NumRS2 - High-Performance Numerical Computing for Rust

August 29, 2026 · View on GitHub

Crates.io Documentation License: Apache-2.0

NumRS2 is a high-performance numerical computing library for Rust, designed as a Rust-native alternative to NumPy. It provides N-dimensional arrays, linear algebra operations, and comprehensive mathematical functions with a focus on performance, safety, and ease of use.

Version 0.4.1 is a production-hardening pass: Array<T> is now Arc-backed copy-on-write (O(1) clone); a new kernels dispatch layer backs matmul, elementwise ops, and reductions (matmul up to ~18.8x faster at 512^3 than the prior loop); the distributed feature's collectives and TSQR/Cholesky linear algebra now run over a real TCP transport instead of returning fabricated local data; lapack (core linear algebra) is a default feature; and a large batch of NumPy-parity additions landed (ufunc reduce/accumulate/at, N-D FFT wrappers, 9 NumPy>=1.22 quantile methods, masked-array completion, polynomial classes, SeedSequence/Philox/SFC64 random generators). See CHANGELOG.md for the full, verified list, including a Known Upstream Issues section for the scirs2-core/scirs2-fft bugs this release works around rather than silently inherits. The core array, linear algebra, SIMD, and autodiff paths are production-ready; some advanced modules (e.g. quantum and parts of the reinforcement-learning suite) remain experimental, and the distributed feature's DistributedArray-based linear algebra convenience functions are intentionally unimplemented in favor of the real DistributedMatrix-based versions (see CHANGELOG.md).

✨ Architecture Highlights

🏗️ Enhanced Design

  • Trait-based architecture for extensibility and generic programming
  • Hierarchical error system with rich context and recovery suggestions
  • Memory management with pluggable allocators (Arena, Pool, NUMA-aware)
  • Comprehensive documentation with migration guides and best practices

🔧 Core Features

  • N-dimensional arrays with efficient memory layout, broadcasting, and Arc-backed copy-on-write cloning (O(1) Clone; the first mutation after a clone unshares)
  • Advanced linear algebra with BLAS/LAPACK integration and matrix decompositions (enabled by default via the lapack feature)
  • SIMD optimization with automatic vectorization and CPU feature detection, backed by a shared, dtype-dispatched kernels layer for matmul/elementwise/reduction hot paths
  • Thread safety with parallel processing support via scirs2_core::parallel_ops (COOLJAPAN policy: no direct rayon dependency)
  • Distributed computing (distributed feature) over a real point-to-point TCP transport: collectives (broadcast/reduce/allreduce/gather/scatter/...), Tall-Skinny QR, and block-cyclic Cholesky, tested with an in-process multi-rank harness
  • Python interoperability for easy migration from NumPy (python feature, maturin wheels)

Main Features

  • N-dimensional Array: Core Array type with efficient memory layout and NumPy-compatible broadcasting
  • Advanced Linear Algebra:
    • Matrix operations, decompositions, solvers through BLAS/LAPACK integration
    • Sparse matrices (COO, CSR, CSC, DIA formats) with format conversions
    • Iterative solvers (CG, GMRES, BiCGSTAB) for large systems
    • Randomized algorithms (randomized SVD, random projections, range finders)
  • Numerical Optimization: BFGS, L-BFGS, Trust Region, Nelder-Mead, Levenberg-Marquardt, constrained optimization
  • Root-Finding: Bisection, Brent, Newton-Raphson, Secant, Halley, fixed-point iteration
  • Numerical Differentiation: Gradient, Jacobian, Hessian with Richardson extrapolation
  • Automatic Differentiation: Forward and reverse mode AD with higher-order derivatives
  • Data Interoperability:
    • Apache Arrow integration for zero-copy data exchange
    • Feather format support for fast columnar storage
    • IPC streaming for inter-process communication
    • Python bindings via PyO3 for NumPy compatibility
  • Expression Templates: Lazy evaluation and operation fusion for performance
  • Advanced Indexing: Fancy indexing, boolean masking, and conditional selection
  • Polynomial Functions: Interpolation, evaluation, and arithmetic operations
  • Fast Fourier Transform: Optimized FFT implementation with 1D/2D transforms, real FFT specialization, frequency shifting, and various windowing functions
  • SIMD Acceleration: Enhanced vectorized operations via SciRS2-Core with AVX2/AVX512/NEON support
  • Parallel Computing: Advanced multi-threaded execution with adaptive chunking and work-stealing
  • GPU Acceleration: Optional GPU-accelerated array operations via the WGPU backend (cross-platform: runs on Vulkan, Metal, DirectX 12, and WebGPU)
  • Mathematical Functions: Comprehensive set of element-wise mathematical operations
  • Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics, probability distributions, and more
  • Random Number Generation: Modern interface for various distributions with fast generation and NumPy-compatible API
  • SciRS2 Integration: Integration with SciRS2 for advanced statistical distributions and scientific computing functionality
  • Fully Type-Safe: Leverage Rust's type system for compile-time guarantees

