More Info on Nix¶
We use the NixOS toolkit to build consistent development, testing, and deployment environments for Holochain Core and apps.
NixOS development tools run on many operating systems. NixOS is also the OS we use in our automated testing and our HoloPorts.
The main components of the tooling for Holochain development are:
It is important that these remain consistent across compatible apps and the Holochain Core.
The Holonix repository tracks standard, shared dependencies for all of the scenarios in which we use NixOS. Typically you won’t need to interact with Holonix directly.
The main Nix tool used in Holochain development workflows is nix-shell, a managed Bash shell that overlays a new environment and set of tools on top of your existing environment.
Many popular package management tools only target a single OS. NixOS package management supports most OSes.
The full suite of Nix tooling is broad and deep. There’s even a dedicated OS and functional programming language. Learn more with the NixOS Wiki or the Pills Tutorial. The community IRC chat at #nixos on freenode is active and helpful.
nix-shell¶
While working on Holochain, you will usually have an active nix-shell to run commands. All the extra dependencies and environment variables will be cleaned up automatically when you close the shell.
nix-shell will give you the latest releases every time you enter it. Nix is configured by default.nix files; these set all dependencies and variables that are added to your terminal.
You can extend the master default.nix file or use it directly from https://holochain.love. Opening a shell from holochain.love downloads updates automatically. The initial run will take some time to download and build. It gets much faster on subsequent runs.
nix-shell cleans up everything it added when you exit. You need to re-enter the shell each time you want to work.
Note: The files are cached locally on your machine, so they will not be re-downloaded or rebuilt the next time you enter the shell.