optnix

name	optnix
description	Search Nix module system options (NVF, NixOS, home-manager, etc.)

optnix — Nix Option Search

optnix is a CLI tool for searching Nix module system options. Use it when you need to discover or inspect NVF, NixOS, home-manager, or any configured scope's options.

When to Use

• Finding available options for a Nix module (e.g., what options exist under vim.languages.go)
• Looking up option documentation (type, default, description, example)
• Discovering option names when you only know part of the name

Available Scopes

List configured scopes:

optnix --list-scopes

This project has optnix.toml at the repo root with nvf as the default scope.

Commands

Exact Option Lookup

When you know the exact option name:

optnix --non-interactive --json <option-name>

Example:

optnix --non-interactive --json vim.languages.go.enable

Returns JSON with: name, description, type, default, example, declarations.

Fuzzy Search

When you don't know the exact name, use a partial match:

optnix --non-interactive --json vim.languages.go.enabl

This exits with code 1 and returns JSON with a similar_options array containing close matches. Parse this to find the correct option name, then query again.

Specifying a Scope

Override the default scope with -s:

optnix --non-interactive --json -s nixos services.nginx.enable
optnix --non-interactive --json -s home-manager programs.git.enable

Without -s, uses default_scope from optnix.toml (currently nvf).

Workflow Examples

1. Discover Options Under a Path

# Fuzzy search to find all options containing "treesitter"
optnix --non-interactive --json vim.treesitter

Parse similar_options from the error response to see available options.

2. Get Full Option Details

# Exact lookup for complete documentation
optnix --non-interactive --json vim.treesitter.enable

3. Check Another Scope

# List available scopes first
optnix --list-scopes

# Query NixOS options
optnix --non-interactive --json -s nixos boot.loader.grub.enable

Configuration

The optnix.toml at the repo root defines available scopes. Add new scopes there if needed.

Flags Reference

Flag	Description
-s, --scope <name>	Specify scope (overrides default)
-n, --non-interactive	Non-interactive mode (required for scripts)
-j, --json	JSON output (required for parsing)
-l, --list-scopes	List available scopes
-m, --min-score <n>	Minimum fuzzy match score
-v, --value-only	Output only the option value