Adding Packages to Your Environment

Adding packages to your Grove environment is really simple. You get access to thousands of packages from the Nix ecosystem without any of the usual dependency headaches.

You can search for available packages at NixOS Package Search.

Tip

Grove automatically handles all dependencies for you. When you add Node.js, you automatically get npm, all required system libraries, and proper environment variables - no manual setup required!

Adding packages

As long as your project has been initialized, you can add any package you need:

kanuka grove add nodejs_20
kanuka grove add python3
kanuka grove add git
kanuka grove add docker
kanuka grove add awscli2

When you add a package successfully, you’ll see output like:

✓ Added pkgs.python3 to devenv.nix
→ Run kanuka grove enter to start using python3 (High-level dynamically-typed programming language)

If you try to add a package that’s already managed by Kānuka:

! Package 'pkgs.nodejs_20' already managed by Kanuka
→ Use kanuka grove remove nodejs_20 first to replace it

Adding specific versions

Sometimes you need a specific version of a package. You can do that too:

kanuka grove add nodejs_18  # Node.js version 18
kanuka grove add python39   # Python 3.9
kanuka grove add go_1_19    # Go version 1.19

Using different channels

You can also choose which channel (version source) to use:

kanuka grove add nodejs --channel stable      # From stable channel
kanuka grove add python3 --channel unstable   # From unstable channel

Next steps

To learn more about kanuka grove add, see the package management concepts and the command reference.

Or, continue reading to learn how to enter your development environment.