Rust CLI rustup, Toolchains, Components, and Targets

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Manage Rust toolchains with rustup, switch channels, install components, and add cross-compilation targets.

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Toolchains

Install, list, and switch between stable, beta, nightly, and custom toolchains.

List installed toolchains

Display toolchains available on the machine.

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bashANYrustuptoolchainlist

bash

rustup toolchain list

Shows installed toolchains and which one is active.

Install nightly

Add the nightly toolchain.

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bashANYrustuptoolchaininstall

bash

rustup toolchain install nightly

Nightly is commonly used for unstable features or tooling experiments.

Install beta

Add the beta channel toolchain.

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bashANYrustuptoolchainbeta

bash

rustup toolchain install beta

Beta helps verify compatibility before stable releases.

Set nightly as default

Change the global default toolchain.

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bashANYrustupdefaultnightly

bash

rustup default nightly

Applies outside directories that have overrides or rust-toolchain files.

Pin a toolchain in one directory

Create a directory override for the current folder.

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bashANYrustupoverride

bash

rustup override set stable

Directory overrides let a project use a different toolchain than global default.

Remove a directory override

Stop forcing a local toolchain override.

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bashANYrustupoverride

bash

rustup override unset

Use this when a project no longer needs a local override.

rust-toolchain files

Commit toolchain choices to the repository.

Pin toolchain in version-controlled config

Check in a `rust-toolchain.toml` file.

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tomlANYrustuptoolchaintoml

toml

[toolchain]
channel = "stable"
components = ["rustfmt", "clippy"]
targets = ["x86_64-unknown-linux-musl"]

A rust-toolchain file can pin channel, components, and targets for a repo.

Use stable once without changing defaults

Run one command on the stable toolchain.

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bashANYcargorustuptoolchain

bash

cargo +stable test

The `+toolchain` shorthand overrides the toolchain for that invocation.

Components

Install rustfmt, Clippy, docs, and source code components.

List components

Show installed and available components for active toolchain.

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bashANYrustupcomponentlist

bash

rustup component list

Useful for seeing whether rustfmt or clippy is already available.

Install rustfmt

Add the formatter component.

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bashANYrustupcomponentrustfmt

bash

rustup component add rustfmt

Required before running `cargo fmt` on some toolchains.

Install Clippy

Add the Clippy lint component.

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bashANYrustupcomponentclippy

bash

rustup component add clippy

Required before running `cargo clippy`.

Install rust-src

Add standard library source code.

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bashANYrustupcomponentrust-src

bash

rustup component add rust-src

Needed by some IDEs, tools, and advanced workflows.

Open local Rust docs

Launch the locally installed Rust documentation.

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bashANYrustupdocs

bash

rustup doc

Convenient for offline browsing of docs.

Targets and cross-compilation

Add platform targets and build for different target triples.

List available targets

Show supported target triples.

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bashANYrustuptargetlist

bash

rustup target list

Includes installed status for each target.

Add a Linux musl target

Install standard libraries for a cross target.

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bashANYrustuptargetmusl

bash

rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-musl

You must usually add the target before cross-compiling to it.

Add Apple Silicon target

Install support for macOS ARM builds.

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bashANYrustuptargetdarwin

bash

rustup target add aarch64-apple-darwin

Useful when cross-building or producing release artifacts for macOS ARM.

Build for a target triple

Compile artifacts for a non-default platform.

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bashANYcargobuildtarget

bash

cargo build --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl

Target-specific artifacts are stored under `target/<triple>/...`.

Run is typically host-only

Build target-specific binaries for packaging instead of running them locally.

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bashANYcargotargetcross

bash

cargo build --target aarch64-apple-darwin

Cross-target binaries usually cannot be executed directly on the host unless compatible.

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