Optional Features

The default feature set is ["matrix_decomp", "scirs", "lapack"]. NumRS2 includes the following features, all definable in your Cargo.toml (see Cargo.toml's [features] table for the authoritative list):

Enabled by default

  • matrix_decomp: Matrix decomposition functions (SVD, QR, LU, etc.)
  • scirs: Mandatory SciRS2 ecosystem integration; kept only for backward-compatible opt-out syntax and must not be disabled
  • lapack: LAPACK-dependent linear algebra (det/inv/svd/eig/qr/cholesky), through scirs2-linalg (OxiBLAS-backed, pure Rust)

Off by default

  • validation: Additional runtime validation checks for array operations
  • unstable / fast: Development-time feature combinations (minimal build for fast iteration)
  • gpu: GPU acceleration for array operations using WGPU (Vulkan/Metal/DX12/WebGPU; no native CUDA/ROCm)
  • python: Python bindings via PyO3 for NumPy interoperability (wheel builds via maturin)
  • distributed: Pure-Rust distributed computing (no MPI) — real point-to-point TCP transport, collectives, TSQR, block-cyclic Cholesky
  • wasm: WebAssembly bindings (dlmalloc global allocator on wasm32 targets)
  • arrow: Apache Arrow integration for zero-copy data exchange with Python/Polars/DataFusion
  • parquet / netcdf / matlab / messagepack / bson: additional pure-Rust I/O formats (or io-all for all five at once)
  • visualization: Plotters-based 2D/3D/matrix/stats/performance plots (pure Rust, via plotters's own bitmap/SVG backends and the oxifont-bundled COOLJAPAN font)
  • ci-safe: matrix_decomp + validation only, for CI environments without external dependencies

To enable a feature:

[dependencies]
numrs2 = { version = "0.4.1", features = ["distributed"] }

Or, when building:

cargo build --features distributed
cargo build --all-features

🚀 Performance Optimizations

NumRS2 leverages SciRS2-Core (v0.6.5) for cutting-edge performance optimizations:

  • Unified SIMD Operations: All SIMD code goes through SciRS2-Core's SimdUnifiedOps trait
  • Adaptive Algorithm Selection: AutoOptimizer automatically chooses between scalar, SIMD, or GPU implementations
  • Platform Detection: Automatic detection of AVX2, AVX512, NEON, and GPU capabilities
  • Parallel Operations: Optimized parallel processing with intelligent work distribution
  • Memory-Efficient Chunking: Process large datasets without memory bottlenecks

See the optimization example for usage details.

