Paperclip

A Rust workspace containing a Windows CLI tool for assembling PDFs into named binders, plus a client library for the Aconex cloud document platform.

Workspace layout

paperclip/                      workspace root (this file)
├── Cargo.toml                  workspace manifest — groups the member crates
├── install.ps1                 per-user installer for the CLI (no admin needed)
└── crates/
    ├── paperclip-cli/          the binder CLI + Aconex commands → paperclip.exe
    │   └── README.md           full feature list, CLI reference, file locations
    └── aconex/                 Aconex API client library
        └── README.md           library API, design, endpoint coverage

A workspace is Cargo's equivalent of a .NET solution (.sln): it groups several crates so they share one target/ build directory and one Cargo.lock. Each crate underneath is independently buildable and, in the case of aconex, independently publishable later.

The two crates

Crate	Kind	What it is
paperclip	binary	The CLI. Discovers PDFs, matches them to binders via a mapper CSV, merges them, and embeds a self-describing manifest. Also hosts the aconex subcommands that drive the library.
aconex	library	A from-scratch async Rust client for the Aconex API. Currently covers authentication, project lookup, and document register search; more endpoints planned.

The CLI depends on the library via a path dependency (aconex = { path = "../aconex" }). They are developed together in this workspace; the library has no CLI-specific dependencies and can be split into its own published crate later without disruption.

Building

All commands run from the workspace root.

cargo build                          # build every crate (debug)
cargo build --release                # optimised build; CLI lands in target\release\
cargo run -p paperclip -- --help     # run the CLI (-p selects the crate)
cargo test -p aconex                 # test a single crate
cargo test                           # test everything

The -p <crate> (package) flag selects which member a command targets — needed in a workspace because most commands would otherwise be ambiguous.

Installing the CLI

After a release build, from the workspace root:

.\install.ps1

Copies paperclip.exe to a per-user location and adds it to the user PATH (no administrator rights required). See the CLI README for details.

Status at a glance

• paperclip CLI — functional: binder assembly, classification, embedded XMP manifest, inspect/rename detection, skip-and-flag logging. Plus Aconex commands: list projects, resolve the configured project, search the register, and a diag group of low-level API probes.
• aconex library — async client working end to end: Basic auth (OAuth stubbed behind the same trait), typed project lookup, and typed, paginated document search. Built on reqwest + tokio + quick-xml.

See each crate's README for the detailed progress tracker.