Cargo Runner for VS Code

Run, test, build, and override Rust targets with the cargo-runner CLI — without waiting for rust-analyzer to index.

Supports Cargo, Bazel, Dioxus / Leptos / Tauri, rustc / single-file scripts, and custom tools (Spin, make, …) via sticky overrides.

CLI and extension share the same version (e.g. both 2.1.x).

Features

Cmd+R / Ctrl+R — run the best target at the cursor
Cmd+Shift+R / Ctrl+Shift+R — set override tokens, then save & run
CodeLens — ▶ Run · Debug · ⚙ Override above each detected runnable
Sidebar — browse runnables and overrides
Auto binary — downloads cargo-runner from GitHub Releases (or PATH)
Task runner — long-running commands (dx serve, cargo leptos watch) as tasks
Breakpoint awareness — when BPs are present, can use rust-analyzer Debug CodeLens
Agent Init — palette command installs cargo-runner instructions into AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md / Cursor / Copilot (no shell script)
Other palette commands — init, clean, watch, context dump, select runnable, Download CLI

Requirements

rust-analyzer (debug CodeLens / optional BP path)
CodeLLDB
Rust toolchain (cargo / rustc) for your projects
cargo-runner CLI — same version as this extension

Run does not require rust-analyzer. The extension shells out to the CLI’s own scope engine. RA is only needed for the optional debug/breakpoint path.

CLI install / update

On first activate, if the CLI is missing: Download CLI / Later.

Download CLI fetches cargo-runner-cli-v{extensionVersion}, extracts it, chmod +x, clears macOS quarantine when possible, verifies with --version.

If a newer CLI exists on GitHub while this extension is older: toast + Download Update / Later / Skip.

Setting	Default
`cargoRunner.checkCliUpdates`	on
`cargoRunner.cliUpdateCheckIntervalHours`	24

Manual: Cargo Runner: Check for CLI Updates · Cargo Runner: Download CLI.

Agent Init

Command Palette → Cargo Runner: Agent Init

Scans / installs agent instructions (managed HTML-comment block)
Agents then scan with runnables, run if supported, override once for Spin/make/custom, then plain cargo runner run <entry> forever

See docs/AGENTS.cargo-runner.md.

Override tokens

@dx.serve --release RUST_LOG=debug /--nocapture
@spin.build --up

Token	Meaning
`@cmd.sub`	command + subcommand
`@` (first)	append mode
`+nightly`	toolchain channel
`KEY=value`	environment
`/args` or `# args`	test binary args
`-` / `!!`	remove override

Stored in .cargo-runner.json (shared with CLI). After override, Cmd+R uses it with no extra tokens.

IDE JSON contracts: docs/ide-protocol.md.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`cargoRunner.path`	`""`	Binary path; empty = auto-download
`cargoRunner.useTaskRunner`	`true`	Use VS Code tasks
`cargoRunner.enableBreakpointDetection`	`true`	Debug when BPs present
`cargoRunner.releaseRepo`	`cargo-runner/cargo-runner`	GitHub release source

Development

cd extensions/vscode
npm install
npm run build
# F5, or:
code --extensionDevelopmentPath=extensions/vscode

{
  "cargoRunner.path": "/path/to/target/debug/cargo-runner"
}

License

MIT

Cargo Runner

Uriah Galang