nix-shell

Open a shell with dependencies from a Nix expression or flake.

NixOS

Last updated: 2026-07-06 Report error

Syntax

$nix-shell [OPTIONS] [FILE]

Examples

$nix-shell

Examples

$nix-shell -p python310

Examples

$nix-shell shell.nix

Typical use cases

Ad-hoc tools

nix-shell -p gcc gdb

From default.nix

nix-shell

From flake

nix shell nixpkgs#hello

Note Starts a shell with defined dependencies. For reproducible development environments.

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