chainsaw cargo

Run cargo through Chainsaw — refuse malicious/typosquatted crates at install time

chainsaw cargo [args...]

Run cargo with an install-time supply-chain check in front of it.

Chainsaw evaluates the packages cargo would install, refuses on a hit, and otherwise hands off to the real cargo with your arguments untouched. Anything that is not an install verb (cargo build, cargo run, …) delegates immediately.

Guarded: cargo install. cargo install with no named crate scans Cargo.lock.

Offline by default. The bundled checks — typosquat detection and a known-malicious floor — run entirely on your machine and send nothing. For the full OpenSSF malicious-packages feed, run the opt-in chainsaw guard update, which is the only networked step. Set CHAINSAW_OFFLINE=1 to refuse network access outright.

Fails open by default: when a signal cannot be evaluated, Chainsaw prints a visible notice and lets the install proceed, so a thin feed never breaks your build. See chainsaw guard coverage to make that fail closed instead.

Exit codes: 0 when the install proceeds (Chainsaw then returns the real tool’s own exit code), 1 when Chainsaw refuses.

--help and every other flag are forwarded to cargo untouched, so chainsaw cargo --help shows cargo’s help, not this text. Use chainsaw help cargo to see this page.

To make the check automatic, add the shell shims: eval "$(chainsaw guard init)".

Examples

chainsaw cargo install ripgrep

# not an install verb — delegates straight to cargo
chainsaw cargo build

Flags

This command forwards its arguments to the underlying tool unchanged, so it parses no flags of its own. Anything after the command name goes to the wrapped package manager verbatim.