SciRS2 Integration

The SciRS2 integration provides additional advanced statistical distributions:

  • Noncentral Chi-square: Extends the standard chi-square with a noncentrality parameter
  • Noncentral F: Extends the standard F distribution with a noncentrality parameter
  • Von Mises: Circular normal distribution for directional statistics
  • Maxwell-Boltzmann: Used for modeling particle velocities in physics
  • Truncated Normal: Normal distribution with bounded support
  • Multivariate Normal with Rotation: Allows rotation of the coordinate system

For examples, see scirs_integration_example.rs

GPU Acceleration

The GPU acceleration feature provides:

  • GPU-accelerated array operations for significant performance improvements
  • Seamless CPU/GPU interoperability with the same API
  • Support for various operations: arithmetic, matrix multiplication, element-wise functions, etc.
  • GPU acceleration via the WGPU backend (cross-platform: runs on Vulkan, Metal, DirectX 12, and WebGPU). NumRS2 does not ship native CUDA/ROCm/Metal/OpenCL backends; all GPU execution goes through WGPU.

For examples, see gpu_example.rs

🎯 Key Features

Numerical Optimization (scipy.optimize equivalent)

  • BFGS & L-BFGS: Quasi-Newton methods for large-scale optimization
  • Trust Region: Robust optimization with dogleg path
  • Nelder-Mead: Derivative-free simplex method
  • Levenberg-Marquardt: Nonlinear least squares
  • Constrained optimization: Projected gradient, penalty methods

Root-Finding Algorithms (scipy.optimize.root_scalar)

  • Bracketing methods: Bisection, Brent, Ridder, Illinois
  • Open methods: Newton-Raphson, Secant, Halley
  • Fixed-point iteration for implicit equations

Numerical Differentiation

  • Gradient, Jacobian, and Hessian computation
  • Forward, backward, central differences
  • Richardson extrapolation for high accuracy

SIMD & Dispatch Infrastructure

  • A shared, dtype-dispatched kernels layer (src/kernels/) backs matmul, elementwise ops, and reductions with explicit SIMD/parallel thresholds and deterministic accumulation order, replacing a set of previously per-call-site, hand-rolled dispatch decisions
  • AVX2/AVX512 (x86_64) and ARM NEON vectorization via scirs2-core, with automatic threshold-based dispatch between scalar, SIMD, and parallel implementations
  • Support for both f32 and f64 numeric types

Production-Hardening Status (0.4.1)

  • Array<T> is Arc-backed copy-on-write: O(1) Clone, unshare-on-first-mutation, enforced to exactly one Arc::make_mut / Arc::try_unwrap call site by a CI policy check (scripts/ci-local.sh)
  • No production unwrap(), zero clippy warnings under the current lint configuration (cargo clippy --all-targets)
  • ~262,000 lines of Rust across 529 files in src/ (tokei src); see CHANGELOG.md for the per-release test-count baseline (nextest + doctests)
  • Core array, linear algebra, SIMD, autodiff, and (as of this release) distributed transport paths are production-hardened; some advanced modules (e.g. quantum and parts of the reinforcement-learning suite) remain experimental — see TODO.md for the current, short list of known deferred items and NumPy deviations

Enhanced Modules

  • Linear algebra: Extended iterative solvers (CG, GMRES, BiCGSTAB, FGMRES, MINRES), plus distributed TSQR / block-cyclic Cholesky under the distributed feature
  • Statistics: quantile/percentile (9 NumPy>=1.22 methods + 4 legacy), histogramdd with density=, masked-array reductions
  • Polynomial operations: Chebyshev/Legendre/Hermite/HermiteE/Laguerre/Power/Series classes plus NumPy polynomial-module compatibility
  • Special functions: Spherical harmonics, Jacobi elliptic, Lambert W, and more

Example

use numrs2::prelude::*;

fn main() -> Result<()> {
    // Create arrays
    let a = Array::from_vec(vec![1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0]).reshape(&[2, 2]);
    let b = Array::from_vec(vec![5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0]).reshape(&[2, 2]);
    
    // Basic operations with broadcasting
    let c = a.add(&b);
    let d = a.multiply_broadcast(&b)?;
    
    // Matrix multiplication
    let e = a.matmul(&b)?;
    println!("a @ b = {}", e);
    
