nix3-shell(1)

📦
version 2.18.1 · 4 versions
, in ubuntu noble

💅 nix3-shell(1) — General Commands Manual 🎀

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for nix shell from the nix3 command family. pull up a chair, grab a boba, we're doing this 💖

⚠️ Warning — This program is experimental and its interface is subject to change. fr fr. it's giving "still cooking." do not build your entire life plan on this interface staying exactly the same, no cap. 🙈

✨ Name ✨

nix shell — run a shell in which the specified packages are available 🐚

like... it literally hands you a shell with your fave packages already on deck. iconic behavior.

🌸 Synopsis 🌸

nix shell [option…] installables…

that's it. that's the whole shape of it. options, then your installables. slay. ✨

🦋 Examples 🦋

okay these are the vibes, let's go one by one 👑

  • Start a shell providing youtube-dl from the nixpkgs flake:
# nix shell nixpkgs#youtube-dl
# youtube-dl --version
2020.11.01.1
  • Start a shell providing GNU Hello from NixOS 20.03:
# nix shell nixpkgs/nixos-20.03#hello
  • Run GNU Hello:
# nix shell nixpkgs#hello --command hello --greeting 'Hi everybody!'
Hi everybody!
  • Run multiple commands in a shell environment:
# nix shell nixpkgs#gnumake --command sh -c "cd src && make"
  • Run GNU Hello in a chroot store:
# nix shell --store ~/my-nix nixpkgs#hello --command hello
  • Start a shell providing GNU Hello in a chroot store:
# nix shell --store ~/my-nix nixpkgs#hello nixpkgs#bashInteractive --command bash
💀 Note that it's necessary to specify bash explicitly because your default shell (e.g. /bin/bash) generally will not exist in the chroot.

like, the chroot is a whole different little world, bestie. your normal shell isn't invited. bring your own. 🧚

💖 Description 💖

nix shell runs a command in an environment in which the $PATH variable provides the specified installables. If no command is specified, it starts the default shell of your user account specified by $SHELL.

so: give it packages → it gives you a $PATH with those packages → you either tell it what command to run, or it just drops you into $SHELL like "hey girl, here's your shell, go off." 🌈

🎀 Options 🎀

🌟 the main character options

  • --command, -c command args — Command and arguments to be executed, defaulting to $SHELL
  • --ignore-environment, -i — Clear the entire environment (except those specified with --keep).
  • --keep, -k name — Keep the environment variable name.
  • --stdin — Read installables from the standard input. No default installable applied.
  • --unset, -u name — Unset the environment variable name.

🧠 Common evaluation options

  • --arg name expr — Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions.
  • --argstr name string — Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions.
  • --debugger — Start an interactive environment if evaluation fails.
  • --eval-store store-url — The URL of the Nix store to use for evaluation, i.e. to store derivations (.drv files) and inputs referenced by them.
  • --impure — Allow access to mutable paths and repositories.
  • --include, -I path — Add path to the Nix search path. The Nix search path is initialized from the colon-separated NIX_PATH environment variable, and is used to look up the location of Nix expressions using paths enclosed in angle brackets (i.e., <nixpkgs>).

For instance, passing

-I /home/eelco/Dev
-I /etc/nixos

will cause Nix to look for paths relative to /home/eelco/Dev and /etc/nixos, in that order. This is equivalent to setting the NIX_PATH environment variable to

/home/eelco/Dev:/etc/nixos

It is also possible to match paths against a prefix. For example, passing

-I nixpkgs=/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch
-I /etc/nixos

will cause Nix to search for <nixpkgs/path> in /home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch/path and /etc/nixos/nixpkgs/path.

If a path in the Nix search path starts with http:// or https://, it is interpreted as the URL of a tarball that will be downloaded and unpacked to a temporary location. The tarball must consist of a single top-level directory. For example, passing

-I nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/master.tar.gz

tells Nix to download and use the current contents of the master branch in the nixpkgs repository.

The URLs of the tarballs from the official nixos.org channels (see the manual page for nix-channel) can be abbreviated as channel:<channel-name>. For instance, the following two flags are equivalent:

-I nixpkgs=channel:nixos-21.05
-I nixpkgs=https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-21.05/nixexprs.tar.xz

You can also fetch source trees using flake URLs and add them to the search path. For instance,

-I nixpkgs=flake:nixpkgs

specifies that the prefix nixpkgs shall refer to the source tree downloaded from the nixpkgs entry in the flake registry. Similarly,

-I nixpkgs=flake:github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-22.05

makes <nixpkgs> refer to a particular branch of the NixOS/nixpkgs repository on GitHub.

