worry about the crate's future.
Microsoft's Rust crates for calling Windows APIs; people find them pleasant to use, though critics call the API design confusing and worry about the crate's future.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Works fine in practice
“one can use it from a memory safe language just fine”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “Windows native app development is a mess” “I have used them in the past just fine”
Comment from 28 Mar 2026 in “Windows native app development is a mess”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Future of crate uncertain
“So who knows what will even happen to windows-rs crate.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “The state of building user interfaces in Rust” “Better not expect too much from that repo as well.”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “Windows 11's Start menu was built using React – now switching to native WinUI” Confusing, opaque API and ownership
“can be annoyingly unintuitive or opaque in how they handle subtler details of memory ownership”
Comment from 10 Dec 2025 in “COM Like a Bomb: Rust Outlook Add-in” “I think windows-rs is at fault here for confusing API design.”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “COM Like a Bomb: Rust Outlook Add-in” Seen as half-baked
“leaving it half baked to go play with Rust and windows-rs”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “The state of building user interfaces in Rust” “Rust with windows-rs is hardly any better”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “WinUI 3 Performance: A Leap Forward”
Other Rust crates people recommend
The four most recommended other Rust crates, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| anyhow (Rust crate) | 34 | 10 | 77% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Rayon | 18 | 2 | 90% | 10 | — | Approved |
| thiserror | 16 | 8 | 67% | 5 | — | Approved |
| rand crate | 9 | 3 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
| windows-rsThis page | 5 | 5 | 50% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Both are provided by Microsoft-developed crate windows-rs”
“So who knows what will even happen to windows-rs crate.”
“leaving it half baked to go play with Rust and windows-rs”
“The work Microsoft has been doing on windows-rs translates quite good into Rust”
“the experience of consuming windows apis in rust feels good”
“Rust with windows-rs is hardly any better”
“now also abandoned as they refocused into windows-rs”
“I have used them in the past just fine”
“Both seem to do the actual work in unsafe blocks, so I guess you could as well use C++, no?”
“one can use it from a memory safe language just fine”
“Better not expect too much from that repo as well.”
“is now having fun with Rust on windows-rs”
“I think windows-rs is at fault here for confusing API design.”
“can be annoyingly unintuitive or opaque in how they handle subtler details of memory ownership”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.