CARGO-ADD(1) General Commands Manual CARGO-ADD(1)

cargo-add — Add dependencies to a Cargo.toml manifest file

cargo add [options] crate
cargo add [options] --path path
cargo add [options] --git url [crate…]

This command can add or modify dependencies.

The source for the dependency can be specified with:

crate@version: Fetch from a registry with a version constraint of “version
--path path: Fetch from the specified path
--git url: Pull from a git repo at url

If no source is specified, then a best effort will be made to select one, including:

•Existing dependencies in other tables (like dev-dependencies)
•Workspace members
•Latest release in the registry

When you add a package that is already present, the existing entry will be updated with the flags specified.

Upon successful invocation, the enabled (+) and disabled (-) features https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/features.html of the specified dependency will be listed in the command’s output.

--git url

--branch branch

Branch to use when adding from git.

--tag tag

Tag to use when adding from git.

--rev sha

Specific commit to use when adding from git.

--path path

--base base

--registry registry

Name of the registry to use. Registry names are defined in Cargo config files https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html. If not specified, the default registry is used, which is defined by the registry.default config key which defaults to crates-io.

--dev

--build

--target target

Add as a dependency to the given target platform https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/specifying-dependencies.html#platform-specific-dependencies.

To avoid unexpected shell expansions, you may use quotes around each target, e.g., --target 'cfg(unix)'.

--dry-run

Don’t actually write the manifest

--rename name

--optional

--no-optional

--public

Mark the dependency as public.

The dependency can be referenced in your library’s public API.

Unstable (nightly-only) https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/unstable.html#public-dependency

--no-public

Mark the dependency as private.

While you can use the crate in your implementation, it cannot be referenced in your public API.

Unstable (nightly-only) https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/unstable.html#public-dependency

--no-default-features

--default-features

-F features, --features features

Space or comma separated list of features to activate https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/features.html#dependency-features. When adding multiple crates, the features for a specific crate may be enabled with package-name/feature-name syntax. This flag may be specified multiple times, which enables all specified features.

-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-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.

-p spec, --package spec

Add dependencies to only the specified package.

--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.

--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 that 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.

--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).

+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.

See the reference https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/environment-variables.html for details on environment variables that Cargo reads.

0: Cargo succeeded.
101: Cargo failed to complete.

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