nix-output-monitor (also known as nom) is a workflow tool that enhances the readability and usability of nix-build output by providing pretty, parsed summaries and highlighting important events during Nix builds. This was an experiment to write something fun and useful in Haskell, which proved to be useful to quite a lot of people. By now, nom is quite fully featured with support for nix v1 commands (e.g. nix-build) and nix v2 commands (e.g. nix build). At this point it seems like I will maintain nom until better UX options for nix arrive. Every entry in the nom tree stands for one derivation. No build will be printed twice in the tree, it will only be shown for the lowermost dependency. Use the colors from above to read the summary.
Features
- Parses and beautifies nix-build output for clarity
- Offers summarized build information with color highlights
- Includes recent features like Bash/Zsh tab completion
- Easily installable via Nixpkgs, including nixos-unstable channel
- Helps pinpoint build failures and progress efficiently
- Ideal for Nix users needing better visibility during complex builds