nix

name	nix
description	Search nixpkgs packages, NixOS options, and the NixOS wiki.
compatibility	Requires curl and jq. Package/option commands additionally require nix with flakes enabled. Network may be needed for uncached refs and wiki access.

Nix Skill

Use for authoritative Nix/NixOS data:

• nixpkgs packages
• NixOS options
• NixOS wiki pages

Prefer commit SHAs for reproducible nixpkgs answers; branch names like nixos-unstable can move.

Scripts print compact output. Nix commands suppress normal evaluator chatter and show stderr only on failure.

NixOS options

Search options

./scripts/search-options.sh REF QUERY [LIMIT]
./scripts/search-options.sh nixos-unstable openssh 20

JSON array fields: name, description, type, default. Search is case-insensitive and limited to option names.

Show one option

./scripts/show-option.sh REF OPTION_PATH
./scripts/show-option.sh nixos-unstable services.openssh.enable

JSON fields: name, description, type, default, example, declarations.

nixpkgs packages

Search packages

./scripts/search-packages.sh REF QUERY [LIMIT]
./scripts/search-packages.sh nixos-unstable ripgrep 20

JSON array fields: attr, pname, version, description.

Show one package

./scripts/show-package.sh REF ATTR_PATH
./scripts/show-package.sh nixos-unstable hello

JSON fields include attrPath, pname, version, description, homepage, license, platforms, platforms_count, broken, insecure, available.

NixOS wiki

Search wiki pages

./scripts/search-wiki.sh QUERY [LIMIT]
./scripts/search-wiki.sh Docker 10

JSON array fields: title, pageid, snippet. Pass a returned title to read-wiki.sh.

Prefer short, focused queries like Rust, Docker, or Traefik.

Read a wiki page

./scripts/read-wiki.sh TITLE
./scripts/read-wiki.sh Docker

Prints the page's raw wikitext source.

Notes

• nix search searches packages, not NixOS options.
• Exact package attr paths from search are usually usable with show-package.sh, but aliases can differ.
• Option/package evaluation can still be expensive on a cold cache.
• Wiki results come from wiki.nixos.org and may vary over time.