Warning: This program is experimental and its interface is subject to change.
Name
nix shell
- run a shell in which the specified packages are available
Synopsis
nix shell
[option...] installables...
Examples
-
Start a shell providing
youtube-dl
from thenixpkgs
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 -c hello --greeting 'Hi everybody!' Hi everybody!
-
Run GNU Hello in a chroot store:
# nix shell --store ~/my-nix nixpkgs#hello -c hello
-
Start a shell providing GNU Hello in a chroot store:
# nix shell --store ~/my-nix nixpkgs#hello nixpkgs#bashInteractive -c 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.
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 $SHELL
.
Options
-
--command
/-c
command args
Command and arguments to be executed, defaulting to$SHELL
-
--debugger
start an interactive environment if evaluation fails -
--ignore-environment
/-i
Clear the entire environment (except those specified with--keep
). -
--keep
/-k
name
Keep the environment variable name. -
--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. -
--eval-store
store-url
The Nix store to use for evaluations. -
--impure
Allow access to mutable paths and repositories. -
--include
/-I
path
Add path to the list of locations used to look up<...>
file names. -
--override-flake
original-ref resolved-ref
Override the flake registries, redirecting original-ref to resolved-ref.
Common flake-related options:
-
--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
. -
--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. -
--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. -
--update-input
input-path
Update a specific flake input (ignoring its previous entry in the lock file).
Options that change the interpretation of installables:
-
--derivation
Operate on the store derivation rather than its outputs. -
--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
.