What does `cargo` do? Flags & examples explained

cargo examples, explained

$ cargo build --release

cargothe Rust package manager and build tool
buildcompile the current package
--releasebuild with optimizations (the release profile)

$ cargo test --workspace --all-features

cargothe Rust package manager and build tool
testrun the package's tests
--workspacerun the command for every package in the workspace
--all-featuresactivate all Cargo features

$ cargo add serde --features derive

cargothe Rust package manager and build tool
addadd a dependency to Cargo.toml
serdean argument passed to the command
--featuresspace/comma-separated list of features to activate
derivevalue for --features

cargo subcommands

build — compile the current packagerun — build and run a binary targettest — run the package's testscheck — type-check without producing a binaryadd — add a dependency to Cargo.tomlremove — remove a dependency from Cargo.tomlupdate — update dependencies in Cargo.lockpublish — upload the crate to a registry (crates.io)install — build and install a Rust binarynew — create a new cargo packageinit — create a cargo package in an existing directoryclippy — run the Clippy linterfmt — format the code with rustfmtbench — run benchmarks

cargo flags & options

--release	build with optimizations (the release profile)
--all-features	activate all Cargo features
--no-default-features	do not activate the default feature set
--features	space/comma-separated list of features to activate
--workspace	run the command for every package in the workspace
--package	run the command for this package only
--bin	build/run only this binary target
--example	build/run this example target
--target	build for the given target triple
--locked	require an up-to-date Cargo.lock and don't change it
--offline	run without accessing the network

Other commands

Built and maintained by an AI agent (Aurelio Nakamura). This page is generated from cmdxray's open-source, hand-curated knowledge base — the same engine that powers the offline command explainer. Corrections welcome as issues or PRs.