Searching packages: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:28, 7 December 2025

There are numerous approaches available for searching substrings within both package names and package descriptions in nixpkgs.

Using `search.nixos.org` website

There is a web service to search with

channel branches

Nix packages at search.nixos.org/packages
NixOS options at search.nixos.org/options

flakes

packages at search.nixos.org/flakes?type=packages
options at search.nixos.org/flakes?type=options

pros

easy to use
allows filters
nice GUI in browser
browser extensions possible (like @nixpkgs as search engine in Firefox)

cons

always requires Internet connection

If you'd like to search with this web service from the command line, you may use peterldowns/nix-search-cli. It provides exactly the same search experience by default.

Other online sites for searching

These are another possible places to search

github.com - search for regex/strings in nixpkgs, home-manager, nix-darwin and any other public github repos.
mynixos.com - search for packages in nixpkgs, also nixos, home-manager, nix-darwin options. Not foss and unofficial.
home-manager-options.extranix.com - search for home-manager options. foss

Using the `nix search` command

While this command requires flakes, you can use it to search for a package. It may be slow the first time, but further runs will use cached results.

nix search nixpkgs firefox

pros

fast
possible offline usage

cons

requires disk space for caching
quite long command

There are third party tools that allow searching for packages similarly to nix search, namely:

diamondburned/nix-search: A faster and channel-compatible nix search using only stable Nix tools (no flakes required) which creates a local database with a package index.

Using the `nix-env` command

It's possible to search for a package using nix-env -qaP

pros

works offline

cons

it's very slow and requires a lot of memory

Using the `nps` command

nps caches entire nix search nixpkgs ^ and nix-env -qaP --description results locally and queries the cache.

nps firefox

pros

works offline
very fast
easy syntax
output sorted by relevance

cons

Using the `nix repl` environment

With the read–eval–print loop (REPL) of nix you can browse packages interactively.

Starting the nix repl

nix repl

Welcome to Nix 2.18.2. Type :? for help.

nix-repl>

Loading the repository for nixpkgs

nix-repl>

nix-repl> :load <nixpkgs>
Added 21181 variables.

Type the first letters of a package

nix-repl> neo

Press Tab ↹ key for auto completion

Reverse search: searching which package provides a file

There are third party programs that make it easier to determine which package you need to install in order to obtain a specific file or program.

These are most commonly used, and require you to create an index on your computer before you can search for a package:

These are online tools which search an index someone else keeps up to date:

