# sharksforarms/deku

Declarative binary reading and writing: bit-level, symmetric, serialization/deserialization

Repository: https://github.com/sharksforarms/deku
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/sharksforarms-deku
Language: Rust
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: rust, rust-crate, serialization, deserialization, parse, encoder-decoder, bits, bytes, declarative, symmetric, deku
Last push: 2026-08-11T12:52:27+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 83/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 97, release rhythm 54, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2359, "days_push": 22, "days_rel": 230, "gap_med": 45.0, "n_releases_24m": 7}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1417, forks 89 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:39.985291+00:00)

## What it is
Deku is a Rust library providing declarative, bit-level serialization and deserialization for structs and enums via proc macros. It generates symmetric reader/writer code so binary formats like file structures and network headers can be parsed and written without hand-rolled code.

## Use cases
- parse binary file formats into rust structs
- serialize and deserialize network packet headers
- read and write bit-level fields in binary data
- implement a binary protocol encoder and decoder in rust
- parse game or hardware file formats with mixed bit-width fields
- no_std binary parsing for embedded rust

## When to choose
- you need symmetric read/write code generated from struct definitions
- you need bit-level (sub-byte) field control
- you want declarative, attribute-driven binary parsing in rust
- you need no_std support for embedded targets

## When to avoid
- you need serde-compatible JSON or text serialization rather than binary formats
- you need runtime-flexible or self-describing formats better suited to a schema tool like protobuf
- you are not working in rust

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: serialization, parser
- domain: developer-tools, files
- platform: rust, cross-platform, embedded
- tags: binary-parsing, bit-level, proc-macro, no-std, rust-crate, declarative, network-protocols, algorithms

## Member repositories
- sharksforarms/deku (main) score 83

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:39.985291+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 2026-08-30T04:38:02.479272+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/sharksforarms/deku (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:39.985291+00:00, sha 009ab19a1a90)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/deku (fetched 2026-08-29T11:50:37.974551+00:00, sha 8b69d09da2c0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.