Nix command
This article is about all nix subcommands. Its written for nix 2.4 or newer. Older nix versions might have different commands.
Enabling the nix command
In nix 2.4 the nix command must be enabled explicitly set experimental-features = nix-command
in ~/.config/nix/nix.conf or system-wide in /etc/nix/nix.conf.
In NixOS the latter one can be also achieved by using:
{ pkgs, ... }: {
nix.extraOptions = ''
experimental-features = nix-command
'';
}
In the following we describe all sub commands of nix:
Main commands
nix build
Build a derivation or fetch a store path.
nix develop
Run a bash shell that provides the build environment of a derivation.
nix flake
Manage Nix flakes.
nix profile
Manage Nix profiles.
nix repl
Start an interactive environment for evaluating Nix expressions.
nix run
Run a Nix application.
nix search
Query available packages.
nix shell
Run a shell in which the specified packages are available.
Infrequently used commands
nix copy
copy paths between Nix stores
nix edit
open the Nix expression of a Nix package in $EDITOR
nix eval
evaluate a Nix expression
nix log
show the build log of the specified packages or paths, if available
nix path-info
query information about store paths
nix registry
manage the flake registry
nix verify
verify the integrity of store paths
nix why-depends
show why a package has another package in its closure
Utility/scripting commands
nix add-to-store
add a path to the Nix store
nix cat-nar
print the contents of a file inside a NAR file on stdout
nix cat-store
print the contents of a file in the Nix store on stdout
nix copy-sigs
copy path signatures from substituters (like binary caches)
nix dump-path
dump a store path to stdout (in NAR format)
nix hash-file
print cryptographic hash of the NAR serialisation of a path
nix hash-path
print cryptographic hash of the NAR serialisation of a path
nix ls-nar
show information about a path inside a NAR file
nix ls-store
show information about a path in the Nix store
nix make-content-addressable
rewrite a path or closure to content-addressable form
nix optimize-store
replace identical files in the store by hard links
nix ping-store
test whether a store can be opened
nix print-dev-env
print shell code that can be sourced by bash to reproduce the build environment of a derivation
nix show-config
show the Nix configuration
nix show-derivation
show the contents of a store derivation
nix sign-paths
sign the specified paths
nix to-base16
convert a hash to base-16 representation
nix to-base32
convert a hash to base-32 representation
nix to-base64
convert a hash to base-64 representation
nix to-sri
convert a hash to SRI representation