rust-analyzer Structural Search and Replace (SSR)

Use rust-analyzer's SSR for semantic code transformations in Rust projects. SSR matches code by AST structure and semantic meaning, not text.

When to Use

• Refactoring patterns across a codebase (rename, restructure, migrate APIs)
• Converting between equivalent forms (UFCS to method calls, struct literals to constructors)
• Finding all usages of a specific code pattern
• Semantic-aware search that understands type resolution

Basic Syntax

<search_pattern> ==>> <replacement_pattern>

Placeholders capture matched code:

• $name — matches any expression/type/pattern in that position
• ${name:constraint} — matches with constraints

Common Patterns

Swap function arguments

foo($a, $b) ==>> foo($b, $a)

Convert struct literal to constructor

Foo { a: $a, b: $b } ==>> Foo::new($a, $b)

UFCS to method call

Foo::method($receiver, $arg) ==>> $receiver.method($arg)

Method to UFCS

$receiver.method($arg) ==>> Foo::method($receiver, $arg)

Wrap in Result

Option<$t> ==>> Result<$t, Error>

Unwrap to expect

$e.unwrap() ==>> $e.expect("TODO")

Match only literals

Some(${a:kind(literal)}) ==>> ...

Match non-literals

Some(${a:not(kind(literal))}) ==>> ...

Constraints

How to Invoke

Via Comment Assist (Interactive)

Write a comment containing an SSR rule, then trigger code actions:

// foo($a, $b) ==>> bar($b, $a)

Actions appear: "Apply SSR in file" or "Apply SSR in workspace"

Via LSP Command

{
  "command": "rust-analyzer.ssr",
  "arguments": [{
    "query": "foo($a) ==>> bar($a)",
    "parseOnly": false
  }]
}

Via CLI

rust-analyzer ssr 'foo($a, $b) ==>> bar($b, $a)'

Key Behaviors

Path Resolution: Paths match semantically. foo::Bar matches Bar if imported from foo.

Auto-qualification: Replacement paths are qualified appropriately for each insertion site.

Parenthesization: Automatic parens added when needed (e.g., $a + $b becoming ($a + $b).method()).

Comment Preservation: Comments within matched ranges are preserved.

Macro Handling

SSR can match code inside macro expansions, but with an important restriction: all matched tokens must originate from the same source.

Example: Macro Boundary

macro_rules! my_macro {
    ($x:expr) => {
        foo($x, 42)  // "42" comes from macro definition
    };
}

my_macro!(bar);  // "bar" comes from call site

The expanded code is foo(bar, 42). Here:

• bar originates from the call site (what the user wrote)
• foo, 42 originate from the macro definition

If you search for foo($a, $b):

• It would NOT match the expanded foo(bar, 42) because $a would capture bar (call site) but $b would capture 42 (definition site) — these cross the macro boundary.

Why This Limitation Exists

SSR can only generate edits for code the user actually wrote. If a match spans both user code and macro-generated code, SSR couldn't produce a valid edit — it would need to modify the macro definition, which is a different (and potentially shared) piece of code.

What SSR CAN Do With Macros

• Match code entirely within macro arguments: my_macro!(foo($a)) can match foo($a)
• Match the macro call itself: my_macro!($x) works
• Match expanded code where all tokens come from call-site arguments

Other Limitations

• Constraints limited to kind(literal) and not()
• Single-identifier patterns (foo ==>> bar) may be filtered if ambiguous
• Cannot modify use declarations with braces

More Examples

Convert Option methods

$o.map_or(None, Some) ==>> $o

Change field access

$s.foo ==>> $s.bar

Reorder struct fields

Foo { a: $a, b: $b } ==>> Foo { b: $b, a: $a }

Generic type transformation

Vec<$t> ==>> SmallVec<[$t; 4]>

Source Files

• Core implementation: crates/ide-ssr/src/
• IDE integration: crates/ide/src/ssr.rs
• Tests with examples: crates/ide-ssr/src/tests.rs