autograder-setup

A tiny Rust CLI that bootstraps GitHub Classroom autograding for Rust projects.

🚀 Currently deployed in Boston University’s Intro to Rust course (130+ students, 1000+ student repos).

Key Features

• Fast setup — go from repo → Classroom-ready assignment in under 60 seconds.
• Flexible outputs — grading tables copied to clipboard or written directly to your README.
• Optimized CI — precompiled YAMLs (no runtime parsing) for faster, cheaper runs.
• Instructor-friendly CLI — init, build, table, reset cover the full workflow.

How it Works

• init — scans for Rust tests and builds .autograder/autograder.json.
• build — converts that config into a ready-to-run GitHub Actions workflow at .github/workflows/classroom.yaml.
• table — generates a Markdown grading table for READMEs, keeping grading criteria transparent.
• reset — cleans up generated files for a fresh start.

Keeps autograding setup simple for instructors while making grading criteria clear for students.

Table of Contents

• Releases
• Installation
• Quickstart
• Usage
• Repository Structure
• Upcoming Features

Releases

• Latest: https:github.com/JoeyRussoniello/rust-autograder-setup/releases/latest
• All releases: https:github.com/JoeyRussoniello/rust-autograder-setup/releases

Installation

Option A — Install via Cargo (recommended)

If you already have Rust installed:

cargo install autograder-setup

Check installation:

autograder-setup --version

Option B — Download a prebuilt binary

Precompiled binaries are available on the latest GitHub release:
https:github.com/JoeyRussoniello/rust-autograder-setup/releases/latest

See the docs for detailed OS-specific instructions:

Quickstart

# Show top-level help
autograder-setup --help

# 1) Scan src/ recursively and create .autograder/autograder.json
autograder-setup init

# 2) (Optional) Edit tests/autograder.json to adjust points/timeouts

# 3) Generate the GitHub Actions workflow
autograder-setup build
# -> .github/workflows/classroom.yaml

For command-specific flags:

autograder-setup init --help
autograder-setup build --help
autograder-setup table --help
autograder-setup reset --help

Usage

For a full CLI guide and usage instructions, see the Complete Documentation

Repository Structure

.
├── Cargo.lock                           # Cargo dependency lockfile (generated; checked in for reproducible builds)
├── Cargo.toml                           # Crate metadata and dependencies
├── LICENSE                              # Project license
├── README.md                            # Basic installation and usage guide (this file)
├── docs-book                            # Complete mdbook documentation
│   ├── book.toml
│   └── src
│       ├── README.md
│       ├── SUMMARY.md
│       ├── commands
│       │   ├── build.md
│       │   ├── init.md
│       │   ├── reset.md
│       │   └── table.md
│       ├── faq.md
│       ├── installation.md
│       ├── json-schema.md
│       ├── quickstart.md
│       ├── releases.md
│       └── repository-structure.md
└── src
    ├── cli                              # CLI subcommands and orchestration
    │   ├── build                        # `autograder-setup build` — render workflow YAML from autograder.json
    │   │   ├── build_functions.rs       # Preamble, YAML helpers, commit-count script writer, small utilities
    │   │   ├── mod.rs                   # Subcommand entry + YAMLAutograder builder (ties everything together)
    │   │   ├── steps.rs                 # Hand-assembled YAML step emitters (CommandStep / ReporterStep)
    │   │   └── tests.rs                 # Unit tests for YAML rendering and build behavior
    │   ├── init                         # `autograder-setup init` — scan tests and write `.autograder/autograder.json`
    │   │   ├── functions.rs             # High-level constructors for AutoTests (clippy/commit count/test count)
    │   │   ├── mod.rs                   # Subcommand entry and pipeline glue
    │   │   ├── scan                     # Module for AST parsing and test case discovery
    │   │   │   ├── mod.rs
    │   │   │   └── tests.rs
    │   │   └── tests.rs                 
    │   ├── mod.rs                       # Top-level CLI wiring (arg parsing, subcommand dispatch)
    │   ├── reset                        # `autograder-setup reset` — remove generated files
    │   │   ├── mod.rs                   # Subcommand entry
    │   │   └── tests.rs                 # Safety checks for deleting generated artifacts
    │   ├── table                        # `autograder-setup table` — generate student-facing Markdown table
    │   │   └── mod.rs                   # Subcommand entry and table rendering
    │   └── tests.rs                     # Cross-subcommand/integration-style tests for the CLI layer
    ├── main.rs                          # Binary entrypoint; delegates to `cli`
    ├── types                            # Core data model for the autograder
    │   ├── command_makers.rs            # Per-variant command builders (cargo test/clippy/test-count/commit-count)
    │   └── mod.rs                       # `AutoTest { meta, kind }`, `TestMeta`, `TestKind` + Markdown row impl
    └── utils
        ├── mod.rs                       # Shared helpers: path walking, slug/id, yaml_quote, replace_double_hashtag, etc.
        └── tests.rs                     # Unit tests for utilities

Upcoming Features

• Additional CLI improvements and configuration options