    // Linear algebra operations
    let (u, s, vt) = a.svd_compute()?;
    println!("SVD components: U = {}, S = {}, Vt = {}", u, s, vt);
    
    // Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
    let symmetric = Array::from_vec(vec![2.0, 1.0, 1.0, 2.0]).reshape(&[2, 2]);
    let (eigenvalues, eigenvectors) = symmetric.eigh("lower")?;
    println!("Eigenvalues: {}", eigenvalues);
    
    // Polynomial interpolation
    let x = Array::linspace(0.0, 1.0, 5)?;
    let y = Array::from_vec(vec![0.0, 0.1, 0.4, 0.9, 1.6]);
    let poly = PolynomialInterpolation::lagrange(&x, &y)?;
    println!("Interpolated value at 0.5: {}", poly.evaluate(0.5));
    
    // FFT operations
    let signal = Array::from_vec(vec![1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0]);
    // Window the signal before transforming
    let windowed_signal = signal.apply_window("hann")?;
    // Compute FFT
    let spectrum = windowed_signal.fft()?;
    // Shift frequencies to center the spectrum
    let centered = spectrum.fftshift_complex()?;
    println!("FFT magnitude: {}", spectrum.power_spectrum()?);
    
    // Statistical operations
    let data = Array::from_vec(vec![1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0]);
    println!("mean = {}", data.mean()?);
    println!("std = {}", data.std()?);
    
    // Sparse array operations
    let mut sparse = SparseArray::new(&[10, 10]);
    sparse.set(&[0, 0], 1.0)?;
    sparse.set(&[5, 5], 2.0)?;
    println!("Density: {}", sparse.density());
    
    // SIMD-accelerated operations
    let result = numrs2::simd::simd_sqrt(&data);
    println!("SIMD result: {}", result);

    // Random number generation
    let rng = random::default_rng();
    let uniform = rng.random::<f64>(&[3])?;
    let normal = rng.normal(0.0, 1.0, &[3])?;
    println!("Random uniform [0,1): {}", uniform);
    println!("Random normal: {}", normal);

    Ok(())
}

Performance

NumRS is designed with performance as a primary goal:

  • Rust's Zero-Cost Abstractions: Compile-time optimization without runtime overhead
  • BLAS/LAPACK Integration: Industry-standard libraries for linear algebra operations
  • SIMD Vectorization: Parallel processing at the CPU instruction level with automatic CPU feature detection
  • Memory Layout Optimization: Cache-friendly data structures and memory alignment
  • Data Placement Strategies: Optimized memory placement for better cache utilization
  • Adaptive Parallelization: Smart thresholds to determine when parallel execution is beneficial
  • Scheduling Optimization: Intelligent selection of work scheduling strategies based on workload
  • Fine-grained Parallelism: Advanced workload partitioning for better load balancing
  • Modern Random Generation: Advanced thread-safe RNG with PCG64 algorithm for high-quality randomness

Expression Templates

NumRS2 provides a powerful expression templates system for lazy evaluation and performance optimization:

SharedArray - Reference-Counted Arrays

use numrs2::prelude::*;

// Create shared arrays with natural operator syntax
let a: SharedArray<f64> = SharedArray::from_vec(vec![1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0]);
let b: SharedArray<f64> = SharedArray::from_vec(vec![10.0, 20.0, 30.0, 40.0]);

// Cheap cloning (O(1) - just increments reference count)
let a_clone = a.clone();

// Natural operator overloading
let sum = a.clone() + b.clone();         // [11.0, 22.0, 33.0, 44.0]
let product = a.clone() * b.clone();     // [10.0, 40.0, 90.0, 160.0]
let scaled = a.clone() * 2.0;            // [2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0]
let result = (a.clone() + b.clone()) * 2.0 - 5.0;  // Chained operations

SharedExpr - Lifetime-Free Lazy Evaluation

use numrs2::expr::{SharedExpr, SharedExprBuilder};

