Flakes and the Nix store

Browse flakes#

Open Tools → Nix → Flake Explorer or the Nix Flakes tool window. Select a discovered root or nested flake. The explorer reads outputs with nix flake show --json --no-write-lock-file and shows the selected installable and command.

Choose a package, app, dev shell, or check, then use its context-aware Build, Run, Develop, or Check action. These create normal IDE run configurations that you can inspect and reuse. Confirm the command, flake root, and system before execution.

Check the flake#

Use Check Flake to run nix flake check for the selected root. Evaluation or build errors appear in the command output. A flake that works for one system may not expose the same outputs on another.

Inspect the store#

Open Tools → Nix → Nix Store Browser…. Inspect own and closure sizes, direct references, roots, profiles, and focused dependency graphs. Use why-kept explanations to understand why a path remains reachable.

Cleanup Preview reads Nix’s live/dead classification using print-only commands. It never deletes store paths or removes roots. If you later decide to clean the store, make that a separate operation in your normal Nix administration workflow.