Architecture

What if Symfony’s architectural ideas were built for Rust?

Symfony demonstrated how an application framework can be composed from independent components, coordinated by a kernel, and extended with bundles. Serenade takes inspiration from those ideas and implements its own Rust-native architecture.

Serenade is an independent Rust project, not a PHP port, a Symfony compatibility layer, or an affiliated Symfony product. Cargo owns dependency management. Rust traits and types define the contracts. The application chooses its server and persistence strategy.

Four parts. One application.

Part	Responsibility
Kernel	Owns application lifecycle: bundle registration, compilation, boot, and shutdown.
Bundles	Compose related services, configuration, routes, subscribers, and commands.
Components	Provide focused capabilities such as DI, events, HTTP, console, security, and forms.
Adapters	Connect framework contracts to infrastructure choices such as Actix Web and Axum.

The application assembles the pieces it needs. Bundles are the composition mechanism; components can also be used independently when an application does not need the full kernel.

Rust-native choices

• Cargo, not a second package manager. Recipes and the CLI assist with composition; Cargo remains responsible for dependencies.
• Contracts, not a mandated database. Applications choose SQLx, SeaORM, Diesel, or another persistence strategy. Serenade does not ship an ORM.
• Adapters at the boundary. The HTTP foundation is distinct from Actix and Axum integration.
• Product domain stays with the product. Commerce, CMS, and other domain features are not part of the framework kernel.

Maturity

Serenade is pre-1.0 and evolving. The architecture describes the framework’s direction; it does not mean every component is equally complete or production-ready. Review the kernel documentation and examples before adopting a crate.

For the detailed design, see the source-backed framework vision and kernel guide.