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

Name

nix run - run a Nix application

Synopsis

nix run [option...] installable args...

Examples

• 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
  

Description

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.

Flake output attributes

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>

Apps

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.

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.

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.

  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.

Logging-related options

• --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.

Options that change the interpretation of installables

• --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.