<h1 align="center"> <a href="https://flox.dev" target="_blank"> <picture> <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="img/flox-logo-white-on-black.png" /> <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: light)" srcset="img/flox-logo-black-on-white.png" /> <img src="img/flox-logo-black-on-white.png" alt="flox logo" /> </picture> </a> </h1> <h3 align="center"> Reproducible developer environments for any stack — install 120,000+ packages, share environments with your team, and build container images. Powered by Nix, but you don't have to know Nix. </h3> <p align="center"> <a href="https://github.com/flox/flox/actions/workflows/ci.yml"> <img alt="CI" src="https://github.com/flox/flox/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg" /> </a> <a href="https://github.com/flox/flox/releases"> <img alt="Latest Release" src="https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/flox/flox?style=flat-square" /> </a> <a href="https://github.com/flox/flox/blob/main/LICENSE"> <img alt="License: GPL v2" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-GPL%20v2-blue.svg?style=flat-square" /> </a> <a href="https://discourse.flox.dev"> <img alt="Discourse" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/community-Discourse-blue?style=flat-square" /> </a> <a href="https://go.flox.dev/slack"> <img alt="Slack" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/community-Slack-purple?style=flat-square&logo=slack" /> </a> </p> <p align="center"> <img src="img/demo.gif" alt="Flox introductory demo" /> </p>

Why Flox?

Works on macOS and Linux — no containers, no VMs, no configuration. Just install and go.
Perfectly reproducible — share an environment and it reproduces exactly on any machine, every time.
120,000+ packages — powered by Nixpkgs, the largest open source package repository, updated continuously.

Install

Flox provides native packages for each supported platform:

macOS — pkg installer or Homebrew
Linux — .deb, .rpm, or standalone tarball

See the installation guide for step-by-step instructions.

Quick Start

$ flox init                        # Create an environment in your project
✨ Created environment my-project

$ flox install python3 nodejs      # Install packages — any combination of tools
✅ python3 installed
✅ nodejs installed

$ flox activate                    # Enter the environment
flox [my-project] $ python3 --version
Python 3.12.4
flox [my-project] $ node --version
v20.15.0

flox [my-project] $ exit           # Leave — and the tools are gone
$ python3 --version
python3: command not found

That's the core idea: tools appear when you activate, and disappear when you leave. Your global system stays clean. Your project stays reproducible.

📖 Ready to dive deeper? Check out the full documentation for tutorials and guides.

⭐ If Flox looks useful, give us a star — it helps others discover the project. ⭐

What You Can Do with Flox

| | Capability | What it means | |---|---|---| | Create | flox init | Declarative environments that live alongside your code and activate automatically | | Search | flox search | Find any package from 120,000+ in Nixpkgs instantly | | Share | flox push / flox pull | Push to FloxHub; anyone on your team pulls an identical environment | | Containerize | flox containerize | Generate OCI-compatible images directly from your Flox environment — no Dockerfile required | | Services | flox services start | Run databases, queues, and background processes as part of your environment — they start on activate and stop on exit | | Configure | manifest.toml | Define environment variables, shell hooks, and activation scripts declaratively alongside your code | | Editor support | Flox extension | Available for VS Code and any VS Code-compatible editor — manage environments without leaving your IDE | | AI-ready | Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and Codex | Prompt any AI coding assistant to create or modify a Flox environment and it Just Works — see flox-agentic |

Origin: Flox emerged from one of the largest enterprise Nix deployments in the world, at the D.E. Shaw group, where it made Nix accessible at scale across a large engineering organization.

Already using Nix?

Flox is a higher-level interface that adds environment sharing, activation hooks, and FloxHub without changing how you use nixpkgs. Not using Nix? You don't need to learn it — Flox handles everything.

Community & Support

Documentation — tutorials, reference, and guides
FloxHub — discover and share environments
Discourse — questions, discussions, and announcements
Blog — deep dives and workflows
Slack — real-time chat with the team
YouTube — demos and walkthroughs
GitHub Issues — bug reports and feature requests

Questions? Want help getting started? Join us on Slack — we'll walk you through it.

Security

We encourage responsible disclosure of potential security issues. For any security-related inquiry, please contact us at: security@flox.dev

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please read the Contributor guide first.

Star History

⭐ If you find Flox useful, star the repo — it helps others discover the project and keeps us going.

License

The Flox CLI is licensed under the GPLv2. See LICENSE.

Flox

Install / Use

README