Install cargo-chef with Homebrew, apk, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• cargo-chef

Project history

The project was created by Luca Palmieri in 2020 and its README says it was initially developed for the deployment chapter of Zero to Production in Rust. The upstream repository describes the command as a way to speed up Rust Docker builds using Docker layer caching.

Its design codified a pattern Rust teams were already hand-rolling in Dockerfiles: copy manifests first, build dependencies, then copy application sources. cargo-chef made that approach workspace-aware and less fragile by generating a recipe from Cargo.toml and Cargo.lock inputs.

Adoption history

cargo-chef spread through Rust backend and CI workflows because Docker build cache misses are especially painful for projects with large dependency graphs. The project publishes a prebuilt Docker image, and the crate has accumulated millions of crates.io downloads, showing adoption beyond a one-off example tool.

Packaging in Homebrew, apk, and Nix reflects its use by developers who want the subcommand available outside pure cargo-install workflows.

How it is used

A typical workflow runs `cargo chef prepare --recipe-path recipe.json` after copying the source tree in a planner stage, then `cargo chef cook --release --recipe-path recipe.json` in a builder stage before copying the full application code.

The README emphasizes that the tool is mainly intended for container builds, not normal local development, because it writes the project skeleton needed to cache dependencies.

Why package nerds care

For package managers, cargo-chef is interesting because it turns Cargo metadata into a build-cache artifact. It is a small CLI, but it sits directly at the intersection of Cargo workspaces, lockfiles, reproducible images, and CI build economics.

It is also a recognizable Rust ecosystem answer to the `requirements.txt`-style dependency layer used in other language containers.

Timeline

• 2020: GitHub repository created and first crates.io release published.
• 2020: README documents its origin in Zero to Production in Rust.
• 2025-2026: Release stream continues through the 0.1.x series, with crates.io showing more than three million downloads by June 2026.

Related projects

• Cargo is the package manager and build tool that cargo-chef extends.
• Docker and the official Rust container images are the primary environment targeted by the documented workflow.
• Zero to Production in Rust is the book project that originally motivated the tool.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/LukeMathWalker/cargo-chef
• https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/cargo-chef
• https://github.com/LukeMathWalker/cargo-chef#readme