  • --override-flake original-ref resolved-ref — Override the flake registries, redirecting original-ref to resolved-ref.
  • --commit-lock-file — Commit changes to the flake's lock file.
  • --inputs-from flake-url — Use the inputs of the specified flake as registry entries.
  • --no-registries — Don't allow lookups in the flake registries. This option is deprecated; use --no-use-registries.
💀 deprecated alert. she's old news. use --no-use-registries instead, bestie.
  • --no-update-lock-file — Do not allow any updates to the flake's lock file.
  • --no-write-lock-file — Do not write the flake's newly generated lock file.
  • --output-lock-file flake-lock-path — Write the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.
  • --override-input input-path flake-url — Override a specific flake input (e.g. dwarffs/nixpkgs). This implies --no-write-lock-file.
  • --recreate-lock-file — Recreate the flake's lock file from scratch.
  • --reference-lock-file flake-lock-path — Read the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.
  • --update-input input-path — Update a specific flake input (ignoring its previous entry in the lock file).
  • --debug — Set the logging verbosity level to 'debug'.
  • --log-format format — Set the format of log output; one of raw, internal-json, bar or bar-with-logs.
  • --print-build-logs, -L — Print full build logs on standard error.
  • --quiet — Decrease the logging verbosity level.
  • --verbose, -v — Increase the logging verbosity level.

🌈 Miscellaneous global options

  • --help — Show usage information.
  • --offline — Disable substituters and consider all previously downloaded files up-to-date.
  • --option name value — Set the Nix configuration setting name to value (overriding nix.conf).
  • --refresh — Consider all previously downloaded files out-of-date.
  • --repair — During evaluation, rewrite missing or corrupted files in the Nix store. During building, rebuild missing or corrupted store paths.
  • --version — Show version information.

🔮 Options that change the interpretation of installables

  • --expr expr — Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression expr.
  • --file, -f file — Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression stored in file. If file is the character -, then a Nix expression will be read from standard input. Implies --impure.

⚙️ Options to override configuration settings

  • --accept-flake-config — Enable the accept-flake-config setting.
  • --access-tokens value — Set the access-tokens setting.
  • --allow-dirty — Enable the allow-dirty setting.
  • --allow-import-from-derivation — Enable the allow-import-from-derivation setting.
  • --allow-new-privileges — Enable the allow-new-privileges setting.
  • --allow-symlinked-store — Enable the allow-symlinked-store setting.
  • --allow-unsafe-native-code-during-evaluation — Enable the allow-unsafe-native-code-during-evaluation setting.
  • --allowed-impure-host-deps value — Set the allowed-impure-host-deps setting.
  • --allowed-uris value — Set the allowed-uris setting.
  • --allowed-users value — Set the allowed-users setting.
  • --auto-allocate-uids — Enable the auto-allocate-uids setting.
  • --auto-optimise-store — Enable the auto-optimise-store setting.
  • --bash-prompt value — Set the bash-prompt setting.
  • --bash-prompt-prefix value — Set the bash-prompt-prefix setting.
  • --bash-prompt-suffix value — Set the bash-prompt-suffix setting.
  • --build-hook value — Set the build-hook setting.
  • --build-poll-interval value — Set the build-poll-interval setting.
  • --build-users-group value — Set the build-users-group setting.
  • --builders value — Set the builders setting.
  • --builders-use-substitutes — Enable the builders-use-substitutes setting.
  • --commit-lockfile-summary value — Set the commit-lockfile-summary setting.
  • --compress-build-log — Enable the compress-build-log setting.
  • --connect-timeout value — Set the connect-timeout setting.
  • --cores value — Set the cores setting.
  • --diff-hook value — Set the diff-hook setting.
  • --download-attempts value — Set the download-attempts setting.
  • --download-speed value — Set the download-speed setting.
  • --eval-cache — Enable the eval-cache setting.
  • --experimental-features value — Set the experimental-features setting.
  • --extra-access-tokens value — Append to the access-tokens setting.
  • --extra-allowed-impure-host-deps value — Append to the allowed-impure-host-deps setting.
  • --extra-allowed-uris value — Append to the allowed-uris setting.
  • --extra-allowed-users value — Append to the allowed-users setting.
  • --extra-build-hook value — Append to the build-hook setting.
  • --extra-experimental-features value — Append to the experimental-features setting.
  • --extra-extra-platforms value — Append to the extra-platforms setting.
  • --extra-hashed-mirrors value — Append to the hashed-mirrors setting.
  • --extra-ignored-acls value — Append to the ignored-acls setting.
  • --extra-nix-path value — Append to the nix-path setting.
  • --extra-platforms value — Set the extra-platforms setting.
  • --extra-plugin-files value — Append to the plugin-files setting.
  • --extra-sandbox-paths value — Append to the sandbox-paths setting.
  • --extra-secret-key-files value — Append to the secret-key-files setting.
  • --extra-substituters value — Append to the substituters setting.
  • --extra-system-features value — Append to the system-features setting.
  • --extra-trusted-public-keys value

