nix3-run:tldr:b82ee

The nix run command is used in the Nix package manager to execute a program or script within a specified environment. It ensures that the required dependencies for the program are properly installed and available before running it.

When you run nix run, you provide it with the name or path of the program or script you want to execute, along with any necessary options or arguments. Nix will then create a temporary environment by fetching and building the required dependencies, and finally running the program within that environment.

For example, if you wanted to run a Python script called my_script.py using the Nix package manager, you would execute:

nix run nixpkgs.python3 --command "python my_script.py"

This command tells Nix to fetch and install the python3 package from the nixpkgs collection (which provides a large set of pre-built packages). Once the package is installed, the python command is executed with the my_script.py file as an argument, running the script within the Nix-managed environment.

Using nix run ensures that the program is executed in an isolated environment with all necessary dependencies, helping to prevent issues related to missing or incompatible libraries.