Install cargo-generate with Homebrew, apk, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• cargo-generate

Project history

The cargo-generate repository and first crates.io release appeared in May 2018. The official guide describes the core idea as leveraging a pre-existing git repository as a template to get a Rust project started quickly.

The project grew into a small templating engine around Git repositories. The guide documents Shopify Liquid for templated content, Rhai for hook scripts, regex placeholders, and special handling for `.liquid` files.

Its documentation also treats template discovery and reuse as first-class concepts: the README points users to the GitHub `cargo-generate` topic, while the guide supports favorite templates stored in `$CARGO_HOME/cargo-generate.toml` or `$CARGO_HOME/cargo-generate`.

Adoption history

cargo-generate became common in Rust sub-ecosystems where a useful starter project needs more than a bare crate. The official README uses rustwasm's wasm-pack-template as its example, reflecting early adoption by WebAssembly-oriented Rust workflows.

By 2026 it had more than 2 million crates.io downloads and an active changelog, indicating sustained use as a project-scaffolding utility rather than a one-off template experiment.

How it is used

Typical usage is `cargo generate --git https://github.com/owner/template.git` or the shorthand `cargo generate owner/template`. The README also documents prefixes for GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and SourceHut template locations.

Template authors can use Liquid files, Rhai hooks, and placeholders; users can define favorite templates in the cargo-generate config file and then invoke them by name.

Why package nerds care

cargo-generate is package-nerd significant because it made template repositories a distribution format in the Rust ecosystem. A Git repo could become a reusable package-like project skeleton without needing to be published as a crate.

It also demonstrates the Cargo subcommand pattern at its most social: package managers do not just install programs, they standardize how communities bootstrap new projects.

Timeline

• 2018-05-29: GitHub repository created and initial 0.0.0 crate published to crates.io.
• 2018: README and guide establish the git-template workflow, with rustwasm's wasm-pack-template as an early example.
• 2020s: Guide documents Liquid templating, Rhai hooks, favorite templates, and multiple git host shorthands.
• 2026: 0.23.x releases continue with fixes and maintenance; crate exceeds 2 million downloads.

Related projects

• rustwasm/wasm-pack-template is the official README's example template.
• Shopify Liquid, Rhai, and regex are documented building blocks for template expansion.
• cargo-binstall is mentioned by the README as an alternative installation path.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/cargo-generate/cargo-generate
• https://cargo-generate.github.io/cargo-generate/index.html
• https://crates.io/crates/cargo-generate
• https://github.com/cargo-generate/cargo-generate#readme
• https://github.com/cargo-generate/cargo-generate/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
• https://github.com/cargo-generate/cargo-generate/blob/main/guide/src/favorites.md