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 meta.mainProgram attribute of the derivation if it exists, and otherwise the name part of the value of the name attribute of the derivation (e.g. if name is set to hello-1.10, it will run $out/bin/hello).

Flake output attributes

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

  • defaultApp.<system>

  • defaultPackage.<system>

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> or defaultApp.<system>. 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.

  • --argstr name string
    Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions.

  • --eval-store store-url
    The Nix store to use for evaluations.

  • --impure
    Allow access to mutable paths and repositories.

  • --include / -I path
    Add path to the list of locations used to look up <...> file names.

  • --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. This option is deprecated; use --no-use-registries.

  • --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.

  • --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.

  • --update-input input-path
    Update a specific flake input (ignoring its previous entry in the lock file).

Options that change the interpretation of installables:

  • --derivation
    Operate on the store derivation rather than its outputs.

  • --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.