The RAST Server is a fully automated service for annotating bacterial and archaeal genomes, identifying protein-encoding, rRNA, and tRNA genes, assigning functions, predicting subsystems, and reconstructing metabolic networks. The service aims to provide high-quality annotations within 12-24 hours, with a focus on accuracy, consistency, and completeness. It uses a growing library of manually curated subsystems and protein families (FIGfams) to achieve these goals. The annotated genomes can be browsed and compared to existing genomes in the SEED environment. The RAST server has been utilized by over 120 external users for annotating more than 350 genomes, demonstrating its utility and reliability in the field of genomics. The article discusses the construction and content of the RAST server, including the steps involved in the annotation process, the evaluation of annotation quality, and future developments.The RAST Server is a fully automated service for annotating bacterial and archaeal genomes, identifying protein-encoding, rRNA, and tRNA genes, assigning functions, predicting subsystems, and reconstructing metabolic networks. The service aims to provide high-quality annotations within 12-24 hours, with a focus on accuracy, consistency, and completeness. It uses a growing library of manually curated subsystems and protein families (FIGfams) to achieve these goals. The annotated genomes can be browsed and compared to existing genomes in the SEED environment. The RAST server has been utilized by over 120 external users for annotating more than 350 genomes, demonstrating its utility and reliability in the field of genomics. The article discusses the construction and content of the RAST server, including the steps involved in the annotation process, the evaluation of annotation quality, and future developments.