nix-update-git

Update git references in Nix flake files and Nix expressions.

nix-update-git detects outdated version tags in flake inputs and fetcher calls, then updates them in place.

Features

• Detect and update flake input refs (ref = "v1.0.0" → ref = "v2.0.0")
• Detect and update inline refs (url = "github:owner/repo?ref=v1.0.0")
• Supports github:, gitlab:, sourcehut:, git+https://, git+ssh://, git+file:// URLs
• Pin inputs with # pin — they will be skipped entirely
• Check mode (default) shows what would change without modifying files
• Update mode applies changes in place
• Interactive mode prompts before each change

Installation

With nix

nix run github:yuxqiu/nix-update-git

Or add to your flake inputs:

inputs.nix-update-git.url = "github:yuxqiu/nix-update-git";

From source

cargo install --git https://github.com/yuxqiu/nix-update-git

Usage

nix-update-git [OPTIONS] [FILES]...

Options:
  -c, --check        Check without making changes (default)
  -u, --update       Perform updates
  -i, --interactive  Confirm each update
  -v, --verbose      Enable verbose output
  -h, --help         Print help
  -V, --version      Print version

Check mode (default)

nix-update-git flake.nix
# output:
# flake.nix: Found 1 update(s) from rule 'flake-input':
#   - inputs.mylib.ref: v1.0.0 -> v2.0.0

Update mode

nix-update-git --update flake.nix
# Applies changes to flake.nix in place

Interactive mode

nix-update-git --update --interactive flake.nix
# Prompts y/N for each update

Supported patterns

Flake inputs — separate ref

inputs.mylib = {
  url = "github:owner/repo";
  ref = "v1.0.0";  # updated to latest tag
};

Flake inputs — inline ?ref=

inputs.mylib.url = "github:owner/repo?ref=v1.0.0";
# or
inputs.mylib = "git+https://example.com/repo.git?ref=v1.0.0";

Pinned inputs

Any input with a # pin comment is skipped:

inputs.stable = { # pin
  url = "github:owner/repo";
  ref = "v1.0.0";
};

inputs.stable.ref = "v1.0.0"; # pin

Supported URL types

Type	Example
GitHub	github:owner/repo
GitLab	gitlab:owner/repo
SourceHut	sourcehut:~user/repo
Git HTTPS	git+https://example.com/repo.git
Git SSH	git+ssh://git@example.com/repo.git
Git local	git+file:///path/to/repo

Roadmap

This is stage 2 of the planned implementation. Remaining work:

• fetchgit / fetchFromGitHub / other nixpkgs fetcher rules
• builtins.fetchGit / builtins.fetchTarball rules
• Hash prefetching (nix-prefetch-git or internal)
• SRI hash conversion

License

MIT License