cargo backend

The cargo backend installs Rust command-line tools from crates.io or a Git repository. It downloads a prebuilt binary when cargo-binstall can find one and builds the crate with Cargo otherwise. It is for executables; add library crates to your project with cargo add.

Requirements

Install Rust so mise can run cargo install. To skip compiling for crates that publish prebuilt binaries, add cargo-binstall too:

mise use -g rust cargo-binstall

When rust, cargo-binstall or sccache is in your config, mise installs it before your Cargo tools. Source builds also need a linker and any native libraries the crate uses.

Usage

Declare Rust and eza together in the current project:

mise use rust@stable cargo:eza
mise exec -- eza --version

This records both tools in mise.toml. Add -g to mise use for your global config.

[tools]
rust = "stable"
"cargo:eza" = "latest"

Run mise ls-remote cargo:eza to list releases, and pin one with mise use cargo:eza@0.23.5.

Install from Git

Give a Git repository URL, or owner/repo for GitHub, and pick a tag, branch or commit as the version. Quote the argument:

mise use 'cargo:https://github.com/eza-community/eza@tag:v0.23.5'
mise use 'cargo:eza-community/eza@branch:main'
mise use 'cargo:eza-community/eza@rev:<commit>'

mise runs cargo install --git with the matching --tag, --branch or --rev. A Git source lists only HEAD as a version, so latest, or no version at all, installs the default branch.

How mise installs a crate

mise uses the first method that applies:

1. A Git source always builds with cargo install --git.
2. The features option, or default-features = false, needs a source build, so mise runs cargo install.
3. If cargo.binstall is on (the default) and cargo-binstall is installed through mise or on PATH, mise runs cargo-binstall with its compile strategy turned off. When cargo-binstall reports that no prebuilt binary exists (exit code 94), mise runs cargo install instead. Other cargo-binstall errors fail the install.
4. If cargo-binstall is not installed and cargo.binstall_native = true, mise tries its own prebuilt-binary installer and runs cargo install when it finds no binary.
5. Otherwise mise runs cargo install.

Set cargo.binstall_only = true to fail instead of building from source; options that need a source build then fail too. Set cargo.binstall = false to always build. A prebuilt binary ignores your Cargo build configuration, so turn binstall off when that configuration must apply.

By default, mise also stops cargo-binstall from using the third-party cargo-quickinstall artifact host, so it uses only artifacts published by the crate's authors. Set cargo.binstall_quickinstall = true to allow it. mise's own installer never uses quickinstall.

Tool options

Set these on the tool's entry in [tools], or inline, as in 'cargo:eza[locked=false]'. Options every backend accepts are described under tool options.

mise records the features, default-features, bin, crate and locked values with each installed version. Changing one reinstalls that version instead of reusing a binary built with other options. Feature names are normalized, so reordering them or switching between a string and an array does not trigger a reinstall.

Option	Passed as	Skips cargo-binstall
features	--features	Yes
default-features = false	--no-default-features	Yes
bin	--bin	No
crate	the crate name	No
locked	--locked	No

install_env

Set environment variables for cargo install or cargo-binstall:

[tools]
"cargo:eza" = { version = "latest", install_env = { CARGO_NET_GIT_FETCH_WITH_CLI = "true" } }

features

Enable crate features:

[tools]
"cargo:sqlx-cli" = { version = "latest", features = ["postgres", "rustls"] }

default-features

Turn off the crate's default features:

[tools]
"cargo:cargo-edit" = { version = "latest", default-features = false }

bin

Install one executable from a crate that has several:

[tools]
"cargo:sqlx-cli" = { version = "latest", bin = "sqlx" }

crate

Choose the crate to install from a Git repository that contains several, such as a Cargo workspace:

[tools]
"cargo:https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff" = { version = "tag:0.6.0", crate = "ruff" }

locked

Build with the crate's own Cargo.lock (cargo install --locked). This is the default; set false to let Cargo resolve dependencies again:

[tools]
"cargo:eza" = { version = "latest", locked = false }

This is the crate's Cargo.lock, not mise.lock, which records the version of the tool mise installed.

Settings

Set these under [settings] in a config file, with mise settings set, or with a setting's environment variable where it has one. See which value wins when a setting is set in more than one place.

cargo.binstall

Install Cargo tools from cargo-binstall's prebuilt binaries when cargo-binstall is installed.

• Type: boolean
• Default: true
• Environment variable: MISE_CARGO_BINSTALL

mise uses a cargo-binstall installed through mise or found on PATH, and runs cargo install when it has no prebuilt binary. A prebuilt binary ignores your Cargo build configuration, so set this to false when that configuration must apply. Install cargo-binstall with mise use -g cargo-binstall. See How mise installs a crate.

cargo.binstall_native

Use mise's own prebuilt-binary installer for Cargo tools when cargo-binstall is not installed.

• Type: boolean
• Default: unset
• Environment variable: MISE_CARGO_BINSTALL_NATIVE

The installer downloads binaries described by package.metadata.binstall in the crate's Cargo.toml, or named the usual way in the GitHub releases of the crate's repository. It runs cargo install instead when it finds no binary or the install uses Cargo build options that would change the result.

• true: try this installer before cargo install.
• false: never use it.
• unset: do not use it. From mise 2027.1.0, mise warns when a crate could have been installed this way, and from mise 2027.7.0 unset means true.

Setting cargo.binstall to false turns this installer off too.

cargo.binstall_only

Require prebuilt binaries from cargo-binstall instead of falling back to cargo install.

• Type: boolean
• Default: false
• Environment variable: MISE_CARGO_BINSTALL_ONLY

Installs fail when cargo-binstall is missing or turned off, has no prebuilt binary, or a tool option such as features needs cargo install. Tools from a Git source are unaffected; they always build with cargo install --git.

cargo.binstall_quickinstall

Let cargo-binstall download third-party artifacts from cargo-quickinstall.

• Type: boolean
• Default: false
• Environment variable: MISE_CARGO_BINSTALL_QUICKINSTALL

By default, mise passes --disable-strategies compile,quick-install to cargo-binstall, so it uses only artifacts that the crate's authors publish, never cargo-quickinstall builds. With true, mise passes --disable-strategies compile instead. mise's own installer (cargo.binstall_native) never uses quickinstall.

cargo.registry_name

Cargo registry to install crates from instead of crates.io.

• Type: string
• Default: unset
• Environment variable: MISE_CARGO_REGISTRY_NAME

The name of an alternate registry defined in your Cargo configuration ([registries.<name>]), such as a private mirror. mise passes it to cargo install as --registry, and does not use its own prebuilt-binary installer while it is set.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to do
Compiler or linker error	Read the first Cargo error and install the crate's native build dependencies. features always builds from source.
No executable installed	The crate must have a binary target. Use bin, or crate for a Git workspace.
A prebuilt binary ignores your Cargo config	Set cargo.binstall = false to build locally.
cargo-binstall cannot honor cargo install-only tool option(s)	cargo.binstall_only is set and the tool uses features or default-features = false. Remove the option or unset cargo.binstall_only.

Implementation: src/backend/cargo.rs.