Web API

A registry may host a web API at the location defined in config.json to support any of the actions listed below.

Cargo includes the Authorization header for requests that require authentication. The header value is the API token. The server should respond with a 403 response code if the token is not valid. Users are expected to visit the registry’s website to obtain a token, and Cargo can store the token using the cargo login command, or by passing the token on the command-line.

Responses use the 200 response code for success. Errors should use an appropriate response code, such as 404. Failure responses should have a JSON object with the following structure:

{
    // Array of errors to display to the user.
    "errors": [
        {
            // The error message as a string.
            "detail": "error message text"
        }
    ]
}

If the response has this structure Cargo will display the detailed message to the user, even if the response code is 200. If the response code indicates an error and the content does not have this structure, Cargo will display to the user a message intended to help debugging the server error. A server returning an errors object allows a registry to provide a more detailed or user-centric error message.

For backwards compatibility, servers should ignore any unexpected query parameters or JSON fields. If a JSON field is missing, it should be assumed to be null. The endpoints are versioned with the v1 component of the path, and Cargo is responsible for handling backwards compatibility fallbacks should any be required in the future.

Cargo sets the following headers for all requests:

  • Content-Type: application/json
  • Accept: application/json
  • User-Agent: The Cargo version such as cargo 1.32.0 (8610973aa 2019-01-02). This may be modified by the user in a configuration value. Added in 1.29.

Publish

  • Endpoint: /api/v1/crates/new
  • Method: PUT
  • Authorization: Included

The publish endpoint is used to publish a new version of a crate. The server should validate the crate, make it available for download, and add it to the index.

It is not required for the index to be updated before the successful response is sent. After a successful response, Cargo will poll the index for a short period of time to identify that the new crate has been added. If the crate does not appear in the index after a short period of time, then Cargo will display a warning letting the user know that the new crate is not yet available.

The body of the data sent by Cargo is:

  • 32-bit unsigned little-endian integer of the length of JSON data.
  • Metadata of the package as a JSON object.
  • 32-bit unsigned little-endian integer of the length of the .crate file.
  • The .crate file.

The following is a commented example of the JSON object. Some notes of some restrictions imposed by crates.io are included only to illustrate some suggestions on types of validation that may be done, and should not be considered as an exhaustive list of restrictions crates.io imposes.

{
    // The name of the package.
    "name": "foo",
    // The version of the package being published.
    "vers": "0.1.0",
    // Array of direct dependencies of the package.
    "deps": [
        {
            // Name of the dependency.
            // If the dependency is renamed from the original package name,
            // this is the original name. The new package name is stored in
            // the `explicit_name_in_toml` field.
            "name": "rand",
            // The semver requirement for this dependency.
            "version_req": "^0.6",
            // Array of features (as strings) enabled for this dependency.
            "features": ["i128_support"],
            // Boolean of whether or not this is an optional dependency.
            "optional": false,
            // Boolean of whether or not default features are enabled.
            "default_features": true,
            // The target platform for the dependency.
            // null if not a target dependency.
            // Otherwise, a string such as "cfg(windows)".
            "target": null,
            // The dependency kind.
            // "dev", "build", or "normal".
            "kind": "normal",
            // The URL of the index of the registry where this dependency is
            // from as a string. If not specified or null, it is assumed the
            // dependency is in the current registry.
            "registry": null,
            // If the dependency is renamed, this is a string of the new
            // package name. If not specified or null, this dependency is not
            // renamed.
            "explicit_name_in_toml": null,
        }
    ],
    // Set of features defined for the package.
    // Each feature maps to an array of features or dependencies it enables.
    // Cargo does not impose limitations on feature names, but crates.io
    // requires alphanumeric ASCII, `_` or `-` characters.
    "features": {
        "extras": ["rand/simd_support"]
    },
    // List of strings of the authors.
    // May be empty.
    "authors": ["Alice <a@example.com>"],
    // Description field from the manifest.
    // May be null. crates.io requires at least some content.
    "description": null,
    // String of the URL to the website for this package's documentation.
    // May be null.
    "documentation": null,
    // String of the URL to the website for this package's home page.
    // May be null.
    "homepage": null,
    // String of the content of the README file.
    // May be null.
    "readme": null,
    // String of a relative path to a README file in the crate.
    // May be null.
    "readme_file": null,
    // Array of strings of keywords for the package.
    "keywords": [],
    // Array of strings of categories for the package.
    "categories": [],
    // String of the license for the package.
    // May be null. crates.io requires either `license` or `license_file` to be set.
    "license": null,
    // String of a relative path to a license file in the crate.
    // May be null.
    "license_file": null,
    // String of the URL to the website for the source repository of this package.
    // May be null.
    "repository": null,
    // Optional object of "status" badges. Each value is an object of
    // arbitrary string to string mappings.
    // crates.io has special interpretation of the format of the badges.
    "badges": {
        "travis-ci": {
            "branch": "master",
            "repository": "rust-lang/cargo"
        }
    },
    // The `links` string value from the package's manifest, or null if not
    // specified. This field is optional and defaults to null.
    "links": null
}

