DOKK / manpages / debian 13 / nix-bin / nix-channel.1.en
nix-channel(1) General Commands Manual nix-channel(1)

nix-channel - manage Nix channels

nix-channel {--add url [name] | --remove name | --list | --update [names…] | --list-generations | --rollback [generation] }

Channels are a mechanism for referencing remote Nix expressions and conveniently retrieving their latest version.

The moving parts of channels are: - The official channels listed at https://nixos.org/channels - The user-specific list of subscribed channels - The downloaded channel contents - The Nix expression search path, set with the -I option or the NIX_PATH environment variable

Note

The state of a subscribed channel is external to the Nix expressions relying on it. This may limit reproducibility.

Dependencies on other Nix expressions can be declared explicitly with: - fetchurl, fetchTarball, or fetchGit in Nix expressions - the -I option in command line invocations

This command has the following operations:

•
--add url [name]
Add a channel name located at url to the list of subscribed channels. If name is omitted, default to the last component of url, with the suffixes -stable or -unstable removed.
Note
--add does not automatically perform an update. Use --update explicitly.
A channel URL must point to a directory containing a file nixexprs.tar.gz. At the top level, that tarball must contain a single directory with a default.nix file that serves as the channel’s entry point.
•
--remove name
Remove the channel name from the list of subscribed channels.
•
--list
Print the names and URLs of all subscribed channels on standard output.
•
--update [names…]
Download the Nix expressions of subscribed channels and create a new generation. Update all channels if none is specified, and only those included in names otherwise.
•
--list-generations
Prints a list of all the current existing generations for the channel profile.
Works the same way as nix-env --profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/$USER/channels --list-generations
•
--rollback [generation]
Revert channels to the state before the last call to nix-channel --update. Optionally, you can specify a specific channel generation number to restore.

{{#include ./opt-common.md}}

{{#include ./env-common.md}}

nix-channel operates on the following files.

{{#include ./files/channels.md}}

Subscribe to the Nixpkgs channel and run hello from the GNU Hello package:

$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable
$ nix-channel --list
nixpkgs https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs
$ nix-channel --update
$ nix-shell -p hello --run hello
hello

Revert channel updates using --rollback:

$ nix-instantiate --eval '<nixpkgs>' --attr lib.version
"22.11pre296212.530a53dcbc9"
$ nix-channel --rollback
switching from generation 483 to 482
$ nix-instantiate --eval '<nixpkgs>' --attr lib.version
"22.11pre281526.d0419badfad"

Remove a channel:

$ nix-channel --remove nixpkgs
$ nix-channel --list