// Build expressions lazily - no computation until eval()
let c: SharedArray<f64> = SharedArray::from_vec(vec![1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0]);
let expr = SharedExprBuilder::from_shared_array(c);
let squared = expr.map(|x| x * x);   // Expression built, not evaluated
let result = squared.eval();         // [1.0, 4.0, 9.0, 16.0] - evaluated here

Common Subexpression Elimination (CSE)

use numrs2::expr::{CachedExpr, ExprCache};

// Automatic caching of repeated computations
let cache: ExprCache<f64> = ExprCache::new();
let cached_expr = CachedExpr::new(sum_expr.into_expr(), cache.clone());

let result1 = cached_expr.eval();  // Computes and caches
let result2 = cached_expr.eval();  // Uses cached result

Memory Access Pattern Optimization

use numrs2::memory_optimize::access_patterns::*;

// Detect memory layout for optimization
let layout = detect_layout(&[100, 100], &[100, 1]);  // CContiguous

// Get optimization hints for array shapes
let hints = OptimizationHints::default_for::<f64>(10000);
println!("Block size: {}", hints.block_size);
println!("Use parallel: {}", hints.use_parallel);

// Cache-aware iteration for large arrays
let block_iter = BlockedIterator::new(10000, 64);
for block in block_iter {
    // Process block.start..block.end with cache efficiency
}

// Cache-aware operations
cache_aware_transform(&src, &mut dst, |x| x * 2.0);
cache_aware_binary_op(&a, &b, &mut result, |x, y| x + y);

See the expression templates example for a comprehensive demonstration.

Installation

Add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
numrs2 = "0.4.1"

For BLAS/LAPACK support, ensure you have the necessary system libraries:

Note: NumRS2 uses OxiBLAS, a pure Rust BLAS/LAPACK implementation with no C dependencies. You do NOT need to install system BLAS/LAPACK libraries.

To use LAPACK functionality (pure Rust via OxiBLAS):

cargo build --features lapack
cargo test --features lapack

OxiBLAS provides:

  • Pure Rust implementation with SIMD optimizations (AVX2/NEON)
  • No external C dependencies required
  • 80-172% of OpenBLAS performance (competitive or faster on Apple M3)
  • Complete BLAS Level 1/2/3 and LAPACK operations

Implementation Details

NumRS2 is built on top of the SciRS2 ecosystem and pure Rust libraries:

  • SciRS2 ecosystem (scirs2-core, scirs2-linalg, scirs2-stats, etc. v0.6.5): Provides the foundation for n-dimensional arrays, linear algebra, statistics, survival analysis, causal inference, bioinformatics, and combinatorics
  • OxiBLAS (pure Rust BLAS/LAPACK): Powers high-performance linear algebra routines with no C dependencies
  • Oxicode: Pure Rust serialization for data persistence
  • scirs2_core::parallel_ops: Rayon-backed parallel computation, reached only through the SciRS2 re-export (COOLJAPAN policy: no direct rayon dependency)
  • oxiarc-lz4 / oxiarc-archive: Pure Rust compression for the distributed transport and NPZ archives
  • num-traits / num-complex: Provides generic numeric traits and complex number support for numerical operations

Features

NumRS2 provides a comprehensive suite of numerical computing capabilities:

Core Functionality

  • N-dimensional arrays with efficient memory layout and broadcasting
  • Linear algebra operations with BLAS/LAPACK integration
  • Matrix decompositions (SVD, QR, Cholesky, LU, Schur, COD)
  • Eigenvalue and eigenvector computation
  • Mathematical functions with numerical stability optimizations

Performance Optimizations

  • SIMD acceleration with automatic CPU feature detection
  • Parallel processing with adaptive scheduling and load balancing
  • Memory optimization with cache-friendly data structures
  • Vectorized operations for improved computational efficiency

Advanced Features

  • Fast Fourier Transform with 1D/2D transforms and windowing functions
  • Polynomial operations and interpolation methods
  • Sparse matrix support for memory-efficient computations
  • Random number generation with multiple distribution support
  • Statistical analysis functions and descriptive statistics

