home-manager/docs/home-manager.1

.Dd January 1, 1980
.Dt home-manager 1
.Os Home Manager
.\" disable hyphenation
.nh
.\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
.ad l
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.cflags 4 /
.Sh NAME
.Nm home-manager
.Nd reconfigure a user environment
.
.
.
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm home-manager
.Bro
.Cm build
.Cm | init Op Fl -switch Ar dir
.Cm | instantiate
.Cm | edit
.Cm | expire-generations Ar timestamp
.Cm | generations
.Cm | help
.Cm | news
.Cm | option Ar option.name
.Cm | packages
.Cm | remove-generations Ar ID \&...
.Cm | uninstall
.Brc
.Op Fl A Ar attrPath
.Op Fl I Ar path
.Op Fl -flake Ar flake-uri
.Op Fl b Ar ext
.Op Bro Fl f | Fl -file Brc Ar path
.Op Bro Fl h | Fl -help Brc
.Op Fl -version
.Op Bro Fl n | Fl -dry-run Brc
.Op Fl -option Ar name Ar value
.Op Fl -cores Ar number
.Op Bro Fl j | Fl -max-jobs Brc Ar number
.Op Fl -option
.Op Fl -impure
.Op Fl -keep-failed
.Op Fl -keep-going
.Op Bro Fl L | Fl -print-build-logs Brc
.Op Fl -log-format
.Op Fl -show-trace
.Op Fl -(no-)substitute
.Op Fl -no-out-link
.Op Fl -refresh
.Op Bro Fl v | Fl -verbose Brc
.
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Pp
This command updates the user environment so that it corresponds to the configuration specified in
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/home-manager/home.nix
or
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/home-manager/flake.nix.
.Pp
All operations using this tool expects a sub-command that indicates the operation to perform. It must be one of
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds

.It Cm build
.RS 4
Build configuration into a result directory.
.RE

.It Cm init Op Fl -switch Op Ar dir
.RS 14
Generates an initial home.nix file for the current user. If Nix flakes are
enabled, then this command also generates a flake.nix file.
.sp
If a path
.Ar dir
is given then the configuration will be generated in that directory. Otherwise, the configuration will be generated in
~/.config/home-manager. The output directory will be created if it does not exist.
.sp
If the
.Fl -switch
option is given, then the generated configuration is activated.
.sp
Note, this command will not overwrite any existing files. It is therefore safe to initialize a configuration, edit it, and then re-run the
.Cm init
command with
.Fl -switch
enabled to activate the configuration.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm instantiate
.RS 15
Instantiate the configuration and print the resulting derivation\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm edit
.RS 16
Open the home configuration using the editor indicated by \fBVISUAL\fR or \fBEDITOR\fR\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm expire-generations Ar timestamp
.RS 4
Remove generations older than
.Ar timestamp
where
.Ar timestamp
is interpreted as in the
.Fl d
argument of the
\fBdate\fR(1)
tool. For example
-30 days or 2018-01-01.
.RE
.PP

.It Cm generations
.RS 4
List all home environment generations\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm help
.RS 4
Print tool help.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm news
.RS 4
Show news entries in a pager.
.RE
.PP

.It Cm option Ar option.name
.RS 4
Inspect the given option name in the home configuration, like
\fBnixos-option\fR(8)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm packages
.RS 4
List all packages installed in home-manager-path.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm remove-generations Ar ID \&...
.RS 4
Remove indicated generations. Use the
.Cm generations
sub-command to find suitable generation numbers.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm switch
.RS 4
Build and activate the configuration\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm uninstall
.RS 4
Remove Home Manager from the user environment\&. This will
.sp
.RE
.RS 4
.Bl -bullet
.It
remove all managed files from the home directory,
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.It
remove packages installed through Home Manager from the user profile, and
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.It
remove all Home Manager generations and make them available for immediate garbage collection\&.
.RE
.El
.sp
.RE
.El
.
.Sh OPTIONS
.Pp
The tool accepts the options
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Cm Fl A Ar attrPath
.RS 4
Optional attribute that selects a configuration expression in the configuration file. That is, if
home.nix contains
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
{
  joe\-at\-work = {pkgs, \&.\&.\&.}: { home\&.packages = [ pkgs\&.fortune ]; };
  joe\-at\-home = {pkgs, \&.\&.\&.}: { home\&.packages = [ pkgs\&.cowsay ]; };
}
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
then the command
\fBhome\-manager switch \-A joe\-at\-work\fR
will activate the profile containing the fortune program\&.
.RE
.PP
.It Cm Fl I Ar path
.RS 4
Add a path to the Nix expression search path. For example, to build a Home Manager profile using a specific Nixpkgs run
.Cm home-manager Fl I Ar nixpkgs=/absolute/path/to/nixpkgs build.
By default
.Ar <nixpkgs>
is used.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -flake Ar flake-uri[#name]
.RS 4
Build Home Manager configuration from the flake, which must contain the output homeConfigurations.name. If no name is specified it will first try username@hostname and then username.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl b Ar extension
.RS 4
Enable automatic resolution of collisions between unmanaged and managed files\&. The name of the original file will be suffixed by the given extension\&. For example,
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
$ \fBhome\-manager \-b bck switch\fR
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
will cause a colliding file
~/\&.config/foo\&.conf
to be moved to
~/\&.config/foo\&.conf\&.bck\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl f Ar path, Fl -file Ar path
.RS 4
Indicates the path to the Home Manager configuration file. If not given,
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/home-manager/home.nix
is used.
.RE
.Pp
.It Cm Fl h, Fl -help
.RS 4
Prints usage information for the
\fBhome\-manager\fR
tool.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -version
.RS 4
Prints the version number of the
\fBhome\-manager\fR
tool.
.RE
.Pp
.It Cm Fl n, Fl -dry-run
.RS 4
Perform a dry-run of the given operation, only prints what actions would be taken.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -option Ar name Ar value
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -cores Ar number
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl j Ar number, Fl -max-jobs Ar number
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.\" TODO
.Pp
.It Cm Fl -debug
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp
.It Cm Fl -impure
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -keep-failed
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -keep-going
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl L, Fl -print-build-logs
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix build\fR()
when building from a flake\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -log-format Ar format
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -show-trace
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -(no-)substitute
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -no-out-link
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)
when running
\fBhome\-manager build\fR\&.
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl -refresh
.RS 4
Passed on to
\fBnix-build\fR(1)
.RE
.Pp

.It Cm Fl v, Fl -verbose
.RS 4
Activates verbose output\&.
.RE
.El

.Sh FILES
.Pp
$XDG_DATA_HOME/home\-manager/news\-read\-ids
.RS 4
Identifiers of news items that have been shown\&. Can be deleted to reset the read news indicator\&.
.RE

.Sh BUGS
.Pp
Please report any bugs on the
\m[blue]\fBproject issue tracker\fR\m[]\&.

.Sh SEE ALSO
.Pp
\fBhome-configuration.nix\fR(5)

.Sh AUTHOR
.Pp
\fBHome Manager contributors\fR
.RS 4
Author.
.RE

.Sh COPYRIGHT
.br
Copyright \(co 2017\(en2025 Home Manager contributors
.br