How to handle JSON in Rust web server

Use the serde and serde_json crates to automatically serialize and deserialize JSON in your Rust web server. Add serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] } and serde_json = "1" to your Cargo.toml, then derive Serialize and Deserialize on your structs to convert them to and from JSON strings.

use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};

#[derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct User {
    id: u32,
    name: String,
}

fn main() {
    let user = User { id: 1, name: "Alice".to_string() };
    let json = serde_json::to_string(&user).unwrap();
    let parsed: User = serde_json::from_str(&json).unwrap();
}

Handling JSON in Rust web servers lets your code automatically turn data structures into JSON text for sending over the web and back again. It works like a translator that converts your internal program data into a universal format that web browsers and other services can understand without you writing manual parsing logic.