- Introduction
- Quick start for returning users
- Getting started for new users
- Why Nix? Comparison with Docker+renv/Conda/Guix
- Contributing
- Thanks
- Recommended reading
{rix} is an R package that leverages Nix, a
package manager focused on reproducible builds. With Nix, you can create
project-specific environments with a custom version of R, its packages,
and all system dependencies (e.g., GDAL). Nix ensures full
reproducibility, which is crucial for research and development projects.
Use cases include running web apps (e.g., Shiny, {plumber} APIs) or
{targets} pipelines with a controlled R environment. Unlike {renv},
which snapshots package versions, {rix} provides an entire ecosystem
snapshot, including system-level dependencies.
While Nix has a steep learning curve, {rix}
- simplifies creating Nix expressions, which define reproducible environments.
- lets you work interactively in IDEs like RStudio or VS Code, or use Nix in CI/CD workflows.
- provides helpers that make it easy to build those environments, evaluate the same code in different development environments, and finally to deploy software environments in production.
If you want to watch a 5-Minute video introduction click here.
Nix includes nearly all CRAN and Bioconductor packages, with the ability to install specific package versions or GitHub snapshots. Nix also includes Python, Julia (and many of their respective packages) as well as many, many other tools (up to 100’000 pieces of software as of writing).
If you have R installed, you can start straight away from your R session
by first installing {rix}:
install.packages("rix", repos = c(
"https://ropensci.r-universe.dev",
"https://cloud.r-project.org"
))
library("rix")Now try to generate an expression using rix():
# Choose the path to your project
# This will create two files: .Rprofile and default.nix
path_default_nix <- "."
rix(
r_ver = "4.3.3",
r_pkgs = c("dplyr", "ggplot2"),
system_pkgs = NULL,
git_pkgs = NULL,
ide = "code",
project_path = path_default_nix,
overwrite = TRUE,
print = TRUE
)This will generate two files, default.nix and .Rprofile in
project_default_nix. default.nix is the environment definition
written in the Nix programming language, and .Rprofile prevents
conflicts with library paths from system-installed R versions, offering
better control over your environment and improving isolation of Nix
environments. .Rprofile is created by rix_init() which is called
automatically by the main function, rix().
Click to expand
If you’re already familiar with Nix and {rix}, install Nix using the
Determinate Systems
installer:
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- installYou can then use {rix} to build and enter a Nix-based R environment:
library(rix)
path_default_nix <- "."
rix(
r_ver = "4.3.3",
r_pkgs = c("dplyr", "ggplot2"),
system_pkgs = NULL,
git_pkgs = NULL,
ide = "code",
project_path = path_default_nix,
overwrite = TRUE,
print = TRUE
)# nix_build() is a wrapper around the command line tool `nix-build`
nix_build(project_path = ".")If you don’t have R installed, but have the Nix package manager
installed, you can run a temporary R session with R using this command
(it will build an environment with the latest development version of
{rix} ):
nix-shell --expr "$(curl -sl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ropensci/rix/main/inst/extdata/default.nix)"
You can then create new development environment definitions, build them, and start using them.
New to {rix} and Nix? Start by reading the
vignette("a-getting-started") (online
documentation).
to learn how to set up and use Nix smoothly.
Try Nix inside Docker by following this
vignette("z-advanced-topic-using-nix-inside-docker")
vignette.
Docker and {renv} provide robust reproducibility by combining package snapshots with system-level dependencies. However, for long-term reproducibility, Nix offers a simpler approach by bundling everything (R, packages, and dependencies) in a single environment.
Conda is similar to Nix, but Nix offers immutable environments, making it more reliable for preventing accidental changes. Nix also supports nearly all CRAN and Bioconductor packages, which Conda lacks.
Guix, like Nix, focuses on reproducibility, but Nix supports more CRAN/Bioconductor packages and works across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
No, there are other tools that you might want to check out, especially
if you want to set up polyglot environments (even though it is possible
to use {rix} to set up an environment with R and Python packages for
example).
Take a look at https://devenv.sh/ and https://prefix.dev/ if you want to explore other tools that make using Nix easier!
Refer to Contributing.md to learn how to contribute to the package.
Please note that this package is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By contributing to this project, you agree to abide by its terms.
Thanks to the Nix community for making Nix possible, and thanks to the community of R users on Nix for their work packaging R and CRAN/Bioconductor packages for Nix (in particular Justin Bedő, Rémi Nicole, nviets, Chris Hammill, László Kupcsik, Simon Lackerbauer, MrTarantoga and every other person from the Matrix Nixpkgs R channel).
Finally, thanks to David Solito
for creating {rix}’s logo!
- NixOS’s website
- Nixpkgs’s GitHub repository
- Nix for R series from Bruno’s blog. Or, in case you like video tutorials, watch this one on Reproducible R development environments with Nix
- nix.dev tutorials
- INRIA’s Nix tutorial
- Nix pills
- Nix for Data Science
- NixOS explained: NixOS is an entire Linux distribution that uses Nix as its package manager.
- Blog post: Nix with R and devtools
- Blog post: Statistical Rethinking and Nix
- Blog post: Searching and installing old versions of Nix packages