# clap-rs/clap

A full featured, fast Command Line Argument Parser for Rust

Repository: https://github.com/clap-rs/clap
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/clap
Language: Rust
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: argument-parsing, subcommands, rust, positional-arguments, parsed-arguments, command-line, command-line-parser, argument-parser
Last push: 2026-08-26T12:38:26+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 96, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4207, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 27, "gap_med": 8, "n_releases_24m": 46}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 16664, forks 1240 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:16.947461+00:00)

## What it is
clap is a full-featured, fast command line argument parser library for Rust. It supports declarative (derive-based) and procedural parser construction with subcommands, positional arguments, help generation, and validation.

## Use cases
- parse command line arguments in a Rust CLI
- define subcommands and flags for a terminal tool
- auto-generate help and usage text
- validate positional and optional arguments
- build a multi-command CLI like git-style tools

## When to choose
- you are writing a command line application or tool in Rust
- you need robust argument parsing with help, errors, and subcommands out of the box
- you want a mature, widely adopted, dual-licensed (MIT/Apache-2.0) parser

## When to avoid
- you are not writing in Rust
- you need a GUI or web argument handling rather than CLI parsing
- you want a minimal hand-rolled parser with zero dependencies

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: parser, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, parsers
- platform: rust, cross-platform, cli
- tags: argument-parsing, subcommands, derive-macros, command-line-interfaces, command-line

## Member repositories
- clap-rs/clap (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:16.947461+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:04:49.020805+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/clap-rs/clap (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:16.947461+00:00, sha 6693649b7011)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.