The Rust Programming Language

Installing Binaries with cargo install

Install command-line tools from crates.io for local development use.

Installation location: $HOME/.cargo/bin (ensure it’s in your $PATH)

Requirements: Crate must have binary targets (contains src/main.rs or specified binary)

Example: Installing ripgrep

$ cargo install ripgrep
    Updating crates.io index
  Downloaded ripgrep v14.1.1
  Installing ripgrep v14.1.1
   Compiling grep v0.3.2
    Finished `release` profile [optimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 6.73s
  Installing ~/.cargo/bin/rg
   Installed package `ripgrep v14.1.1` (executable `rg`)

The installed binary (rg) is immediately available if ~/.cargo/bin is in your PATH.

Common Use Cases

• Development tools (cargo-watch, cargo-expand)
• Text processing utilities (ripgrep, fd, bat)
• System administration tools
• Custom CLI applications from the Rust ecosystem

Note: cargo install is for developer tools, not system-wide package management.