Rango ORM

A Django-inspired ORM for Rust. The goal is simple: abstract away the complexity of database queries and deliver a smooth, concise, and enjoyable experience — without sacrificing performance or security.

Philosophy

Rango is built on a simple idea: you define your data, Rango handles the rest.

No SQL to write by hand. No migration files to maintain. No boilerplate.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use rango::prelude::*;

#[derive(Model)]
struct Post {
    id: FieldUuid,
    title: FieldVarchar<1, 255>,
    body: FieldText,
    published: FieldBool,
    created_at: FieldDateTime,
}
}

rango makemigrations   # generates SQL from your structs
rango migrate          # applies pending migrations

That's it.

Key Features

Auto-migrations — diff your structs, generate SQL, never write migrations by hand
Type-safe query builder — filter, order, paginate with full compile-time safety
Relations — ForeignKey, ManyToMany, select_related, prefetch_related
Multiple backends — PostgreSQL and SQLite, same API
Async-first — built on sqlx and tokio
CLI tools — init, makemigrations, migrate, export, import

How Rango compares

Rango targets Django-style ORM ergonomics on native async SQLx.

	Rango	Diesel	SeaORM	SQLx	Butane
Kind	Django-style ORM	Query builder + ORM	Async ORM	Raw SQL toolkit (not an ORM)	ORM
Migrations	✅ auto-generated from models (`rango makemigrations`)	⚠️ Diesel CLI; SQL by hand	⚠️ Rust files by hand; schema sync newer	⚠️ sqlx-cli; SQL by hand	✅ auto-generated from models
Model definition	`#[derive(Model)]` only	`table!` macro + struct	Entity + ActiveModel, more boilerplate	None	`#[model]` struct
Async	✅ native (sqlx)	⚠️ via `diesel-async`	✅	✅	✅ since 0.8
Compile-time column checks	✅ generated typed columns (`User::EMAIL`): name and value type checked; string names still accepted	✅ strong	❌ runtime	✅ `query!` macros, needs a dev DB	✅
Model hooks	✅ `ModelHooks`	❌	✅ ActiveModelBehavior	❌	❌
Relations loading	✅ `select_related` / `prefetch_related`	Manual joins	✅	❌	✅
Real `ON DELETE CASCADE`	✅	✅	✅	n/a	✅
Raw SQL escape hatch	✅ `raw*`	✅	✅	✅ it's the point	✅
Backends	PG, MySQL / MariaDB, SQLite	PG, MySQL, SQLite	PG, MySQL, SQLite	PG, MySQL, SQLite	PG, SQLite
Maturity / ecosystem	Early, API not stable	Large, production at crates.io	Medium, active	Large	Small

Where Rango is weaker today

Bulk reads are ~6% slower than hand-written sqlx on 1000-row selects (on par with SeaORM, Diesel is ~7% faster) — see benchmarks.
Young project with a small ecosystem.

Comparison inspired by Shuttle's Best Rust ORMs (2024), extended with Butane and Rango.

Status

Rango is under active development. The API is not yet stable. PostgreSQL, SQLite and MySQL / MariaDB backends are functional.

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0, at your option.