and that's where part 1 wraps, bestie — there's more coming, don't you dare close the tab 💖✨

  • --extra-trusted-public-keys value — append to the trusted-public-keys setting 🔑 add a key to the trust list without yeeting the old ones.
  • --extra-trusted-substituters value — append to the trusted-substituters setting, same energy, different list.
  • --extra-trusted-users value — append to the trusted-users setting 💅 more trusted besties, no overwriting.
  • --fallback — enable the fallback setting.
  • --filter-syscalls — enable the filter-syscalls setting.
  • --flake-registry value — set the flake-registry setting.
  • --fsync-metadata — enable the fsync-metadata setting.
  • --gc-reserved-space value — set the gc-reserved-space setting.
  • --hashed-mirrors value — set the hashed-mirrors setting.
  • --http-connections value — set the http-connections setting.
  • --http2 — enable the http2 setting ✨
  • --id-count value — set the id-count setting.
  • --ignore-try — enable the ignore-try setting.
  • --ignored-acls value — set the ignored-acls setting.
  • --impersonate-linux-26 — enable the impersonate-linux-26 setting, yes it's really called that, iconic.
  • --keep-build-log — enable the keep-build-log setting.
  • --keep-derivations — enable the keep-derivations setting.
  • --keep-env-derivations — enable the keep-env-derivations setting.
  • --keep-failed — enable the keep-failed setting.
  • --keep-going — enable the keep-going setting 🫶
  • --keep-outputs — enable the keep-outputs setting.
  • --log-lines value — set the log-lines setting.
  • --max-build-log-size value — set the max-build-log-size setting.
  • --max-free value — set the max-free setting.
  • --max-jobs value — set the max-jobs setting.
  • --max-silent-time value — set the max-silent-time setting.
  • --max-substitution-jobs value — set the max-substitution-jobs setting.
  • --min-free value — set the min-free setting.
  • --min-free-check-interval value — set the min-free-check-interval setting.
  • --nar-buffer-size value — set the nar-buffer-size setting.
  • --narinfo-cache-negative-ttl value — set the narinfo-cache-negative-ttl setting.
  • --narinfo-cache-positive-ttl value — set the narinfo-cache-positive-ttl setting.
  • --netrc-file value — set the netrc-file setting.
  • --nix-path value — set the nix-path setting.
  • --no-accept-flake-config — disable the accept-flake-config setting.
  • --no-allow-dirty — disable the allow-dirty setting.
  • --no-allow-import-from-derivation — disable the allow-import-from-derivation setting.
  • --no-allow-new-privileges — disable the allow-new-privileges setting.
  • --no-allow-symlinked-store — disable the allow-symlinked-store setting.
  • --no-allow-unsafe-native-code-during-evaluation — disable the allow-unsafe-native-code-during-evaluation setting 😭 that name is a whole paragraph fr.
  • --no-auto-allocate-uids — disable the auto-allocate-uids setting.
  • --no-auto-optimise-store — disable the auto-optimise-store setting.
  • --no-builders-use-substitutes — disable the builders-use-substitutes setting.
  • --no-compress-build-log — disable the compress-build-log setting.
  • --no-eval-cache — disable the eval-cache setting.
  • --no-fallback — disable the fallback setting.
  • --no-filter-syscalls — disable the filter-syscalls setting.
  • --no-fsync-metadata — disable the fsync-metadata setting.
  • --no-http2 — disable the http2 setting.
  • --no-ignore-try — disable the ignore-try setting.
  • --no-impersonate-linux-26 — disable the impersonate-linux-26 setting.
  • --no-keep-build-log — disable the keep-build-log setting.
  • --no-keep-derivations — disable the keep-derivations setting.
  • --no-keep-env-derivations — disable the keep-env-derivations setting.
  • --no-keep-failed — disable the keep-failed setting.
  • --no-keep-going — disable the keep-going setting.
  • --no-keep-outputs — disable the keep-outputs setting.
  • --no-preallocate-contents — disable the preallocate-contents setting.
  • --no-print-missing — disable the print-missing setting.
