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title: Getting started sidebar_label: Getting started description: Run your first OpenDAL program in Rust, then point it at a real storage backend.

Getting started

Your first program

This program builds an operator, writes a file, reads it back, inspects its metadata, and deletes it. It runs against the in-memory service with no credentials, so you can paste it into a fresh project and run it as-is.

# Cargo.toml
[dependencies]
opendal = "0.57"
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }

Point it at a real backend

Only the service changes; the operations stay identical. To use S3, enable its feature and configure the builder:

opendal = { version = "0.57", features = ["services-s3"] }

use opendal::services;
use opendal::Operator;

let op = Operator::new(
    services::S3::default()
        .bucket("my-bucket")
        .region("us-east-1"),
)?;

op.write("hello.txt", "Hello from S3!").await?;

Each service is gated behind its own services-* feature, so enable the ones you use. The next page, Connecting to your storage, covers the construction options and credentials in depth; Services lists every backend and its configuration keys.

Blocking vs async

OpenDAL is async-first. Operator exposes async methods and needs an async runtime (Tokio by default).

For synchronous code, enable the blocking feature and use blocking::Operator. Build it from an async operator, then call the same verbs without .await:

opendal = { version = "0.57", features = ["services-memory", "blocking"] }

use opendal::blocking;
use opendal::services;
use opendal::Operator;

// Build the async operator first, outside any async runtime.
let op = Operator::new(services::Memory::default())?;
let bop = blocking::Operator::new(op)?;

bop.write("hello.txt", "Hello, World!")?;
let bytes = bop.read("hello.txt")?;

The blocking operator drives the async one on a managed runtime, so construct it outside of an existing async context.