nix-env

• A package manager! Packages installed via nix-env are installed for the current user only
• Not particularly useful on NixOS systems in which you will either install via config file or launch a nix-shell
• User environment: is a view of a set of installed nix applications

install

• Packages are stored at /nix/store/<hash>-<package>-<version>
• To install a package, the attr-path id must be specified. Get it with nix-env -qaP

# Install a package by its id
nix-env --install --attr nixpkgs.neovim
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.neovim

# Specify channel
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.neovim -f '<nixpkgs>'

upgrade

# Upgrade all packages
nix-env --upgrade

# Upgrade a specific package
nix-env --upgrade --attr nixpkgs.neovim

uninstall

• To uninstall a package, the package name must be specified. Get it with nix-env -q

nix-env --uninstall "neovim"
nix-env -e "neovim"

query

# list all installed packages
nix-env --query
nix-env -q

# query from a channel manually (e.g., cloned from github)
nix-env -q --file "/path/to/nixpkgs"
nix-env -qf "/path/to/nixpkgs"

# list all available (installable) packages and it's id (first column)
nix-env -q --available --attr-path
nix-env -qaP
nix-env -qaP "firefox" # filter by name
nix-env -qaP "firefox.*" # filter with regex

# get the status of the package (I: installed, P: present on system, S: binary available)
nix-env -q --status
nix-env -qs

list-generations

nix-env --list-generations