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";
         meta.description = "Run Blender, a free and open-source 3D creation suite.";
       };

       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.

       •  meta.description (optional): A description of the app.

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 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.

                                                                                                     nix3-run(1)