▸ Agent Skills
3 min read

Getting Started

Installation

1. Install Nix

sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --daemon
curl -sSfL https://artifacts.nixos.org/nix-installer | sh -s -- install

!!! note “Nix installer” We recommend using the above installer. It can handle OS upgrades and has better support for Apple silicon.

If you’d like to stick with the classic installer, use:

sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install)

Upgrade Bash

macOS ships with an ancient version of Bash due to licensing reasons.

We recommend installing a newer version from nixpkgs to avoid running into evaluation errors.

=== “Nix env (newcomers)”

nix-env --install --attr bashInteractive -f https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tarball/nixpkgs-unstable

=== “Nix profiles (requires experimental flags)”

nix profile install nixpkgs#bashInteractive
sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install) --no-daemon
docker run -it nixos/nix

2. Install devenv

nix-env --install --attr devenv -f https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tarball/nixpkgs-unstable
nix profile install nixpkgs#devenv
environment.systemPackages = [  pkgs.devenv];

configuration.nix

home.packages = [  pkgs.devenv];

home.nix

3. Configure a GitHub access token (optional)

The Nix ecosystem is heavily dependent on GitHub for hosting and distributing source code, like the source for nixpkgs. This means that Nix will make a lot of un-authenticated requests to the GitHub API and you may encounter rate-limiting.

To avoid being rate-limited, we recommend providing Nix with a GitHub access token, which will greatly increase your API limits.

Create a new token with no extra permissions at https://github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new. Add the token to your ~/.config/nix/nix.conf:

access-tokens = github.com=<GITHUB_TOKEN>

Initial set up

Initialize a new developer environment with devenv init.

$ devenv init• Creating devenv.nix• Creating devenv.yaml• Creating .gitignore

Terminal window

Commands

Develop

  • devenv init scaffolds a new project with devenv.yaml, devenv.nix, and .gitignore.
  • devenv shell activates your developer environment.
  • devenv up starts processes.
  • devenv processes down stops background processes.
  • devenv tasks run <task> runs tasks.
  • devenv test builds your developer environment and makes sure that all checks pass. Useful to run in your continuous integration environment.
  • devenv container build|copy|run manages containers.

Packages & Dependencies

  • devenv search <NAME> searches packages matching NAME in Nixpkgs input.
  • devenv update updates and pins inputs from devenv.yaml into devenv.lock.
  • devenv inputs add \<name\> <url> adds an input to devenv.yaml.

Inspect & Debug

  • devenv info prints environment information.
  • devenv eval <attr> evaluates attributes and returns JSON.
  • devenv build <attr> builds attributes from devenv.nix.
  • devenv repl launches an interactive Nix REPL for inspecting the environment.

Maintenance & Tooling

  • devenv gc deletes unused environments to save disk space.
  • devenv lsp starts the language server for devenv.nix.
  • devenv mcp launches the MCP server for AI assistants.

Learn more

Updating

Update devenv CLI

nix-env --upgrade --attr devenv -f https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tarball/nixpkgs-unstable
nix profile upgrade devenv

Update nixpkgs to get the latest version of devenv.

For detailed upgrade instructions specific to your setup, please refer to the documentation for your particular system: NixOS, nix-darwin (for macOS), or home-manager, as applicable.

Update project inputs

Inputs, like nixpkgs and devenv modules, are downloaded and pinned in a devenv.lock lockfile.

These should be periodically updated with:

devenv update

Learn more about Inputs.

Show your support

Add a badge to your project’s README to show it’s built with devenv:

Built with devenv

[![Built with devenv](https://devenv.sh/assets/devenv-badge.svg)](https://devenv.sh)

Last updated Oct 08, 2026