How to use the command "cargo login" (with examples)
This article will explain how to use the “cargo login” command and provide examples of its use cases.
Description
The “cargo login” command is used to save an API token from the registry locally. This token is used to authenticate the user to a package registry. The token can be removed using the “cargo logout” command. The “cargo login” command saves the token in the local credential storage, located in $CARGO_HOME/credentials.toml.
Use case 1: Add an API token to the local credential storage
Code:
cargo login
Motivation:
The “cargo login” command is used to add an API token to the local credential storage. This is useful when working with a package registry that requires authentication. By saving the API token locally, the user can easily authenticate without manually providing the token each time.
Explanation:
The “cargo login” command without any arguments saves the API token in the local credential storage. The token is stored in the credentials.toml file located in the $CARGO_HOME/ directory.
Example output:
info: Config file '/Users/user/.cargo/config' loaded
Username: user
Password: ********
In the example output, the user is prompted to enter their username and password for authentication. After successfully entering the credentials, the API token is saved in the local credential storage.
Use case 2: Specify the name of the registry to use
Code:
cargo login --registry name
Motivation:
The “cargo login” command allows the user to specify the name of the registry they want to authenticate with. This is useful when working with multiple registries and the user wants to save different API tokens for each registry.
Explanation:
The “–registry name” argument is used to specify the name of the registry to authenticate with. Registry names can be defined in the Cargo config file. If no registry name is provided, the default registry (crates.io) will be used.
Example output:
info: Config file '/Users/user/.cargo/config' loaded
Username: user
Password: ********
In the example output, the user is prompted to enter their username and password for authentication to the specified registry. After successfully entering the credentials, the API token is saved in the local credential storage.
Conclusion:
The “cargo login” command is a useful tool for saving API tokens from package registries locally. By using this command, users can easily authenticate with package registries without manually providing the API token each time. Additionally, the command allows for specifying different registries, making it easy to work with multiple registries simultaneously.
