install-nix-action

Installs Nix on GitHub Actions for the supported platforms: Linux and macOS.

By default it has no nixpkgs configured, you have to set nix_path by picking a channel or pin nixpkgs yourself (see also pinning tutorial).

Features

Quick installation (~4s on Linux, ~20s on macOS)
Multi-User installation (with sandboxing enabled only on Linux)
Self-hosted GitHub runner support
Allows specifying Nix installation URL via install_url (the oldest supported Nix version is 2.3.5)
Allows specifying extra Nix configuration options via extra_nix_config
Allows specifying $NIX_PATH and channels via nix_path
Share /nix/store between builds using cachix-action for simple binary cache setup to speed up your builds and share binaries with your team
Enables KVM on supported machines: run VMs and NixOS tests with full hardware-acceleration

Usage

Create .github/workflows/test.yml in your repo with the following contents:

name: "Test"
on:
  pull_request:
  push:
jobs:
  tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v27
      with:
        nix_path: nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable
    - run: nix-build

Usage with Flakes

name: "Test"
on:
  pull_request:
  push:
jobs:
  tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v27
      with:
        github_access_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    - run: nix build
    - run: nix flake check

To install Nix from any commit, go to the corresponding installer_test action and click on "Run cachix/install-nix-action@XX" step and expand the first line.

Inputs (specify using `with:`)

extra_nix_config: append to /etc/nix/nix.conf
github_access_token: configure Nix to pull from GitHub using the given GitHub token. This helps work around rate limit issues. Has no effect when access-tokens is also specified in extra_nix_config.
install_url: specify URL to install Nix from (useful for testing non-stable releases or pinning Nix, for example https://releases.nixos.org/nix/nix-2.3.7/install)
install_options: additional installer flags passed to the installer script.
nix_path: set NIX_PATH environment variable, for example nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable
enable_kvm: whether to enable KVM for hardware-accelerated virtualization on Linux. Enabled by default if available.

Differences from the default Nix installer

Some settings have been optimised for use in CI environments:

nix.conf settings. Override these defaults with extra_nix_config:
- The experimental flakes and nix-command features are enabled. Disable by overriding experimental-features in extra_nix_config.
- max-jobs is set to auto.
- show-trace is set to true.
- $USER is added to trusted-users.
- $GITHUB_TOKEN is added to access_tokens if no other github_access_token is provided.
- always-allow-substitutes is set to true.
- ssl-cert-file is set to /etc/ssl/cert.pem on macOS.
KVM is enabled on Linux if available. Disable by setting enable_kvm: false.
$TMPDIR is set to $RUNNER_TEMP if empty.

FAQ

How do I print nixpkgs version I have configured?

- name: Print nixpkgs version
  run: nix-instantiate --eval -E '(import <nixpkgs> {}).lib.version'

How do I run NixOS tests?

With the following inputs:

- uses: cachix/install-nix-action@vXX
  with:
    enable_kvm: true
    extra_nix_config: "system-features = nixos-test benchmark big-parallel kvm"

How do I install packages via nix-env from the specified `nix_path`?

nix-env -i mypackage -f '<nixpkgs>'

How do I add a binary cache?

If the binary cache you want to add is hosted on Cachix and you are using cachix-action, you should use their extraPullNames input like this:

- uses: cachix/cachix-action@vXX
   with:
     name: mycache
     authToken: '${{ secrets.CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN }}'
     extraPullNames: nix-community

Otherwise, you can add any binary cache to nix.conf using install-nix-action's own extra_nix_config input:

- uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v27
  with:
    extra_nix_config: |
      trusted-public-keys = hydra.iohk.io:f/Ea+s+dFdN+3Y/G+FDgSq+a5NEWhJGzdjvKNGv0/EQ= cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY=
      substituters = https://hydra.iohk.io https://cache.nixos.org/

How do I pass environment variables to commands run with `nix develop` or `nix shell`?

Nix runs commands in a restricted environment by default, called pure mode. In pure mode, environment variables are not passed through to improve the reproducibility of the shell.

You can use the --keep / -k flag to keep certain environment variables:

- name: Run a command with nix develop
  run: nix develop --ignore-environment --keep MY_ENV_VAR --command echo $MY_ENV_VAR
  env:
    MY_ENV_VAR: "hello world"

Or you can disable pure mode entirely with the --impure flag:

nix develop --impure

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