cargo-public-api

List and diff the public API of Rust library crates between releases and commits. Detect breaking API changes and semver violations via CI or a CLI. Relies on and automatically builds rustdoc JSON, for which a recent version of the Rust nightly toolchain must be installed.

Installation

Install the cargo public-api subcommand with a recent regular stable Rust toolchain:

cargo +stable install cargo-public-api --locked

Ensure nightly-2025-08-02 or later is installed (does not need to be the active toolchain) so cargo public-api can build rustdoc JSON for you:

rustup install nightly --profile minimal

Usage

List the Public API

This example lists the public API of the regex crate. First we clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/rust-lang/regex ; cd regex

Now we can list the public API of regex by running

cargo public-api

which will print the public API of regex with one line per public item in the API:

Diff the Public API

… Against a Specific Published Version

To diff the public API of the regex crate in the current directory against published version 1.6.0 on crates.io:

cargo public-api diff 1.6.0

… Against the Latest Published Version

cargo public-api diff latest

… Between Git Commits

cargo public-api diff ref1..ref2

… as a CI Check

With a regular cargo test that you run in CI you will be able to

• prevent accidental changes to your public API
• review the public API diff of deliberate changes ¹

First add the latest versions of the recommended libraries to your [dev-dependencies]:

cargo add --dev \
    rustup-toolchain \
    rustdoc-json \
    public-api \
    insta

Then add the following test to your project. As the author of the below test code, I hereby associate it with CC0 and to the extent possible under law waive all copyright and related or neighboring rights to it:

#[test]
fn public_api() {
    // Install a compatible nightly toolchain if it is missing
    rustup_toolchain::install(public_api::MINIMUM_NIGHTLY_RUST_VERSION).unwrap();

    // Build rustdoc JSON
    let rustdoc_json = rustdoc_json::Builder::default()
        .toolchain(public_api::MINIMUM_NIGHTLY_RUST_VERSION)
        .build()
        .unwrap();

    // Derive the public API from the rustdoc JSON
    let public_api = public_api::Builder::from_rustdoc_json(rustdoc_json)
        .build()
        .unwrap();

    // Assert that the public API looks correct
    insta::assert_snapshot!(public_api);
}

Before you run the test the first time you need to bless the current public API:

INSTA_UPDATE=always cargo test

This creates a tests/snapshots/<module>_public_api.snap file in your project that you git add together with your other project files. Then a regular

cargo test

will fail if your public API is accidentally or deliberately changed. Run

INSTA_UPDATE=always cargo test

again to review and accept public API changes.

Less Noisy Output

For completeness, items belonging to Blanket Implementations, Auto Trait Implementations, and Auto Derived Implementations, such as

• impl<T, U> Into<U> for T where U: From<T>
• impl Sync for ...
• impl Debug for ... / #[derive(Debug)]

are included in the list of public items by default. Use

• --omit blanket-impls
• --omit auto-trait-impls
• --omit auto-derived-impls

respectively to omit such items from the output to make it much less noisy:

cargo public-api --omit blanket-impls,auto-trait-impls,auto-derived-impls

For convenience you can also use -s (--simplified) to achieve the same thing. This is a shorter form of the above command:

cargo public-api -sss

Compatibility Matrix

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Maintainers

• Enselic
• douweschulte
• Emilgardis

Trademark Notice

"Rust" and "Cargo" are trademarks of the Rust Foundation. This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or otherwise associated with the Rust Project or Rust Foundation.