lorri
A fast nix-shell replacement for project development with direnv integration, automatically rebuilding shells on changes.
What is lorri?
lorri is a development tool that replaces `nix-shell` for managing project-specific environments in Nix-based workflows. It automatically rebuilds and reloads development shells when configuration changes, ensuring dependencies and tools are always up-to-date without manual intervention. It solves the problem of slow, blocking shell rebuilds by integrating with direnv for seamless background updates.
Developers using Nix for project development who want fast, automatic environment updates and robust CLI/editor integration. It's particularly useful for teams managing complex dependencies across multiple projects.
Developers choose lorri for its speed and automation—it eliminates the need to manually run `nix-shell` and wait for rebuilds. Its tight direnv integration provides a smooth, non-blocking workflow that keeps development environments in sync with configuration changes, even across branch switches.
Overview
Your project’s nix-env [maintainer=@Profpatsch,@nyarly]
Use Cases
Best For
- Automatically rebuilding Nix development shells on configuration changes
- Integrating Nix environments with direnv for seamless CLI workflows
- Managing project dependencies with fast feedback during development
- Switching between project branches without manual shell updates
- Improving editor integration for Nix-based development environments
- Reducing terminal blocking when updating development tools
Not Ideal For
- Teams not using Nix or direnv in their development workflow
- Projects with static dependencies where manual nix-shell calls are sufficient
- macOS development teams without budget for support contracts to stabilize lorri
- Developers needing comprehensive, out-of-the-box editor integrations without extra configuration
Pros & Cons
Pros
Monitors shell.nix or flake.nix files and rebuilds in the background, applying changes on the next shell prompt without blocking terminal use, as highlighted in the README's demo.
Tightly integrates with direnv to automatically reload environment variables upon successful builds, enabling seamless CLI and editor workflows without manual intervention.
Works with both traditional shell.nix files and modern devShells in flake.nix, accommodating various Nix configuration styles for project environments.
Focuses on doing one thing well, collaborating with tools like direnv and niv for a streamlined development experience, as stated in the associated projects section.
Cons
The README explicitly notes macOS support is brittle and requires funding for improvements, making it unreliable for users on Apple platforms without investment.
Setup involves enabling a daemon service with known issues, such as requiring a manual reboot or daemon-reload for proper startup, adding friction to onboarding.
The editor integration section is admitted to need fleshing out, indicating poor or limited support for editor-specific tooling without additional work.
Can recursively watch more directories than intended, leading to unnecessary rebuilds, as mentioned in the debugging section with examples like local nixpkgs checkouts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
DevboxInstant, easy, and predictable development environments
floxThe Deterministic Foundation for your SDLC
nix-direnvA fast, persistent use_nix/use_flake implementation for direnv [maintainer=@Mic92 / @bbenne10]
atticMulti-tenant Nix Binary Cache
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