Actix Web + PostgreSQL

Key Features

• Actor-based concurrency model enabling millions of concurrent connections with minimal resource overhead
• Compile-time SQL query validation through SQLx preventing runtime database errors
• Zero-copy request parsing and response generation for maximum throughput
• Built-in middleware ecosystem including authentication, CORS, logging, and request compression
• PostgreSQL's JSONB support for hybrid relational-document data models with full indexing
• Advanced connection pooling with configurable pool sizes and connection lifecycle management
• Hot-reloading development server with automatic restart on code changes
• Native support for HTTP/2, WebSockets, and Server-Sent Events

Common Use Cases

• 1High-frequency trading platforms requiring microsecond response times with ACID transaction guarantees
• 2IoT data ingestion APIs handling millions of sensor readings per minute
• 3Financial services backends processing payment transactions with strict data consistency requirements
• 4Real-time multiplayer game servers with persistent player data and leaderboards
• 5E-commerce platforms managing inventory, orders, and user sessions under heavy load
• 6Analytics APIs serving complex queries over large datasets with PostgreSQL's window functions
• 7Cryptocurrency exchanges requiring ultra-low latency order matching and trade execution

Prerequisites

• Rust development environment with Cargo package manager installed
• Minimum 2GB RAM (4GB+ recommended for PostgreSQL under load)
• Understanding of Rust ownership concepts and async/await programming model
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL schema design and query optimization
• Docker port 8080 available for Actix Web HTTP server
• Basic knowledge of Actor model patterns and message-driven architecture

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  actix: 
3    build: .
4    container_name: actix
5    environment: 
6      DATABASE_URL: postgres://${DB_USER}:${DB_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/${DB_NAME}
7    ports: 
8      - "8080:8080"
9    depends_on: 
10      - postgres
11    networks: 
12      - actix-network
13
14  postgres: 
15    image: postgres:16-alpine
16    environment: 
17      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
18      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
19      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
20    volumes: 
21      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
22    networks: 
23      - actix-network
24
25volumes: 
26  postgres_data: 
27
28networks: 
29  actix-network: 
30    driver: bridge

.env Template

1DB_NAME=actix
2DB_USER=actix
3DB_PASSWORD=changeme

Usage Notes

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

actix:
  build: .
  container_name: actix
  environment:
    DATABASE_URL: postgres://${DB_USER}:${DB_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/${DB_NAME}
  ports:
    - "8080:8080"
  depends_on:
    - postgres
  networks:
    - actix-network

postgres:
  image: postgres:16-alpine
  environment:
    POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
    POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
  volumes:
    - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  networks:
    - actix-network

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  actix:
5    build: .
6    container_name: actix
7    environment:
8      DATABASE_URL: postgres://${DB_USER}:${DB_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/${DB_NAME}
9    ports:
10      - "8080:8080"
11    depends_on:
12      - postgres
13    networks:
14      - actix-network
15
16  postgres:
17    image: postgres:16-alpine
18    environment:
19      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
20      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
21      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
22    volumes:
23      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
24    networks:
25      - actix-network
26
27volumes:
28  postgres_data:
29
30networks:
31  actix-network:
32    driver: bridge
33EOF
34
35# 2. Create the .env file
36cat > .env << 'EOF'
37DB_NAME=actix
38DB_USER=actix
39DB_PASSWORD=changeme
40EOF
41
42# 3. Start the services
43docker compose up -d
44
45# 4. View logs
46docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/actix-postgres/run | bash

Troubleshooting