Integration & Interoperability

  • GPU acceleration support via WGPU (optional, gpu feature)
  • Distributed computing over a real TCP transport (optional, distributed feature)
  • SciRS2 integration — the foundation for arrays, linear algebra, statistics, and FFT (mandatory; the scirs feature flag exists only for backward-compatible syntax and cannot be disabled)
  • Memory-mapped arrays for large dataset handling
  • Serialization support for data persistence (NPY/NPZ, Arrow, Parquet, NetCDF-3, MATLAB, MessagePack, BSON — see Optional Features)

📖 Documentation

📚 Comprehensive Guides

🔗 Additional Resources

🔧 Local CI

GitHub Actions is restricted by project policy to publish workflows only (.github/workflows/pypi-publish.yml). There is no hosted CI build; instead, run the same checks CI would locally:

./scripts/ci-local.sh          # fmt-check, build, clippy, test, doctest, deny, wasm-check, policy
./scripts/ci-local.sh clippy deny   # or a subset of steps

This script is the authoritative pre-merge gate — it enforces the no-unwrap() policy, the <2000-line-per-file policy, the Arc copy-on-write invariant (exactly one Arc::make_mut / one Arc::try_unwrap, both in src/array/core.rs), and cargo deny check bans.

Module-specific documentation:

Testing Documentation:

  • Testing Guide - Guide for NumRS testing approach
  • Property-based testing for mathematical operations
    • Property tests for linear algebra operations
    • Property tests for special functions
    • Statistical validation of random distributions
  • Reference testing
    • Reference tests for random distributions
    • Reference tests for linear algebra operations
    • Reference tests for special functions
  • Benchmarking
    • Linear algebra benchmarks
    • Special functions benchmarks

Examples

Check out the examples/ directory for more usage examples:

  • basic_usage.rs: Core array operations and manipulations
  • matrix_decomp_example.rs: Linear algebra decompositions and solvers
  • simd_example.rs: SIMD-accelerated computations
  • memory_optimize_example.rs: Memory layout optimization for cache efficiency
  • parallel_optimize_example.rs: Parallelization optimization techniques
  • random_distributions_example.rs: Comprehensive examples of random number generation
  • distributed_basics.rs / distributed_computing.rs: Distributed arrays, collectives, and TSQR under the distributed feature
  • gpu_acceleration.rs / gpu_batching.rs: GPU-accelerated operations under the gpu feature
  • See the examples README for the full, current list (62 example programs)

Development

NumRS is in active development. See TODO.md for upcoming features and development roadmap.

Testing

NumRS requires the approx crate for testing. Tests can be run after installation with:

cargo test

For running property-based and statistical tests for the random module:

cargo test --test test_random_statistical
cargo test --test test_random_properties
cargo test --test test_random_advanced

Contributing

NumRS2 is a community-driven project, and we welcome contributions from everyone. There are many ways to contribute:

  • Code: Implement new features or fix bugs
  • Documentation: Improve guides, docstrings, or examples
  • Testing: Write tests or improve existing ones
  • Reviewing: Review pull requests from other contributors
  • Performance: Identify bottlenecks or implement optimizations
  • Examples: Create example code showing library usage

If you're interested in contributing, please read our Contributing Guide for detailed instructions on how to get started.

For significant changes, please open an issue to discuss your ideas first.

Sponsorship

NumRS2 is developed and maintained by COOLJAPAN OU (Team Kitasan).

If you find NumRS2 useful, please consider sponsoring the project to support continued development of the Pure Rust ecosystem.

Sponsor

https://github.com/sponsors/cool-japan

Your sponsorship helps us:

  • Maintain and improve the COOLJAPAN ecosystem
  • Keep the entire ecosystem (OxiBLAS, OxiFFT, SciRS2, etc.) 100% Pure Rust
  • Provide long-term support and security updates

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.