# Install cargo-careful with Homebrew, Nix Execute Rust code carefully, with extra checking along the way. Version 0.4.10 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:cargo-careful ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install cargo-careful ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#cargo-careful ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ca/cargo-careful/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:cargo-careful - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 0.4.10 - **Source summary:** Execute Rust code carefully, with extra checking along the way - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** Apache-2.0 OR MIT - **Source archive:** - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - cargo-careful (cli) - cargo-careful (alias) ## Build dependencies - rust ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 0.4.10 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/RalfJung/cargo-careful - Upstream latest detected: v0.4.10 (current) - info: No package-manager update timestamp was available. ## Project history and usage cargo-careful is a Cargo subcommand for running Rust programs and tests with extra nightly-only runtime checks, a standard library built with debug assertions, and optional sanitizer support. ### Project history Ralf Jung's cargo-careful repository and first crates.io release both appeared in September 2022. The README describes it as a way to run Rust code extra carefully by opting into checks that help detect undefined behavior. The tool builds or uses a checked standard library and passes rustc flags that enable stricter runtime behavior, including pointer alignment and null checks, collection consistency checks, strict initialization checks, and extra const-evaluation UB checks. Later versions also document sanitizer support and Apple Main Thread Checker integration on Apple platforms. ### Adoption history cargo-careful is more specialized than general debugging Cargo plugins, but it fills an important space between ordinary `cargo test` and exhaustive interpreters. Crates.io reports more than 169,000 downloads, while the input records Homebrew and Nix packaging. Its author and positioning connect it to Rust's unsafe-code verification culture. The README explicitly compares it with Miri: cargo-careful is less exhaustive but faster, supports arbitrary system and C FFI calls, and works on code Miri may not be able to run. ### How it is used Users install it with `cargo install cargo-careful` and run commands such as `cargo +nightly careful test` or `cargo +nightly careful run`. The README says all `cargo test` and `cargo run` flags are supported and that a recent nightly toolchain is required. On first use it may need the `rustc-src` rustup component to perform setup. It also honors common Rust flag sources such as `CARGO_ENCODED_RUSTFLAGS`, `RUSTFLAGS`, and Cargo's `build.rustflags`, and it sets a `cfg(careful)` configuration flag for conditional code. ### Why package nerds care cargo-careful matters to package nerds because it packages unstable compiler and standard-library checking behavior into a repeatable Cargo command. It gives library maintainers a way to add stronger runtime checking to test workflows without rewriting tests for a separate interpreter. It is also a good example of Cargo as a safety-tool host: the package itself is small, but it coordinates rustup components, nightly rustc flags, standard-library rebuilding, sanitizers, and target-specific platform diagnostics. ### Timeline - 2022-09-22: GitHub repository RalfJung/cargo-careful was created. - 2022-09-22: cargo-careful 0.1.0 was published on crates.io. - 2020s: README documented the relationship with Miri, nightly-only UB checks, sanitizer support, and Main Thread Checker integration. - 2026-04-01: Version 0.4.10 was published. ### Related projects - Miri is the related Rust interpreter/checker that the README recommends for more exhaustive undefined-behavior detection. - rustup and the `rustc-src` component are involved in cargo-careful setup. - Rust nightly compiler flags and sanitizer support are the underlying mechanisms cargo-careful coordinates. ### Sources - GitHub repository API metadata: https://api.github.com/repos/RalfJung/cargo-careful - Official README: https://github.com/RalfJung/cargo-careful#readme - Package-manager adoption from source_facts.package-manager. - crates.io API metadata and versions: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/cargo-careful ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** cargo-careful - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Nix - cargo-careful: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ca/cargo-careful/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [Package publisher tools](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/package-publishers/) - Belongs to a package publishing or registry command family. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [rust](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rust/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [cargo-instruments](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-instruments/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cargo, cli, debugging, developer-tools, rust. - [cargo-auditable](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-auditable/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cargo, cli, developer-tools, rust. - [cargo-binstall](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-binstall/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cargo, cli, developer-tools, rust. - [cargo-binutils](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-binutils/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cargo, cli, developer-tools, rust. - [cargo-bloat](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-bloat/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cargo, cli, developer-tools, rust. - [cargo-bundle](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-bundle/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cargo, cli, developer-tools, rust. - [cargo-c](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-c/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cargo, cli, developer-tools, rust. - [cargo-cache](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-cache/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cargo, cli, developer-tools, rust. - [cargo-clone](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-clone/) - Both packages touch the same language runtime or ecosystem. Shared terms: cargo, cli, code, developer, developer-tools. - [cargo-crev](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-crev/) - Both packages touch the same language runtime or ecosystem. Shared terms: cargo, cli, code, developer, developer-tools. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/cargo-careful.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/cargo-careful.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph