A production checklist for Rust and Actix Web

A release build is only one part of production readiness. Configuration, failure behaviour and ownership matter just as much.

Application checks

• Validate environment variables at startup
• Bound JSON, form and upload sizes
• Use secure, HTTP-only session cookies
• Apply CSRF protection to state-changing forms
• Return separate live and ready health signals

Container checks

Run as a non-root user, use a read-only filesystem where possible, persist only necessary data and keep database ports off the public host.

Operational checks

Test restoration, log rotation, dependency updates and a rollback before launch. A health endpoint is not a backup strategy.