rsvm — Rust Version Manager

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Manage Rust the nvm way: download official standalone installers into ~/.rsvm/versions/, and change PATH for the current shell only. No rustup, and never calls rustup default.

Rust has no Node-style LTS channel. There are three official release lines; rsvm can install the current latest of each:

Channel	Command	Notes
stable	rsvm install stable	Production default; a new release about every 6 weeks
beta	rsvm install beta	Preview of the next stable
nightly	rsvm install nightly	Daily builds; directory names include the date so you can install a new one the next day

You can also pin a specific version: rsvm install 1.85.0.

Install

Requires curl and tar. git is used when available (otherwise the installer downloads files with curl).

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rsvm-sh/rsvm/v0.1.0/install_sh.sh | bash

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rsvm-sh/rsvm/v0.1.0/install_sh.sh | bash

The script copies files into ~/.rsvm/ (rsvm.sh, rsvm-exec, bash_completion) and writes a lazy-load snippet into your shell config. For zsh that is usually ~/.zshrc.

Then:

source ~/.zshrc   # or ~/.bashrc, or open a new terminal
rsvm help

Override the default directory with:

export RSVM_DIR="$HOME/.rsvm"
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rsvm-sh/rsvm/v0.1.0/install_sh.sh | bash

From a local checkout:

bash install_sh.sh

Three channels: install the latest

rsvm install stable     # current latest stable, e.g. 1.98.0
rsvm install beta       # current latest beta, e.g. 1.99.0-beta.3
rsvm install nightly    # today's nightly, e.g. 1.100.0-nightly-2026-08-30

What happens:

1. Query https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/channel-rust-<channel>.toml for the latest right now (does not reuse a stale alias)
2. Download the official standalone tarball and verify SHA256
3. Install into ~/.rsvm/versions/<exact-version>/
4. Prepend that version's bin to the current shell's PATH
5. Update aliases: stable / beta / nightly point at the version just installed

If that exact version is already installed, the download is skipped, but rsvm still uses it and refreshes the channel alias.

rsvm use stable
rsvm use beta
rsvm use nightly

use follows the alias: it uses the version recorded by the last install <channel>, and will not download another copy. To pick up the latest on a channel, run rsvm install <channel> again.

Common commands

rsvm install 1.85.0              # specific version
rsvm install --default stable    # install and set as default
rsvm install --save 1.85.0       # write .rust-version in the current directory
rsvm install                     # no version: read .rust-version

rsvm uninstall 1.85.0            # delete the copy under ~/.rsvm/versions
rsvm uninstall 1.85              # match an installed 1.85.x
rsvm uninstall default

rsvm use 1.85.0
rsvm use                         # read .rust-version
rsvm current
rsvm which 1.85.0
rsvm list                        # installed versions + system + aliases (nvm list style)
rsvm list-remote                 # all remote versions, oldest first
rsvm list-remote 50              # first 50 only
rsvm use system                  # drop rsvm from PATH; fall back to system/rustup rustc
rsvm alias default system        # new terminals default to system

rsvm alias default 1.85.0
rsvm alias default 1.85      # latest installed 1.85.x (same as nvm alias default 18.12)
rsvm alias default 1         # latest installed 1.x (same as nvm alias default 18)
rsvm unalias default

rsvm run 1.85.0 cargo test
rsvm-exec 1.85.0 cargo build
rsvm-exec -- cargo build         # read nearest .rust-version

rsvm unload

You cannot uninstall the version currently in use; rsvm use another version first. Uninstall also removes aliases that point at that version, and the matching tarball in ~/.rsvm/cache/.

.rust-version

Like nvm's .nvmrc. Walks up from the current directory:

1.85.0

stable / beta / nightly are also valid. Blank lines and # comments are ignored.

• rsvm install / rsvm use with no version read this file
• rsvm-exec -- does the same

Layout

~/.rsvm/
  rsvm.sh
  rsvm-exec
  bash_completion
  versions/          # a full toolchain per version
    1.98.0/bin/rustc
    1.99.0-beta.3/
    1.100.0-nightly-2026-08-30/
  alias/
    default
    stable
    beta
    nightly
  cache/             # downloaded dist tarballs

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Meaning
RSVM_DIR	~/.rsvm	rsvm home directory
RSVM_DIST_MIRROR	https://static.rust-lang.org/dist	Dist tarball mirror

Differences from rustup / nvm

• vs rustup: rsvm keeps toolchains in its own versions/ directory. Switching only affects the current shell; it does not change rustup's global default. rustup is not required.
• vs nvm: install / uninstall / use / aliases / per-project version files follow nvm. rsvm alias default 1.85 stores the pattern 1.85; rsvm use default then resolves to the latest installed 1.85.x. Rust has no LTS, so there is no --lts; production maps to stable.
• Nightlies include a date so the same major.minor.patch (e.g. 1.100.0-nightly) can still be installed once per day.

Tests

bash test/test_suite.sh

No network. Channel installs use a local stub version index.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.