# Manishearth/rust-gc

Simple tracing (mark and sweep) garbage collector for Rust

Repository: https://github.com/Manishearth/rust-gc
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/rust-gc
Language: Rust
License: MPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2026-01-19T16:30:12+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 61/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 63, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4126, "days_push": 226, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1062, forks 60 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:26.106225+00:00)

## What it is
rust-gc is a simple tracing (mark and sweep) garbage collector library for Rust, providing a Gc smart pointer similar to Rc but with cycle collection. Types placed in Gc must implement Trace and Finalize traits, typically via a derive macro.

## Use cases
- handle reference cycles in Rust data structures
- garbage collect cyclic graphs in Rust
- use a Gc pointer like Rc but with cycle detection
- implement custom finalizers for collected objects
- build interpreters or language runtimes in Rust needing GC

## When to choose
- you have cyclic data structures that Rc cannot handle
- you want a small, simple GC library integrated with Rust's ownership model
- you are building a language runtime or interpreter in Rust

## When to avoid
- Rc, Arc, or Box would suffice for your data structures
- you need a high-performance or concurrent production-grade GC
- you want to use it pervasively rather than only where needed

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: concurrency
- domain: programming-languages, developer-tools
- platform: rust, cross-platform
- tags: garbage-collector, tracing-gc, mark-and-sweep, rust, memory-management

## Member repositories
- Manishearth/rust-gc (main) score 61

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:26.106225+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T08:33:37.442129+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/Manishearth/rust-gc (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:26.106225+00:00, sha 11a299a967fe)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.