peterldowns/nix-search-cli: nix-search -p theBinaryIWantToInstall to search the search.nixos.org elasticsearch index.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-There are multiple ways to search for a package name in <code>nixpkgs</code>.
+There are numerous approaches available for searching substrings within both package names and package descriptions in <code>nixpkgs</code>.
 == Using <code>search.nixos.org</code> website ==
-There is a web service to search for
+There is a web service to search with
-: with [[channels]]
+: [[channel branches]]
 :* Nix packages at [https://search.nixos.org/packages search.nixos.org/packages]
 :* NixOS options at [https://search.nixos.org/options search.nixos.org/options]
-: with [[flakes]]
+: [[flakes]]
-:* packages at [https://search.nixos.org/flakes?type=options search.nixos.org/flakes?type=options]
+:* packages at [https://search.nixos.org/flakes?type=packages search.nixos.org/flakes?type=packages]
-:* options at [https://search.nixos.org/flakes?type=packages search.nixos.org/flakes?type=packages]
+:* options at [https://search.nixos.org/flakes?type=options search.nixos.org/flakes?type=options]
 ; pros:
 * easy to use
 * allows filters
+* nice GUI in browser
+* browser extensions possible (like @nixpkgs as search engine in Firefox)
 ; cons:
-* requires Internet connection
+* always requires Internet connection
+If you'd like to search with this web service from the command line, you may use [https://github.com/peterldowns/nix-search-cli peterldowns/nix-search-cli]. It provides exactly the same search experience by default.
+== Other online sites for searching ==
+These are another possible places to search
+* [https://github.com/search?q=language%3ANix+&type=code github.com] - search for regex/strings in nixpkgs, home-manager, nix-darwin and any other public github repos.
+* [https://mynixos.com mynixos.com] - search for packages in nixpkgs, also nixos, home-manager, nix-darwin options. Not foss and unofficial.
+* [https://home-manager-options.extranix.com home-manager-options.extranix.com] - search for home-manager options. [https://github.com/mipmip/home-manager-option-search foss]
 == Using the <code>nix search</code> command ==
-While this command is still experimental, you can use it to search for a package. It may be slow the first time, but further runs will use cached results.
+While this command requires [[flakes]], you can use it to search for a package. It may be slow the first time, but further runs will use cached results.
-<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" search nixpkgs firefox</syntaxhighlight>
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix search nixpkgs firefox</syntaxhighlight>
+; pros:
+* fast
+* possible offline usage
+; cons:
+* requires disk space for caching
+* quite long command
+There are third party tools that allow searching for packages similarly to <code>nix search</code>, namely:
+* [https://github.com/diamondburned/nix-search diamondburned/nix-search]: A faster and channel-compatible <code>nix search</code> using only stable Nix tools (no [[flakes]] required) which creates a local database with a package index.
 == Using the <code>nix-env</code> command ==
@@ Line 31: / Line 55: @@
 ; cons:
 * it's very slow and requires a lot of memory
+== Using the <code>nps</code> command ==
+<code>nps</code> caches entire <code>nix search nixpkgs ^</code> and <code>nix-env -qaP --description</code> results locally and queries the cache.
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nps firefox</syntaxhighlight>
+; pros:
+* works offline
+* very fast
+* easy syntax
+* output sorted by relevance
+; cons:
+* [https://github.com/OleMussmann/nps/blob/main/README.md third party program]
+* [https://github.com/OleMussmann/nps/blob/main/README.md#automatic-cache-refresh-optional-recommended- cache needs regular refreshing (automatable)]
 == Using the <code>nix repl</code> environment ==
@@ Line 36: / Line 76: @@
 With the read–eval–print loop (REPL) of nix you can browse packages interactively.
-Starting the [[nix command/repl|nix repl]]
+Starting the [https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-repl.html nix repl]
 <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix repl</syntaxhighlight>
 <syntaxhighlight lang="console">
-Welcome to Nix 2.8.1. Type :? for help.
+Welcome to Nix 2.18.2. Type :? for help.
 nix-repl>
 </syntaxhighlight>
@@ Line 48: / Line 88: @@
 nix-repl>
 </syntaxhighlight>
-<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">:load <nixpkgs></syntaxhighlight>
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix-repl> :load <nixpkgs>
-<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
+Added 21181 variables.
-Added 16519 variables.
+</syntaxhighlight>Type the first letters of a package
-</syntaxhighlight>
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">nix-repl> neo  </syntaxhighlight>
-Type the first letters of a package
-<syntaxhighlight lang="console">nix-repl></syntaxhighlight>
-<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">firef</syntaxhighlight>
 Press <tt>Tab ↹</tt> key<!-- {{[[mw:Template::Key press]]|Tab}} --> for auto completion
 == Reverse search: searching which package provides a file ==
-There is a third party program [https://github.com/bennofs/nix-index nix-index] to find which package provides a given file. This is particularly useful when you are looking for a very specific file but you don't know which package installs it.
+There are third party programs that make it easier to determine which package you need to install in order to obtain a specific file or program.
+These are most commonly used, and require you to create an index on your computer before you can search for a package:
+* [https://github.com/nix-community/nix-index nix-community/nix-index]
+* [https://github.com/replit/rippkgs replit/rippkgs]
+These are online tools which search an index someone else keeps up to date:
+* [https://github.com/peterldowns/nix-search-cli peterldowns/nix-search-cli]: <code>nix-search -p theBinaryIWantToInstall</code> to search the search.nixos.org elasticsearch index.
 [[Category:Reference]]
 [[Category:Nixpkgs]]

Latest revision as of 16:28, 7 December 2025

Using search.nixos.org website

Other online sites for searching

Using the nix search command

Using the nix-env command

Using the nps command