Sandboxed Bootstrapping

The Bootstrap Command

You can try flake-file bootstrap command without having to change anything in your flake.

Just create a temporary directory where to experiment safely.

mkdir bootstrap
cd bootstrap

You can create a flake.nix from scratch — without running inside an existing flake — using a one-shot bootstrap command:

# Write a minimal flake-file.nix file (or copy a flake.nix of yours)
echo '{ inputs.flake-file.url = "github:vic/flake-file"; }' > flake-file.nix

# Generate flake.nix or unflake.nix or npins or nixlock from flake-file.nix
nix-shell https://github.com/vic/flake-file/archive/refs/heads/main.zip \
  -A flake-file.sh --run write-flake --arg modules ./flake-file.nix

See also: all bootstrap command args

Replace write-flake with write-inputs, write-unflake, write-nixlock, or write-npins to target a different backend.

Using a modules directory

bootstrap.nix can also be a directory. All .nix files in it will be auto-imported using import-tree:

nix-shell https://github.com/vic/flake-file/archive/refs/heads/main.zip \
  -A flake-file.sh --run write-flake --arg modules ./modules

This is useful when you already have module files and just need the initial flake.nix to be generated before Nix can evaluate the flake itself.

Next Steps

See the bootstrap command reference for more options.