# Lints

> [!NOTE]
> This chapter is about lints emitted by `cargo` itself.
>
> See [the lints section in the Manifest Format
> chapter](manifest.md#the-lints-section) to configure lint levels for tools
> such as `rustc` or `clippy`.

> [!WARNING]
> [Cargo's linting system is unstable](unstable.md#lintscargo) and can only be used on nightly
> toolchains.



| Group                | Description                                                                         | Default level |
|----------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------|
| `cargo::default`     | all lints that are on by default (correctness, suspicious, style, complexity, perf) | warn/deny     |
| `cargo::correctness` | code that is outright wrong or useless                                              | deny          |
| `cargo::style`       | code that should be written in a more idiomatic way                                 | warn          |
| `cargo::suspicious`  | code that is most likely wrong or useless                                           | warn          |
| `cargo::pedantic`    | lints which are rather strict or have occasional false positives                    | allow         |
| `cargo::restriction` | lints which prevent the use of Cargo features                                       | allow         |


## Allowed-by-default

These lints are all set to the 'allow' level by default.
- [`non_kebab_case_features`](#non_kebab_case_features)
- [`non_kebab_case_packages`](#non_kebab_case_packages)
- [`non_snake_case_features`](#non_snake_case_features)
- [`non_snake_case_packages`](#non_snake_case_packages)

## Warn-by-default

These lints are all set to the 'warn' level by default.
- [`blanket_hint_mostly_unused`](#blanket_hint_mostly_unused)
- [`manual_readme`](#manual_readme)
- [`missing_lints_inheritance`](#missing_lints_inheritance)
- [`non_kebab_case_bins`](#non_kebab_case_bins)
- [`redundant_homepage`](#redundant_homepage)
- [`unknown_lints`](#unknown_lints)
- [`unused_dependencies`](#unused_dependencies)
- [`unused_workspace_dependencies`](#unused_workspace_dependencies)
- [`unused_workspace_package_fields`](#unused_workspace_package_fields)

## Deny-by-default

These lints are all set to the 'deny' level by default.
- [`text_direction_codepoint_in_comment`](#text_direction_codepoint_in_comment)
- [`text_direction_codepoint_in_literal`](#text_direction_codepoint_in_literal)

## `blanket_hint_mostly_unused`

- Group: `suspicious`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does
Checks if `hint-mostly-unused` being applied to all dependencies.

### Why is this bad?
`hint-mostly-unused` indicates that most of a crate's API surface will go
unused by anything depending on it; this hint can speed up the build by
attempting to minimize compilation time for items that aren't used at all.
Misapplication to crates that don't fit that criteria will slow down the build
rather than speeding it up. It should be selectively applied to dependencies
that meet these criteria. Applying it globally is always a misapplication and
will likely slow down the build.

### Example
```toml
[profile.dev.package."*"]
hint-mostly-unused = true
```

Should instead be:
```toml
[profile.dev.package.huge-mostly-unused-dependency]
hint-mostly-unused = true
```


## `manual_readme`

- Group: `style`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does

Checks for `package.readme` fields that can be inferred.

See also [`package.readme` reference documentation](manifest.md#the-readme-field).

### Why is this bad?

Adds boilerplate.

### Drawbacks

It might not be obvious if they named their file correctly.

### Example

```toml
[package]
name = "foo"
readme = "README.md"
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[package]
name = "foo"
```


## `missing_lints_inheritance`

- Group: `suspicious`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does

Checks for packages without a `lints` table while `workspace.lints` is present.

### Why is this bad?

Many people mistakenly think that `workspace.lints` is implicitly inherited when it is not.

### Drawbacks

### Example

```toml
[workspace.lints.cargo]
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[workspace.lints.cargo]

[lints]
workspace = true
```

or make it explicit that you don't intend to inherit by adding an empty `[lints]` table:

```toml
[workspace.lints.cargo]

[lints]
```


## `non_kebab_case_bins`

- Group: `style`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does

Detect binary names, explicit and implicit, that are not kebab-case

### Why is this bad?

Kebab-case binary names is a common convention among command line tools.

### Drawbacks

It would be disruptive to existing users to change the binary name.

A binary may need to conform to externally controlled conventions which can include a different naming convention.

GUI applications may wish to choose a more user focused naming convention, like "Title Case" or "Sentence case".

### Example

```toml
[[bin]]
name = "foo_bar"
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[[bin]]
name = "foo-bar"
```


## `non_kebab_case_features`

- Group: `restriction`
- Level: `allow`


### What it does

Detect feature names that are not kebab-case.

### Why restrict this?

Having multiple naming styles within a workspace can be confusing.

### Drawbacks

Users would expect that a feature tightly coupled to a dependency would match the dependency's name.

### Example

```toml
[features]
foo_bar = []
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[features]
foo-bar = []
```


## `non_kebab_case_packages`

- Group: `restriction`
- Level: `allow`


### What it does

Detect package names that are not kebab-case.

