CARGO-RUN(1)

📦 version 1.85.1, in ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing

💖 CARGO-RUN(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the manual page for cargo-run. it’s giving “run the current package” energy, and we’re about to get into it. 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

cargo-run — Run the current package. no cap, that’s the whole name. 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

cargo run [options] [-- args]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

cargo run runs a binary or an example of the local package. literally the main character of “just let me run this thing” commands. 🏃‍♀️💨

all the arguments following the two dashes (--) are passed to the binary to run. so if you’re passing arguments to both Cargo and the binary, the ones after -- go to the binary, and the ones before -- go to Cargo. periodt. 💅

and here’s the lil’ difference from cargo-test(1) and cargo-bench(1): cargo run sets the working directory of the binary executed to the current working directory, same as if it was executed in the shell directly. it’s giving “ran it myself” energy. ✨

✨ OPTIONS ✨

🎀 Package Selection

Okay so default vibe: Cargo picks the package sitting in your current working directory. That's the starting point, bestie. Want a different one? Use the -p flag to pick a different package inside a workspace. That's it, that's the whole thing.

  • -p spec, --package spec — the package you wanna run. Peep cargo-pkgid(1) for the SPEC format, iykyk. 💅

🦋 Target Selection

When you don't hand Cargo any target selection options, cargo run runs the binary target. Now here's the tea: if there's more than one binary target, you must pass a target flag to choose one. Or — plot twist — the default-run field can be specified in the [package] section of Cargo.toml to choose the name of the binary to run by default. Slay, honestly.

  • --bin name — run the binary you named. 👑
  • --example name — run the example you named. ✨

🌸 Feature Selection

Feature flags let you control which features are enabled. When you give zero feature options, the default feature gets activated for every selected package. That's the default, periodt.

See the features documentation <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/features.html#command-line-feature-options> for more details, if you're feeling academic.

  • -F features, --features features — a space or comma separated list of features to activate. Features of workspace members may be enabled with package-name/feature-name syntax. And yes, this flag may be specified multiple times, which enables all specified features. Stack 'em up. 💖
  • --all-features — activate all available features of all selected packages. Everything. All of it. No crumbs.
  • --no-default-features — do not activate the default feature of the selected packages. We're going rogue.

🔥 Compilation Options

  • --target triple — run for the given architecture. The default is the host architecture. The general format of the triple is <arch><sub>-<vendor>-<sys>-<abi>. Run rustc --print target-list for a list of supported targets.

This may also be specified with the build.target config value <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>.

Heads up bestie: specifying this flag makes Cargo run in a different mode where the target artifacts are placed in a separate directory. See the build cache documentation <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/build-cache.html> for more details. 🫶
  • -r, --release — run optimized artifacts with the release profile. See also the --profile option for choosing a specific profile by name. Glow-up mode activated. 🔥
  • --profile name — run with the given profile. See the reference <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/profiles.html> for more details on profiles.
  • --timings=fmts — output information how long each compilation takes, and track concurrency information over time. Accepts an optional comma-separated list of output formats; --timings without an argument will default to --timings=html. Specifying an output format (rather than the default) is unstable and requires -Zunstable-options. Valid output formats:
    • html (unstable, requires -Zunstable-options): write a human-readable file cargo-timing.html to the target/cargo-timings directory with a report of the compilation. Also write a report to the same directory with a timestamp in the filename if you want to look at older runs. HTML output is suitable for human consumption only, and does not provide machine-readable timing data.
    • json (unstable, requires -Zunstable-options): emit machine-readable JSON information about timing information.

🧚 Output Options

  • --target-dir directory — directory for all generated artifacts and intermediate files. May also be specified with the CARGO_TARGET_DIR environment variable, or the build.target-dir config value <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>. Defaults to target in the root of the workspace.

🌈 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>. Not me double-flagging for maximum yapping. 💀
  • -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>. Shhh era. 🤫
  • --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>.

  • --message-format fmt — the output format for diagnostic messages. Can be specified multiple times and consists of comma-separated values. Valid values:
    • human (default): display in a human-readable text format. Conflicts with short and json.
    • short: emit shorter, human-readable text messages. Conflicts with human and json.
    • json: emit JSON messages to stdout. See the reference <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/external-tools.html#json-messages> for more details. Conflicts with human and short.
    • json-diagnostic-short: ensure the rendered field of JSON messages contains the "short" rendering from rustc. Cannot be used with human or short.
    • json-diagnostic-rendered-ansi: ensure the rendered field of JSON messages contains embedded ANSI color codes for respecting rustc's default color scheme. Cannot be used with human or short.
    • json-render-diagnostics: instruct Cargo to not include rustc diagnostics in JSON messages printed, but instead Cargo itself should render the JSON diagnostics coming from rustc. Cargo's own JSON diagnostics and others coming from rustc are still emitted. Cannot be used with human or short.

💜 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. It's giving "it'll find you wherever you are." 🥰
  • --ignore-rust-version — ignore rust-version specification in packages.
  • --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. Locked in, literally. 🔒

  • --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. See the cargo-fetch(1) command to download dependencies before going offline. 😭

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, iconic.
  • --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 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>). Nightly girlies only. 🌙

⭐ 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. The classic. 🫶
  • -Z flag — unstable (nightly-only) flags to Cargo. Run cargo -Z help for details.

🍓 Miscellaneous Options

  • -j N, --jobs N — number of parallel jobs to run. May also be specified with the build.jobs config value <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html>. Defaults to the number of logical CPUs. If negative, it sets the maximum number of parallel jobs to the number of logical CPUs plus provided value. If a string default is provided, it sets the value back to defaults. Should not be 0. (Like, genuinely. Don't.)
  • --keep-going — build as many crates in the dependency graph as possible, rather than aborting the build on the first one that fails to build.

For example if the current package depends on dependencies fails and works, one of which fails to build, cargo run -j1 may or may not build the one that succeeds (depending on which one of the two builds Cargo picked to run first), whereas cargo run -j1 --keep-going would definitely run both builds, even if the one run first fails.

The way that --keep-going refuses to give up on your crates? Main character energy, fr fr. 👑

🌿 ENVIRONMENT

Cargo reads a whole bunch of environment variables, bestie, and there's a whole reference page for them at <https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/environment-variables.html> — go read it, it's giving documentation.

🚪 EXIT STATUS

  • 0 — Cargo succeeded. She ate. 💅
  • 101 — Cargo failed to complete. Not the vibe. 😭

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

  1. Build the local package and run its main target (this assumes there's only one binary, so Cargo knows who the main character is):
cargo run
  1. Run an example with extra arguments — and yes, you need that -- in there, it's the little velvet rope between Cargo's args and your program's args:
cargo run --example exname -- --exoption exarg1 exarg2

👀 SEE ALSO

And that's a wrap on the whole cargo-run(1) page, bestie — this is the man page as it shipped, with its version and date stamped on it like a little timestamp on a group chat message. Go run some code. 🦋✨

📦 where this page comes from