Cubacadabra Adopts Rust for Cross-Platform Application Logic to Reduce Duplication

Addressing Code Duplication

Cubacadabra is adopting a strategy to consolidate its application logic by moving it into shared Rust crates. This decision stems from the common challenge of maintaining separate codebases for iOS, Android, and web platforms, where features, validation, requests, and error handling are often reimplemented multiple times. This duplication leads to increased development effort and potential inconsistencies across platforms.

Thin Client Architecture

Under the new architecture, native clients (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android, JavaScript for web) will become 'thin shells.' Their primary role will be to provide native controls, device services, and browser integration. The core application logic, including account screens and game engine components, will reside in Rust. This means Rust will dictate actions like enabling a save button, making API requests, and interpreting responses.

Benefits and Precedents

This approach aims to ensure that changes to application rules require only one implementation update in Rust, rather than multiple updates across different platforms. This reduces the risk of accumulating divergent behaviors. Similar strategies have been successfully implemented by other companies, such as Litter, which uses a Rust core for session state and streaming, and Mozilla, which developed shared Rust components for Firefox's desktop and mobile sync functionalities to address maintenance difficulties and bug generation from duplicated logic.