A Maven 3 plugin that wraps the Cargo Java API. Though there are no minimum version requirements, all building, continous testing and release activities are performed using Maven 3.2.5 and onwards so we would recommend you have that installed.

The usage of Cargo for executing functional tests on a container does not mandate this Maven plugin. You could also directly use the Cargo Java API from your Java unit test classes (JUnit, TestNG, etc), as described on the Functional testing page. The choice is yours, though the Maven plugin is generally more straightforward to use and integrates better with the whole build process (with profiles, easier to use deployer, proxy server support, etc.)

Please be aware that the Maven 2 / Maven 3 plugin of Codehaus Cargo has been retired with our version 1.9.0 and has been superseded by a Maven 3 only plugin.