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.
• --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. If file is the character -, then a Nix expression will be read from standard input.