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

Name

nix develop - run a bash shell that provides the build environment of a derivation

Synopsis

nix develop [option...] installable

Examples

Start a shell with the build environment of the default package of the flake in the current directory:
```
# nix develop
```
Typical commands to run inside this shell are:
```
# configurePhase
# buildPhase
# installPhase
```
Alternatively, you can run whatever build tools your project uses directly, e.g. for a typical Unix project:
```
# ./configure --prefix=$out
# make
# make install
```

Run a particular build phase directly:

# nix develop --unpack
# nix develop --configure
# nix develop --build
# nix develop --check
# nix develop --install
# nix develop --installcheck

Start a shell with the build environment of GNU Hello:
```
# nix develop nixpkgs#hello
```

Record a build environment in a profile:

# nix develop --profile /tmp/my-build-env nixpkgs#hello

Use a build environment previously recorded in a profile:
```
# nix develop /tmp/my-build-env
```
Replace all occurrences of the store path corresponding to glibc.dev with a writable directory:
```
# nix develop --redirect nixpkgs#glibc.dev ~/my-glibc/outputs/dev
```
Note that this is useful if you're running a nix develop shell for nixpkgs#glibc in ~/my-glibc and want to compile another package against it.

Run a series of script commands:

# nix develop --command bash -c "mkdir build && cmake .. && make"

Description

nix develop starts a bash shell that provides an interactive build environment nearly identical to what Nix would use to build installable. Inside this shell, environment variables and shell functions are set up so that you can interactively and incrementally build your package.

Nix determines the build environment by building a modified version of the derivation installable that just records the environment initialised by stdenv and exits. This build environment can be recorded into a profile using --profile.

The prompt used by the bash shell can be customised by setting the bash-prompt, bash-prompt-prefix, and bash-prompt-suffix settings in nix.conf or in the flake's nixConfig attribute.

Flake output attributes

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

devShells.<system>.default
packages.<system>.default

If a flake output name is given, nix develop tries the following flake output attributes:

devShells.<system>.<name>
packages.<system>.<name>
legacyPackages.<system>.<name>

Options

--build

Run the build phase.
--check

Run the check phase.
--command / -c command args

Instead of starting an interactive shell, start the specified command and arguments.
--configure

Run the configure phase.
--install

Run the install phase.
--installcheck

Run the installcheck phase.
--phase phase-name

The stdenv phase to run (e.g. build or configure).
--profile path

The profile to operate on.
--redirect installable outputs-dir

Redirect a store path to a mutable location.
--unpack

Run the unpack phase.

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.

--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.

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 environment variables

--ignore-env / -i

Clear the entire environment, except for those specified with --keep-env-var.
--keep-env-var / -k name

Keep the environment variable name, when using --ignore-env.
--set-env-var / -s name value

Sets an environment variable name with value.
--unset-env-var / -u name

Unset the environment variable name.

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.

Nix Reference Manual