A successful response includes the JSON object:

{
    // Optional object of warnings to display to the user.
    "warnings": {
        // Array of strings of categories that are invalid and ignored.
        "invalid_categories": [],
        // Array of strings of badge names that are invalid and ignored.
        "invalid_badges": [],
        // Array of strings of arbitrary warnings to display to the user.
        "other": []
    }
}

Yank

  • Endpoint: /api/v1/crates/{crate_name}/{version}/yank
  • Method: DELETE
  • Authorization: Included

The yank endpoint will set the yank field of the given version of a crate to true in the index.

A successful response includes the JSON object:

{
    // Indicates the delete succeeded, always true.
    "ok": true,
}

Unyank

  • Endpoint: /api/v1/crates/{crate_name}/{version}/unyank
  • Method: PUT
  • Authorization: Included

The unyank endpoint will set the yank field of the given version of a crate to false in the index.

A successful response includes the JSON object:

{
    // Indicates the delete succeeded, always true.
    "ok": true,
}

Owners

Cargo does not have an inherent notion of users and owners, but it does provide the owner command to assist managing who has authorization to control a crate. It is up to the registry to decide exactly how users and owners are handled. See the publishing documentation for a description of how crates.io handles owners via GitHub users and teams.

Owners: List

  • Endpoint: /api/v1/crates/{crate_name}/owners
  • Method: GET
  • Authorization: Included

The owners endpoint returns a list of owners of the crate.

A successful response includes the JSON object:

{
    // Array of owners of the crate.
    "users": [
        {
            // Unique unsigned 32-bit integer of the owner.
            "id": 70,
            // The unique username of the owner.
            "login": "github:rust-lang:core",
            // Name of the owner.
            // This is optional and may be null.
            "name": "Core",
        }
    ]
}

Owners: Add

  • Endpoint: /api/v1/crates/{crate_name}/owners
  • Method: PUT
  • Authorization: Included

A PUT request will send a request to the registry to add a new owner to a crate. It is up to the registry how to handle the request. For example, crates.io sends an invite to the user that they must accept before being added.

The request should include the following JSON object:

{
    // Array of `login` strings of owners to add.
    "users": ["login_name"]
}

A successful response includes the JSON object:

{
    // Indicates the add succeeded, always true.
    "ok": true,
    // A string to be displayed to the user.
    "msg": "user ehuss has been invited to be an owner of crate cargo"
}

Owners: Remove

  • Endpoint: /api/v1/crates/{crate_name}/owners
  • Method: DELETE
  • Authorization: Included

A DELETE request will remove an owner from a crate. The request should include the following JSON object:

{
    // Array of `login` strings of owners to remove.
    "users": ["login_name"]
}

A successful response includes the JSON object:

{
    // Indicates the remove succeeded, always true.
    "ok": true
}
  • Endpoint: /api/v1/crates
  • Method: GET
  • Query Parameters:
    • q: The search query string.
    • per_page: Number of results, default 10, max 100.

The search request will perform a search for crates, using criteria defined on the server.

A successful response includes the JSON object:

{
    // Array of results.
    "crates": [
        {
            // Name of the crate.
            "name": "rand",
            // The highest version available.
            "max_version": "0.6.1",
            // Textual description of the crate.
            "description": "Random number generators and other randomness functionality.\n",
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        // Total number of results available on the server.
        "total": 119
    }
}

Login

  • Endpoint: /me

The “login” endpoint is not an actual API request. It exists solely for the cargo login command to display a URL to instruct a user to visit in a web browser to log in and retrieve an API token.