Name

       nix search - search for packages

Synopsis

       nix search [option…] installable regex…

Examples

       •  Show all packages in the nixpkgs flake:

       # nix search nixpkgs ^
       * legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.AMB-plugins (0.8.1)
       A set of ambisonics ladspa plugins

       * legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.ArchiSteamFarm (4.3.1.0)
       Application with primary purpose of idling Steam cards from multiple accounts simultaneously
       …

       •  Show packages in the nixpkgs flake containing blender in its name or description:

       # nix search nixpkgs blender
       * legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.blender (2.91.0)
       3D Creation/Animation/Publishing System

       •  Search for packages underneath the attribute gnome3 in Nixpkgs:

       # nix search nixpkgs#gnome3 vala
       * legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.gnome3.vala (0.48.9)
       Compiler for GObject type system

       •  Show all packages in the flake in the current directory:

       # nix search . ^

       •  Search for Firefox or Chromium:

       # nix search nixpkgs 'firefox|chromium'

       •  Search for packages containing git and either frontend or gui:

       # nix search nixpkgs git 'frontend|gui'

       •  Search for packages containing neovim but hide ones containing either gui or python:

       # nix search nixpkgs neovim --exclude 'python|gui'

              or

       # nix search nixpkgs neovim --exclude 'python' --exclude 'gui'

Description

       nix  search  searches  installable (which can be evaluated, that is, a flake or Nix expression, but not a
       store path or store derivation path) for packages whose name or description matches all  of  the  regular
       expressions  regex.  For  each  matching package, It prints the full attribute name (from the root of the
       installable), the version and the meta.description field, highlighting the substrings that  were  matched
       by the regular expressions.

       To  show all packages, use the regular expression ^. In contrast to .*, it avoids highlighting the entire
       name and description of every package.

              Note that in this context, ^ is the regex character to match the beginning of a  string,  not  the
              delimiter for selecting a derivation output.

Flake output attributes

       If no flake output attribute is given, nix search searches for packages:

       •  Directly underneath packages.<system>.

       •  Underneath   legacyPackages.<system>,   recursing  into  attribute  sets  that  contain  an  attribute
          recurseForDerivations = true.

Options

       •  --exclude / -e regex

          Hide packages whose attribute path, name or description contain regex.

       •  --json

          Produce output in JSON format, suitable for consumption by another program.

   Common evaluation options
       •  --arg name expr

          Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions.

       •  --arg-from-file name path

          Pass the contents of file path as the argument name to Nix functions.

       •  --arg-from-stdin name

          Pass the contents of stdin as the argument name to Nix functions.

       •  --argstr name string

          Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions.

       •  --debugger

          Start an interactive environment if evaluation fails.

       •  --eval-store store-url

          The URL of the Nix store to use for evaluation, i.e. to store  derivations  (.drv  files)  and  inputs
          referenced by them.

       •  --impure

          Allow access to mutable paths and repositories.

       •  --include / -I path

          Add path to search path entries used to resolve lookup paths

          This option may be given multiple times.

          Paths  added  through  -I  take  precedence  over  the nix-path configuration setting and the NIX_PATH
          environment variable.

       •  --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.

                 DEPRECATED

                 Use --no-use-registries instead.

       •  --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.

       •  --output-lock-file flake-lock-path

          Write the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.

       •  --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.

                 DEPRECATED

                 Use nix flake update instead.

       •  --reference-lock-file flake-lock-path

          Read the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.

       •  --update-input input-path

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

                 DEPRECATED

                 Use nix flake update instead.

   Logging-related options
       •  --debug

          Set the logging verbosity level to ‘debug’.

       •  --log-format format

          Set the format of log output; one of raw, internal-json, bar or bar-with-logs.

       •  --print-build-logs / -L

          Print full build logs on standard error.

       •  --quiet

          Decrease the logging verbosity level.

       •  --verbose / -v

          Increase the logging verbosity level.

   Miscellaneous global options
       •  --help

          Show usage information.

       •  --offline

          Disable substituters and consider all previously downloaded files up-to-date.

       •  --option name value

          Set the Nix configuration setting name to value (overriding nix.conf).

       •  --refresh

          Consider all previously downloaded files out-of-date.

       •  --repair

          During evaluation, rewrite missing or corrupted files in  the  Nix  store.  During  building,  rebuild
          missing or corrupted store paths.

       •  --version

          Show version information.

   Options that change the interpretation of installables
       •  --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. Implies --impure.

          Note

          See man nix.conf for overriding configuration settings with command line flags.

                                                                                                  nix3-search(1)