Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Is Rust ready to take over full-stack web development? In this episode, I am joined by Carl Lerche (creator of Tokio) and Julien Scholz to discuss Topcoat, a new batteries-included web framework for building reactive web applications in Rust.

We talk about the evolution of Rust in the web ecosystem, why server-side rendering with smart reactivity is making a comeback, and how AI coding assistants are lowering the barrier to entry for Rust.

🔗 Links & Resources

Topcoat GitHub Repo: github.com/tokio-rs/topcoat

Carl Lerche on X: https://x.com/carllerche

Julien Scholz on X: https://x.com/julienscholzdev

My Talk at CascadiaJS: youtube.com/watch?v=32BQzxZAQZo

Carl's Talk at TokioConf: youtube.com/watch?v=IbTOkT5KDes

Website: francescociulla.com

📌 Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction: Carl Lerche & Julien Scholz + Rust & Web Dev background

1:56 - Carl Lerche's career: LAMP, Ruby on Rails, Rust, AI & the origins of Topcoat

6:55 - Julien's path to Rust & building Topcoat

8:57 - What is Topcoat? Server-Side Rendering vs JavaScript, Axum, Leptos, and Dioxus

14:25 - Topcoat going open source & future plans

16:50 - Feedback, Topcoat use cases & building apps with AI