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nix shell

Start a shell in which the specified packages are available. See also: nix-shell for setting up development environments, nix3 flake for information about flakes. More information: https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/new-cli/nix3-shell.html.

  • Start an interactive shell with some packages from nixpkgs:

nix shell {{nixpkgs#pkg1 nixpkgs#packageSet.pkg2 ...}}

  • Start a shell providing a package from an older version of nixpkgs (21.05):

nix shell {{nixpkgs/nixos-21.05#pkg}}

  • Start a shell with the "default package" from a flake in the current directory, printing build logs if any builds happen:

nix shell -L

  • Start a shell with a package from a flake on GitHub:

nix shell {{github:owner/repo#pkg}}

  • Run a command in a shell with a package:

nix shell {{nixpkgs#pkg}} -c {{some-cmd --someflag 'Some other arguments'}}