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Crates and Packages

Crates​

A crate is the smallest amount of code that the Noir compiler considers at a time. Crates can contain modules, and the modules may be defined in other files that get compiled with the crate, as we’ll see in the coming sections.

Crate Types​

A Noir crate can come in several forms: binaries, libraries or contracts.

Binaries​

Binary crates are programs which you can compile to an ACIR circuit which you can then create proofs against. Each must have a function called main that defines the ACIR circuit which is to be proved.

Libraries​

Library crates don't have a main function and they don't compile down to ACIR. Instead they define functionality intended to be shared with multiple projects, and eventually included in a binary crate.

Contracts​

Contract crates are similar to binary crates in that they compile to ACIR which you can create proofs against. They are different in that they do not have a single main function, but are a collection of functions to be deployed to the Aztec network. You can learn more about the technical details of Aztec in the monorepo or contract examples.

Crate Root​

Every crate has a root, which is the source file that the compiler starts, this is also known as the root module. The Noir compiler does not enforce any conditions on the name of the file which is the crate root, however if you are compiling via Nargo the crate root must be called lib.nr or main.nr for library or binary crates respectively.

Packages​

A Nargo package is a collection of one of more crates that provides a set of functionality. A package must include a Nargo.toml file.

A package must contain either a library or a binary crate, but not both.

Differences from Cargo Packages​

One notable difference between Rust's Cargo and Noir's Nargo is that while Cargo allows a package to contain an unlimited number of binary crates and a single library crate, Nargo currently only allows a package to contain a single crate.

In future this restriction may be lifted to allow a Nargo package to contain both a binary and library crate or multiple binary crates.