Cargo

NORA implements the Cargo Sparse Index protocol for hosting and proxying Rust crates. Publish private crates and cache public ones from crates.io.

Client Configuration

Add NORA as an alternative registry in ~/.cargo/config.toml:

[registries.nora]
index = "sparse+http://nora.example.com:4000/cargo/"

Use the registry:

# Publish
cargo publish --registry nora

# Install
cargo install my-crate --registry nora

To use NORA as the default source for crates.io packages, add:

[source.crates-io]
replace-with = "nora"

[source.nora]
registry = "sparse+http://nora.example.com:4000/cargo/"

Upstream Proxy

NORA proxies index lookups and crate downloads from the upstream registry when a crate is not found locally.

config.toml:

[cargo]
enabled = true
proxy = "https://crates.io"
proxy_timeout = 30

Environment variables:

Variable	Description	Default
NORA_CARGO_ENABLED	Enable Cargo registry	true
NORA_CARGO_PROXY	Upstream registry URL	https://crates.io
NORA_CARGO_PROXY_AUTH	Upstream auth (user:pass)	—
NORA_CARGO_PROXY_TIMEOUT	Upstream timeout in seconds	30

Features

Feature	Status	Notes
config.json	Full	dl and api fields
Sparse index lookup	Full	Prefix rules (1/2/3/ab/cd)
Crate download	Full	.crate files by version
cargo publish	Full	Length-prefixed JSON + .crate
Dependency metadata	Full	req, package transforms
SHA256 verification	Full	On publish
Cache-Control headers	Full	immutable for downloads, max-age=300 for index
Yank/unyank	—	Not implemented
Owner management	—	Not implemented
Categories/keywords	Partial	Stored but not searchable

Known Limitations

• Yank and unyank are not supported — published versions cannot be marked as yanked.
• Owner management is not implemented.
• Categories and keywords are stored in metadata but are not searchable.