CI/CD Integration

msvc-kit is designed for CI/CD pipelines where installing Visual Studio is impractical.

GitHub Actions (Recommended)

The easiest way to use msvc-kit in GitHub Actions is the official action:

Basic Usage

name: Build

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup MSVC Build Tools
        uses: loonghao/msvc-kit@v1
        with:
          arch: x64

      - name: Build
        run: |
          cl /nologo test.c

With Specific Versions

      - name: Setup MSVC Build Tools
        uses: loonghao/msvc-kit@v1
        with:
          msvc-version: "14.44"
          sdk-version: "10.0.26100.0"
          arch: x64

Matrix Build

name: Matrix Build

on: [push]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        arch: [x64, x86, arm64]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup MSVC Build Tools
        id: msvc
        uses: loonghao/msvc-kit@v1
        with:
          arch: ${{ matrix.arch }}

      - name: Show installed versions
        run: |
          echo "MSVC: ${{ steps.msvc.outputs.msvc-version }}"
          echo "SDK: ${{ steps.msvc.outputs.sdk-version }}"
          echo "cl.exe: ${{ steps.msvc.outputs.cl-path }}"

With Caching

      - name: Cache MSVC
        uses: actions/cache@v4
        with:
          path: ${{ steps.msvc.outputs.install-dir }}
          key: msvc-${{ matrix.arch }}-${{ steps.msvc.outputs.msvc-version }}

      - name: Setup MSVC Build Tools
        id: msvc
        uses: loonghao/msvc-kit@v1
        with:
          arch: ${{ matrix.arch }}

Rust + cc-rs Integration

The action automatically sets CC and CXX environment variables for seamless Rust/cc-rs compatibility:

      - name: Setup MSVC Build Tools
        uses: loonghao/msvc-kit@v1
        with:
          arch: x64

      - name: Build Rust project with C dependencies
        run: cargo build --release

Action Inputs

Input	Description	Default
msvc-version	MSVC version (empty = latest)	""
sdk-version	Windows SDK version (empty = latest)	""
arch	Target architecture	x64
host-arch	Host architecture (empty = auto-detect)	""
install-dir	Installation directory	$RUNNER_TEMP/msvc-kit
msvc-kit-version	msvc-kit binary version	latest
components	Components: all, msvc, or sdk	all
verify-hashes	Verify file hashes	true
export-env	Export env vars to GITHUB_ENV	true

Action Outputs

Output	Description
msvc-version	Installed MSVC version
sdk-version	Installed SDK version
install-dir	Installation directory
cl-path	Path to cl.exe
link-path	Path to link.exe
rc-path	Path to rc.exe
include-path	INCLUDE env value
lib-path	LIB env value

GitHub Actions (Manual CLI)

If you prefer manual control, you can use the CLI directly:

Basic Setup

name: Build

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install Rust
        uses: dtolnay/rust-action@stable

      - name: Install msvc-kit
        run: cargo install msvc-kit

      - name: Download MSVC
        run: msvc-kit download

      - name: Setup Environment
        run: msvc-kit setup --script --shell powershell | Invoke-Expression

      - name: Build
        run: cargo build --release

With Caching

name: Build with Cache

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Cache msvc-kit
        uses: actions/cache@v4
        with:
          path: |
            ~\AppData\Local\loonghao\msvc-kit
          key: msvc-kit-${{ runner.os }}-v14.44

      - name: Install msvc-kit
        run: cargo install msvc-kit

      - name: Download MSVC (cached)
        run: msvc-kit download --msvc-version 14.44 --sdk-version 10.0.26100.0

      - name: Setup Environment
        run: msvc-kit setup --script --shell powershell | Invoke-Expression

      - name: Build
        run: cargo build --release

Matrix Build

name: Matrix Build

on: [push]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        arch: [x64, x86, arm64]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install msvc-kit
        run: cargo install msvc-kit

      - name: Download MSVC for ${{ matrix.arch }}
        run: msvc-kit download --arch ${{ matrix.arch }}

      - name: Setup Environment
        run: msvc-kit setup --script --shell powershell | Invoke-Expression

      - name: Build
        run: cargo build --release --target ${{ matrix.arch }}-pc-windows-msvc

Azure Pipelines

trigger:
  - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-latest'

steps:
  - task: RustInstaller@1
    inputs:
      rustVersion: 'stable'

  - script: cargo install msvc-kit
    displayName: 'Install msvc-kit'

  - script: msvc-kit download
    displayName: 'Download MSVC'

  - powershell: msvc-kit setup --script --shell powershell | Invoke-Expression
    displayName: 'Setup Environment'

  - script: cargo build --release
    displayName: 'Build'

GitLab CI

build:
  image: mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:ltsc2022
  tags:
    - windows
  script:
    - choco install rust -y
    - cargo install msvc-kit
    - msvc-kit download
    - $env = msvc-kit env --format json | ConvertFrom-Json
    - $env.PSObject.Properties | ForEach-Object { Set-Item "env:$($_.Name)" $_.Value }
    - cargo build --release

Docker

Dockerfile

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:ltsc2022

# Install Rust
RUN powershell -Command \
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://win.rustup.rs -OutFile rustup-init.exe; \
    ./rustup-init.exe -y --default-toolchain stable

# Install msvc-kit
RUN cargo install msvc-kit

# Download MSVC (cached in image layer)
RUN msvc-kit download

# Setup environment
SHELL ["powershell", "-Command"]
RUN msvc-kit setup --persistent

WORKDIR /app

Tips

Reduce Download Time

1. Cache aggressively - MSVC downloads are large but stable
2. Pin versions - Avoid re-downloading when versions change
3. Use parallel downloads - --parallel-downloads 8

Reduce Image Size

1. Clear cache after install - msvc-kit clean --cache
2. Download only what you need - --no-sdk if SDK not needed

Debugging

Enable verbose logging:

- name: Download MSVC (verbose)
  run: |
    $env:RUST_LOG = "msvc_kit=debug"
    msvc-kit download