CARGO-FETCH(1)

✨ NAME ✨

cargo-fetch — fetch the dependencies of a package from the network 💖

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

cargo fetch [options]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay bestie, so here's the vibe. if you've got a Cargo.lock file lying around, this command makes sure every single one of your git dependencies and/or registry dependencies is downloaded and chillin' locally on your machine. the way that works? after a cargo fetch, all your later Cargo commands can just run offline — no network needed — unless the lock file changes. 💅

but what if there's no lock file? no stress. then this command generates the lock file first, and then fetches the deps. main character behavior honestly.

and if you don't specify --target? then all target dependencies get fetched. all of them. periodt. ✨

also real quick, go look at the cargo-prefetch plugin (https://crates.io/crates/cargo-prefetch) — it adds a command to download popular crates. lowkey useful if you're planning to use Cargo without a network with the --offline flag. iykyk. 🎀

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

Fetch options

• --target triple — fetch for the given architecture. the default is all architectures. the general format of the triple is <arch><sub>-<vendor>-<sys>-<abi>. run rustc --print target-list for a list of supported targets. this flag may be specified multiple times. 🫶

this may also be specified with the build.target config value (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html).

heads up: specifying this flag makes Cargo run in a different mode where the target artifacts are placed in a separate directory. see the build cache docs (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/build-cache.html) for more details. 🔥

Display Options

• -v, --verbose — use verbose output. may be specified twice for "very verbose" output, which includes extra output such as dependency warnings and build script output. may also be specified with the term.verbose config value (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html). 💬
• -q, --quiet — do not print cargo log messages. may also be specified with the term.quiet config value (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html). 🤫
• --color when — control when colored output is used. valid values:
  • auto (default): automatically detect if color support is available on the terminal.
  • always: always display colors.
  • never: never display colors.

may also be specified with the term.color config value (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html). 🌈

Manifest Options

• --manifest-path path — path to the Cargo.toml file. by default, Cargo searches for the Cargo.toml file in the current directory or any parent directory. 🔍
• --locked — asserts that the exact same dependencies and versions are used as when the existing Cargo.lock file was originally generated. Cargo will exit with an error when either of the following scenarios arises:
  • the lock file is missing.
  • Cargo attempted to change the lock file due to a different dependency resolution.

it may be used in environments where deterministic builds are desired, such as in CI pipelines. 👑

• --offline — prevents Cargo from accessing the network for any reason. without this flag, Cargo will stop with an error if it needs to access the network and the network is not available. with this flag, Cargo will attempt to proceed without the network if possible.

beware bestie 😭 this may result in different dependency resolution than online mode. Cargo will restrict itself to crates that are downloaded locally, even if there might be a newer version as indicated in the local copy of the index.

may also be specified with the net.offline config value (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html).

• --frozen — equivalent to specifying both --locked and --offline. two-for-one special. 🍓
• --lockfile-path PATH — changes the path of the lockfile from the default (<workspace_root>/Cargo.lock) to PATH. PATH must end with Cargo.lock (e.g. --lockfile-path /tmp/temporary-lockfile/Cargo.lock). note that providing --lockfile-path will ignore the existing lockfile at the default path, and instead will either use the lockfile from PATH, or write a new lockfile into the provided PATH if it doesn't exist. this flag can be used to run most commands in read-only directories, writing lockfile into the provided PATH.

this option is only available on the nightly channel (https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/appendix-07-nightly-rust.html) and requires the -Z unstable-options flag to enable (see #14421 https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/issues/14421). 💀

Common Options

• +toolchain — if Cargo has been installed with rustup, and the first argument to cargo begins with +, it will be interpreted as a rustup toolchain name (such as +stable or +nightly). see the rustup documentation (https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup/overrides.html) for more information about how toolchain overrides work. 🧚
• --config KEY=VALUE or PATH — overrides a Cargo configuration value. the argument should be in TOML syntax of KEY=VALUE, or provided as a path to an extra configuration file. this flag may be specified multiple times. see the command-line overrides section (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html#command-line-overrides) for more information. ⚙️
• -C PATH — changes the current working directory before executing any specified operations. this affects things like where cargo looks by default for the project manifest (Cargo.toml), as well as the directories searched for discovering .cargo/config.toml, for example. this option must appear before the command name, for example cargo -C path/to/my-project build.

this option is only available on the nightly channel (https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/appendix-07-nightly-rust.html) and requires the -Z unstable-options flag to enable (see #10098 https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/issues/10098). 🙈

• -h, --help — prints help information. 🫶
• -Z flag — unstable (nightly-only) flags to Cargo. run cargo -Z help for details. 🚧

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🌍 ENVIRONMENT 🌍

see the reference (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/environment-variables.html) for details on environment variables that Cargo reads. that's where the tea is, bestie. 🍵

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⭐ EXIT STATUS ⭐

• 0: Cargo succeeded. slay. 🎉
• 101: Cargo failed to complete. not slay. 😭

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

1. Fetch all dependencies:

cargo fetch

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

cargo(1), cargo-update(1), cargo-generate-lockfile(1)

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and that's the whole cargo-fetch(1) page from the General Commands Manual, bestie — go fetch those deps, you absolute icon 💜