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Nix Recorder

Overview

nix-recorder is a command-line utility designed to enhance the management of Nix shell environments. It uniquely allows users to dynamically add packages to their Nix shell environment, record their terminal commands, and then eject these commands along with the package list to a flake.nix file for a fully reproducible environment.

Inspiration / Idea Credit

The idea for this program was inspired by a tweet from Arian van Putten (@ProgrammerDude) and is a personal exploration into developing CLI tools with Rust. Tweet by Arian van Putten

Features

  • Dynamic Package Management: Seamlessly add packages to your Nix shell on-the-fly.
  • Automatic Command Recording: Save terminal commands input during the session and automatically integrate them as shell hooks in the ejected flake.nix.
  • Eject to Flake: Export your current environment into a flake.nix file, ensuring reproducibility.
  • Enhanced State Management: Preserve the state of your environment, including packages and terminal commands, for future sessions.

Usage Example

This section demonstrates how nix-recorder can be used to manage a Nix shell environment, dynamically add packages, and eject the session to a flake.nix file.

    [ben@marin:~/nixRecorder/nixRecorder]$ ./target/release/nixRecorder --start
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$ ./target/release/nixRecorder --package cowsay
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$ cowsay moo
     _____
    < moo >
     -----
            \   ^__^
             \  (oo)\_______
                (__)\       )\/\
                    ||----w |
                    ||     ||
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$ ./target/release/nixRecorder --package htop
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$ ls
    Cargo.lock  Cargo.toml  flake.lock  LICENSE  README.md  rust-toolchain  scripts  shell.nix  src  target
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$ ./target/release/nixRecorder --eject
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$ ^C
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$
    exit
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$
    exit
    [ben@marin nixRecorder]$
    exit

Upon ejecting the session to a flake.nix file, nix-recorder records the session's packages and commands: Notice how even the ls command is in the shellHook, any commands you enter after starting nix-recorder will be in the shellHook.

{
inputs = {
 nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
 flake-utils.url = "github:numtide/flake-utils";
};

outputs = { self, nixpkgs, flake-utils }:
 flake-utils.lib.eachDefaultSystem (system:
   let
     pkgs = import nixpkgs {
       inherit system;
     };
   in
   {
       devShells.default = pkgs.mkShell {
         buildInputs = [ pkgs.cowsay pkgs.htop ];
         shellHook = ''
           return 0
unset NIX_ENFORCE_PURITY
shopt -u nullglob
unset TZ
shopt -s execfail
./target/release/nixRecorder --package cowsay
return 0
unset NIX_ENFORCE_PURITY
shopt -u nullglob
unset TZ
shopt -s execfail
cowsay moo
./target/release/nixRecorder --package htop
return 0
unset NIX_ENFORCE_PURITY
shopt -u nullglob
unset TZ
shopt -s execfail
ls --color=tty
./target/release/nixRecorder --eject
         '';
     };
 });
}

To enter the development shell after ejecting, use:

    $ nix develop

Roadmap

  • Save any terminal commands you input and add them as a ShellHook to the ejected Flake.
  • Improve state management and user experience.
  • Support for additional Nix configurations and customization options.
  • Remove nix-recorder-related commands from the shell hook in the ejected flake.nix to streamline the development environment.

Installation

To install nix-recorder, follow these steps:

    git clone https://github.com/charles37/nix-recorder/tree/main
    cd nix-recorder
    cargo build --release

Contributing

contributions encouraged! Feel free to submit pull requests or open issues for bugs, feature requests, or enhancements.

License

GPLv3