  • --no-pure-eval — disable the pure-eval setting.
  • --no-require-drop-supplementary-groups — disable the require-drop-supplementary-groups setting.
  • --no-require-sigs — disable the require-sigs setting.
  • --no-restrict-eval — disable the restrict-eval setting.
  • --no-run-diff-hook — disable the run-diff-hook setting.
  • --no-sandbox — disable sandboxing 💀 (like, actually, the sandbox is off now).
  • --no-sandbox-fallback — disable the sandbox-fallback setting.
  • --no-show-trace — disable the show-trace setting.
  • --no-substitute — disable the substitute setting.
  • --no-sync-before-registering — disable the sync-before-registering setting.
  • --no-trace-function-calls — disable the trace-function-calls setting.
  • --no-trace-verbose — disable the trace-verbose setting.
  • --no-use-case-hack — disable the use-case-hack setting.
  • --no-use-cgroups — disable the use-cgroups setting.
  • --no-use-registries — disable the use-registries setting.
  • --no-use-sqlite-wal — disable the use-sqlite-wal setting.
  • --no-use-xdg-base-directories — disable the use-xdg-base-directories setting.
  • --no-warn-dirty — disable the warn-dirty setting.
  • --plugin-files value — set the plugin-files setting.
  • --post-build-hook value — set the post-build-hook setting.
  • --pre-build-hook value — set the pre-build-hook setting.
  • --preallocate-contents — enable the preallocate-contents setting.
  • --print-missing — enable the print-missing setting.
  • --pure-eval — enable the pure-eval setting 🧚
  • --relaxed-sandbox — enable sandboxing, but allow builds to disable it 👑
  • --require-drop-supplementary-groups — enable the require-drop-supplementary-groups setting.
  • --require-sigs — enable the require-sigs setting.
  • --restrict-eval — enable the restrict-eval setting.
  • --run-diff-hook — enable the run-diff-hook setting.
  • --sandbox — enable sandboxing 🎀
  • --sandbox-build-dir value — set the sandbox-build-dir setting.
  • --sandbox-dev-shm-size value — set the sandbox-dev-shm-size setting.
  • --sandbox-fallback — enable the sandbox-fallback setting.
  • --sandbox-paths value — set the sandbox-paths setting.
  • --secret-key-files value — set the secret-key-files setting.
  • --show-trace — enable the show-trace setting.
  • --ssl-cert-file value — set the ssl-cert-file setting.
  • --stalled-download-timeout value — set the stalled-download-timeout setting.
  • --start-id value — set the start-id setting.
  • --store value — set the store setting.
  • --substitute — enable the substitute setting.
  • --substituters value — set the substituters setting.
  • --sync-before-registering — enable the sync-before-registering setting.
  • --system value — set the system setting.
  • --system-features value — set the system-features setting.
  • --tarball-ttl value — set the tarball-ttl setting.
  • --timeout value — set the timeout setting.
  • --trace-function-calls — enable the trace-function-calls setting.
  • --trace-verbose — enable the trace-verbose setting.
  • --trusted-public-keys value — set the trusted-public-keys setting.
  • --trusted-substituters value — set the trusted-substituters setting.
  • --trusted-users value — set the trusted-users setting.
  • --use-case-hack — enable the use-case-hack setting.
  • --use-cgroups — enable the use-cgroups setting.
  • --use-registries — enable the use-registries setting.
  • --use-sqlite-wal — enable the use-sqlite-wal setting.
  • --use-xdg-base-directories — enable the use-xdg-base-directories setting.
  • --user-agent-suffix value — set the user-agent-suffix setting.
  • --warn-dirty — enable the warn-dirty setting.

and that's the whole options buffet, bestie — every single one accounted for, no cap 💖

that was nix3-shell(1), coming at you from the Nix manual fam, dated 2024-08-31 (or whatever day your copy is stamped with — check your local page, i'm just the vibe translator) 🦋

stay slaying, keep your store clean, and remember: nix shell loves you back 🌸✨

📦 where this page comes from