devenv-machines(1)

📦 version 2.4.0, in nixpkgs unstable

✨ devenv-machines — the group chat for your machines 💅

okay so real quick, bestie: this is devenv-machines(1), from the General Commands Manual section. It's the page about building and deploying NixOS, nix-darwin, and home-manager machines — and the whole vibe lives at https://devenv.sh/machines/ 🦋

🌸 NAME 🌸

devenv-machines — Build and deploy NixOS, nix-darwin, and home-manager machines. https://devenv.sh/machines/ 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

devenv machines [--user-config] [--from] [-o|--override-input]
[-O|--option] [-j|--max-jobs] [-u|--cores] [-s|--system] [-i|--impure]
[--no-impure] [--offline] [--nix-option] [--nix-debugger] [-c|--clean]
[-P|--profile] [--reload] [--no-reload] [--shell] [--eval-cache]
[--no-eval-cache] [--refresh-eval-cache] [--refresh-task-cache]
[--secretspec-provider] [--secretspec-profile] [--trace-to]
[-v|--verbose] [-q|--quiet] [--tui] [--no-tui] [-h|--help] <subcommands>

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Build and deploy NixOS, nix-darwin, and home-manager machines. Literally all of them. Together. Iconic behaviour fr fr 🫶

The docs live at https://devenv.sh/machines/ — go read them, they ate.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • --user-config <USER_CONFIG> — use this user configuration file instead of the XDG default. not the default one, this one. ty 💅

🧚 INPUT OVERRIDES 🧚

  • --from <FROM> — the source for devenv.nix.

Can be either a filesystem path (with a path: prefix) or a flake input reference.

Examples, baby:

--from github:cachix/devenv
--from github:cachix/devenv?dir=examples/simple
--from path:/absolute/path/to/project
--from path:./relative/path
  • -o, --override-input <NAME> <URI> — override inputs in devenv.yaml.

Examples:

--override-input nixpkgs github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable
--override-input nixpkgs path:/path/to/local/nixpkgs
  • -O, --option <OPTION:TYPE> <VALUE> — override configuration options with typed values.

OPTION must include a type, in the form <attribute>:<type>. Supported types are: string, int, float, bool, path, pkg, pkgs. Lowkey crucial, don't forget the type or it's giving error energy 😭

List types (pkgs) append to existing values by default. Add a ! suffix to replace instead: pkgs! 🔥

Examples:

--option languages.rust.channel:string beta
--option services.postgres.enable:bool true
--option languages.python.version:string 3.10
--option packages:pkgs "ncdu git"       (appends to packages)
--option packages:pkgs! "ncdu git"      (replaces all packages)

🍓 NIX OPTIONS 🍓

  • -j, --max-jobs <MAX_JOBS> — maximum number of Nix builds to run concurrently.

Defaults to 1/4 of available CPU cores (minimum 1). so like, a quarter of your cores, but never zero bestie.

  • -u, --cores <CORES> — number of CPU cores available to each build.

Defaults to available cores divided by max-jobs (minimum 1).

  • -s, --system <SYSTEM> — override the target system.

Defaults to the host system (e.g. aarch64-darwin, x86_64-linux).

  • -i, --impure — relax the hermeticity of the environment. letting the outside world in, gently 🦋
  • --no-impure — force a hermetic environment, overriding config. no vibes from outside, periodt.
  • --offline — disable substituters and consider all previously downloaded files up-to-date.
  • --nix-option <NAME> <VALUE> — pass additional options to nix commands.

These options are passed directly to Nix using the --option flag. See man nix.conf for the full list of available options.

Examples:

--nix-option sandbox false
--nix-option keep-outputs true
--nix-option system x86_64-darwin
  • --nix-debugger — enter the Nix debugger on failure. when things go 💀, you get to go in and look around.

🌈 SHELL OPTIONS 🌈

  • -c, --clean [<CLEAN>...] — ignore existing environment variables when entering the shell. Pass a list of comma-separated environment variables to let through. like a VIP list for your env vars 🎟️
  • -P, --profile <PROFILES> — activate one or more profiles defined in devenv.nix.

Profiles allow you to define different configurations that can be merged with your base configuration.

See https://devenv.sh/profiles for more information.

Examples:

--profile python-3.14
--profile backend --profile fast-startup
  • --reload — enable auto-reload when config files change (default). it just knows ✨
  • --no-reload — disable auto-reload when config files change.
  • --shell <SHELL_TYPE> — shell to use for interactive sessions (bash, zsh, fish, nu).

Possible values:

  • bash
  • zsh
  • fish
  • nu

🧊 CACHE OPTIONS 🧊

  • --eval-cache — enable caching of Nix evaluation results (default).
  • --no-eval-cache — disable caching of Nix evaluation results.
  • --refresh-eval-cache — force a refresh of the Nix evaluation cache.
  • --refresh-task-cache — force a refresh of the task cache.

🔐 SECRETSPEC OPTIONS 🔐

  • --secretspec-provider <SECRETSPEC_PROVIDER> — override the secretspec provider. shhh 🤫
  • --secretspec-profile <SECRETSPEC_PROFILE> — override the secretspec profile.

🦋 TRACING OPTIONS 🦋

  • --trace-to <TRACE_TO> — enable tracing and set output destination(s). Can be repeated for multiple outputs. (yes, repeat it, collect them all 💅)

Syntax: [format:]destination

Examples:

--trace-to stderr                              # json to stderr
--trace-to pretty:stderr                       # pretty format to stderr
--trace-to json:file:/tmp/trace.json           # JSON to file
--trace-to otlp-grpc                           # OTLP gRPC to default endpoint
--trace-to otlp-grpc:http://collector:4317     # OTLP gRPC to custom endpoint

Multiple outputs:

--trace-to pretty:stderr --trace-to json:file:/tmp/t.json

Destinations: stdout, stderr, file:<path>, http(s)://<host>:<port>. Formats: json (default), pretty, full, otlp-grpc, otlp-http-protobuf, otlp-http-json.

When format is omitted, defaults to json. Tracing is disabled by default.

[env: DEVENV_TRACE_TO=] (comma-separated) — [env: DEVENV_TRACE_DEFAULT_TO=] (comma-separated, used only when no explicit tracing is configured; set to empty string to suppress). 🫶

👑 GLOBAL OPTIONS 👑

  • -v, --verbose — enable additional debug logs. the girlies love lore.
  • -q, --quiet — silence all logs. mute, but make it peaceful 🙈
  • --tui <TUI> — enable the interactive terminal interface (default when interactive).

Possible values:

  • true
  • false
  • --no-tui — disable the interactive terminal interface.
  • -h, --help — print help (see a summary with -h).

⭐ SUBCOMMANDS ⭐

okay that's the whole thing bestie. this page ships as part of machines, and it's filed under devenv-machines(1) — so if you ever forget where you found it, that's the name to search. go build something iconic ✨🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from