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

Name

nix flake init - create a flake in the current directory from a template

Synopsis

nix flake init [option...]

Examples

  • Create a flake using the default template:

    # nix flake init
    
  • List available templates:

    # nix flake show templates
    
  • Create a flake from a specific template:

    # nix flake init -t templates#simpleContainer
    

Description

This command creates a flake in the current directory by copying the files of a template. It will not overwrite existing files. The default template is templates#templates.default, but this can be overridden using -t.

Template definitions

A flake can declare templates through its templates output attribute. A template has the following attributes:

  • description: A one-line description of the template, in CommonMark syntax.

  • path: The path of the directory to be copied.

  • welcomeText: A block of markdown text to display when a user initializes a new flake based on this template.

Here is an example:

outputs = { self }: {

  templates.rust = {
    path = ./rust;
    description = "A simple Rust/Cargo project";
    welcomeText = ''
      # Simple Rust/Cargo Template
      ## Intended usage
      The intended usage of this flake is...

      ## More info
      - [Rust language](https://www.rust-lang.org/)
      - [Rust on the NixOS Wiki](https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Rust)
      - ...
    '';
  };

  templates.default = self.templates.rust;
}

Options

Common evaluation options

  • --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.

  • --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.

Note

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