Paru is an AUR helper written in Rust, designed to be a fast, minimal, and user-friendly alternative to other AUR helpers like yay or trizen. It aims to provide a streamlined experience for Arch Linux users managing packages from the Arch User Repository (AUR). The project's core philosophy centers around speed, simplicity, and a clean user interface.

One of Paru's key features is its speed. Being written in Rust, it benefits from the language's performance characteristics, allowing for faster package builds, dependency resolution, and overall operation compared to helpers written in interpreted languages. This speed is particularly noticeable when dealing with large AUR packages or complex dependency trees. The repository's README and documentation emphasize this performance advantage, highlighting benchmarks and comparisons with other popular AUR helpers.

Paru's functionality covers the essential tasks of an AUR helper. It can search for packages in the AUR, install packages (including handling dependencies), update packages, and remove packages. It also supports common features like building packages in a clean chroot environment to prevent conflicts and ensure a consistent build environment. The project also includes features for managing configuration, allowing users to customize Paru's behavior to suit their preferences. This includes options for specifying build directories, enabling or disabling certain features, and configuring the level of verbosity.

The project's design prioritizes a clean and intuitive user interface. Paru aims to provide a straightforward and easy-to-understand command-line experience. The output is designed to be readable and informative, providing clear feedback to the user during package operations. The project's documentation and examples demonstrate how to use Paru effectively, making it accessible to both new and experienced Arch Linux users. The developers actively maintain the project, responding to issues and incorporating user feedback to improve the user experience.

Beyond the core functionality, Paru also incorporates features that enhance security and usability. It supports signing packages, allowing users to verify the integrity of packages downloaded from the AUR. This helps to mitigate the risk of malicious packages being installed. The project also includes features for managing package conflicts and resolving dependency issues, making the package management process more robust. The repository also includes information on how to contribute to the project, encouraging community involvement and further development. The project's structure is well-organized, with clear documentation and a focus on maintainability, making it easier for contributors to understand and contribute to the codebase.