rust-crate-path-locator

name	rust-crate-path-locator
description	Locate where to read Rust crate source code and docs without assuming ~/.cargo. Use when user asks to inspect a crate's implementation/docs, asks for crate file paths, or when environment-specific cargo cache locations (Scoop, rustup, custom CARGO_HOME) may differ.

Rust Crate Path Locator

Never hardcode ~/.cargo.

Workflow

1. Run the cross-platform Python script with uv:
   • uv run scripts/find_crate_path.py --crate <crate-name> --project-path <repo-root>
2. Prefer manifest_path and root_dir from cargo metadata results.
3. If not found in dependency graph, rerun with cargo-home scan (--include-cargo-home-scan).
4. Report both source path and docs URL (https://docs.rs/<crate>/<version>).

Commands

Use from this skill directory or by absolute path.

# Recommended (cross-platform)
uv run scripts/find_crate_path.py --crate ratatui --project-path /path/to/repo
uv run scripts/find_crate_path.py --crate serde --project-path /path/to/repo --include-cargo-home-scan

Output handling

• If metadata match exists: use that path as authoritative.
• If only cargo-home scan matches exist: treat as heuristic and say so.
• If no match: state crate source is not cached locally yet and suggest cargo fetch in a project that depends on it.

If crate is not installed yet

When evaluating a new crate, local source may not exist yet. In that case, first read docs on https://docs.rs/<crate> and metadata on crates.io, then create a temporary Cargo project (or add the crate to an existing one) and run cargo fetch; rerun the script after fetch to get an exact local path.

Notes

• cargo metadata is environment-safe because Cargo resolves actual cache paths.
• Scoop/rustup/custom installs are handled because paths come from Cargo output, not assumptions.