nix3-run(1) General Commands Manual nix3-run(1)

Warning
This program is experimental and its interface is subject to change.

nix run - run a Nix application

nix run [option…] installable args…

•
Run the default app from the blender-bin flake:
# nix run blender-bin
•
Run a non-default app from the blender-bin flake:
# nix run blender-bin#blender_2_83
Tip: you can find apps provided by this flake by running nix flake show blender-bin.
•
Run vim from the nixpkgs flake:
# nix run nixpkgs#vim
Note that vim (as of the time of writing of this page) is not an app but a package. Thus, Nix runs the eponymous file from the vim package.
•
Run vim with arguments:
# nix run nixpkgs#vim -- --help

nix run builds and runs installable, which must evaluate to an app or a regular Nix derivation.

If installable evaluates to an app (see below), it executes the program specified by the app definition.

If installable evaluates to a derivation, it will try to execute the program <out>/bin/<name>, where out is the primary output store path of the derivation, and name is the first of the following that exists:

  • The meta.mainProgram attribute of the derivation.
  • The pname attribute of the derivation.
  • The name part of the value of the name attribute of the derivation.

For instance, if name is set to hello-1.10, nix run will run $out/bin/hello.

If no flake output attribute is given, nix run tries the following flake output attributes:

  • apps.<system>.default
  • packages.<system>.default

If an attribute name is given, nix run tries the following flake output attributes:

  • apps.<system>.<name>
  • packages.<system>.<name>
  • legacyPackages.<system>.<name>

An app is specified by a flake output attribute named apps.<system>.<name>. It looks like this:

apps.x86_64-linux.blender_2_79 = {
  type = "app";
  program = "${self.packages.x86_64-linux.blender_2_79}/bin/blender";
};

The only supported attributes are:

  • type (required): Must be set to app.
  • program (required): The full path of the executable to run. It must reside in the Nix store.

•
--arg name expr
Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions.
•
--arg-from-file name path
Pass the contents of file path as the argument name to Nix functions.
•
--arg-from-stdin name
Pass the contents of stdin 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 search path entries used to resolve lookup paths
This option may be given multiple times.
Paths added through -I take precedence over the nix-path configuration setting and the NIX_PATH environment variable.
•
--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.
DEPRECATED
Use --no-use-registries instead.
•
--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.
DEPRECATED
Use nix flake update instead.
•
--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).
DEPRECATED
Use nix flake update instead.
•
--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.

•
--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.

•
--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.

Note

See man nix.conf for overriding configuration settings with command line flags.