### Why restrict this?

Having multiple naming styles within a workspace can be confusing.

### Drawbacks

Users have to mentally translate package names to namespaces in Rust.

### Example

```toml
[package]
name = "foo_bar"
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[package]
name = "foo-bar"
```


## `non_snake_case_features`

- Group: `restriction`
- Level: `allow`


### What it does

Detect feature names that are not snake-case.

### Why restrict this?

Having multiple naming styles within a workspace can be confusing.

### Drawbacks

Users would expect that a feature tightly coupled to a dependency would match the dependency's name.

### Example

```toml
[features]
foo-bar = []
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[features]
foo_bar = []
```


## `non_snake_case_packages`

- Group: `restriction`
- Level: `allow`


### What it does

Detect package names that are not snake-case.

### Why restrict this?

Having multiple naming styles within a workspace can be confusing.

### Drawbacks

Users have to mentally translate package names to namespaces in Rust.

### Example

```toml
[package]
name = "foo_bar"
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[package]
name = "foo-bar"
```


## `redundant_homepage`

- Group: `style`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does

Checks if the value of `package.homepage` is already covered by another field.

See also [`package.homepage` reference documentation](manifest.md#the-homepage-field).

### Why is this bad?

When package browsers render each link, a redundant link adds visual noise.

### Drawbacks

### Example

```toml
[package]
name = "foo"
homepage = "https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/"
repository = "https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/"
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[package]
name = "foo"
repository = "https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/"
```


## `text_direction_codepoint_in_comment`

- Group: `correctness`
- Level: `deny`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does
Detects Unicode codepoints in manifest comments that change the visual representation of text on screen
in a way that does not correspond to their on memory representation.

### Why is this bad?
Unicode allows changing the visual flow of text on screen
in order to support scripts that are written right-to-left,
but a specially crafted comment can make code that will be compiled appear to be part of a comment,
depending on the software used to read the code.
To avoid potential problems or confusion,
such as in CVE-2021-42574,
by default we deny their use.


## `text_direction_codepoint_in_literal`

- Group: `correctness`
- Level: `deny`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does
Detects Unicode codepoints in literals in manifests that change the visual representation of text on screen
in a way that does not correspond to their on memory representation.

### Why is this bad?
Unicode allows changing the visual flow of text on screen
in order to support scripts that are written right-to-left,
but a specially crafted literal can make code that will be compiled appear to be part of a literal,
depending on the software used to read the code.
To avoid potential problems or confusion,
such as in CVE-2021-42574,
by default we deny their use.


## `unknown_lints`

- Group: `suspicious`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does
Checks for unknown lints in the `[lints.cargo]` table

### Why is this bad?
- The lint name could be misspelled, leading to confusion as to why it is
  not working as expected
- The unknown lint could end up causing an error if `cargo` decides to make
  a lint with the same name in the future

### Example
```toml
[lints.cargo]
this-lint-does-not-exist = "warn"
```


## `unused_dependencies`

- Group: `style`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does

Checks for dependencies that are not used by any of the cargo targets.

### Why is this bad?

Slows down compilation time.

### Drawbacks

The lint is only emitted in specific circumstances as multiple cargo targets exist for the
different dependencies tables and they must all be built to know if a dependency is unused.
Currently, only the selected packages are checked and not all `path` dependencies like most lints.
The cargo target selection flags,
independent of which packages are selected, determine which dependencies tables are checked.
As there is no way to select all cargo targets that use `[dev-dependencies]`,
they are unchecked.

Examples:
- `cargo check` will lint `[build-dependencies]` and `[dependencies]`
- `cargo check --all-targets` will still only lint `[build-dependencies]` and `[dependencies]` and not `[dev-dependencoes]`
- `cargo check --bin foo` will not lint `[dependencies]` even if `foo` is the only bin though `[build-dependencies]` will be checked
- `cargo check -p foo` will not lint any dependencies tables for the `path` dependency `bar` even if `bar` only has a `[lib]`

There can be false positives when depending on a transitive dependency to activate a feature.

For false positives from pinning the version of a transitive dependency in `Cargo.toml`,
move the dependency to the `target."cfg(false)".dependencies` table.

### Example

```toml
[package]
name = "foo"

[dependencies]
unused = "1"
```

Should be written as:

```toml
[package]
name = "foo"
```


## `unused_workspace_dependencies`

- Group: `suspicious`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does
Checks for any entry in `[workspace.dependencies]` that has not been inherited

### Why is this bad?
They can give the false impression that these dependencies are used

### Example
```toml
[workspace.dependencies]
regex = "1"

[dependencies]
```


## `unused_workspace_package_fields`

- Group: `suspicious`
- Level: `warn`
- Minimal [`package.rust-version`]: `1.79.0`


### What it does
Checks for any fields in `[workspace.package]` that has not been inherited

### Why is this bad?
They can give the false impression that these fields are used

### Example
```toml
[workspace.package]
edition = "2024"

[package]
name = "foo"
```



[`package.rust-version`]: rust-version.md
