Nix Basics

Nix Cookbook

This repository is a collection of Nix expressions and snippets that show you how you can get common tasks done in Nix.

The target audience are those that have read the Nix Manual and found it great reference material but need more examples to be more productive with the following toolset:

• Nix
• NixOS
• NixOps

Prerequisites

I recommend Nix 1.9+ (although most exercises should work in 1.8) and installing nix-repl:

$ nix-env -i nix-repl

Alternatively just start the nix-shell at the root of this repository:

$ nix-shell

Basics

To get started doing warmups the following snippets provide examples and exercises to get acquainted with the different builtin types in the Nix expression language.

Start by using the nix-repl.

• Integers
• Booleans
• Strings
• Paths
• Files
• Lists
• Lambdas
• Concatenation
• Importing

Poke around at the examples and let me know (via pull requests or issues) about any problems or suggestions you have for the material.