Getting started¶

Run without installing¶

With Nix (flakes enabled):

nix run github:nerima-lisp/nshell

Install¶

nix profile install github:nerima-lisp/nshell
nshell
man nshell   # the manual page is installed alongside the binary

Consumers inside the nerima-lisp org pin a release tag rather than following the default branch:

# flake.nix
inputs.nshell = {
  url = "github:nerima-lisp/nshell/v0.4.0";
  inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
};

Prebuilt tarballs for x86_64-linux and aarch64-darwin, each with a SHA-256 checksum, are attached to every GitHub release.

First commands¶

Start nshell and type as you would in any shell. The distinguishing behaviour shows up while typing: commands and paths colorize live, and a dimmed completion of the most recent matching history entry trails the cursor. Press → or Ctrl-F to accept it.

One-off command¶

nshell -c 'echo hello | string upper'

Run a script¶

nshell examples/greet.nsh World

Script files support multiline blocks (functions, if/for/while/switch), comments, and a #! shebang; arguments after the script name are available as $argv. See examples/ for a runnable sample.

Command line¶

Usage: nshell [--help] [--version] [-c COMMAND [ARGS...]] [SCRIPT [ARGS...]]

Without arguments, nshell starts an interactive shell when stdin is a terminal
and reads batch input from stdin otherwise.
With -c/--command, nshell executes COMMAND once in batch mode; trailing ARGS
are available as $argv.
With SCRIPT, nshell runs the script file; trailing ARGS are available as $argv.

Build from source¶

nshell builds with SBCL and ASDF. The supported and tested path is Nix:

git clone https://github.com/nerima-lisp/nshell
cd nshell
nix build            # produces ./result/bin/nshell
nix flake check      # tests + formatting + docs, the same gate CI uses
nix develop          # dev shell with SBCL + cl-weave

Inside nix develop, load the system into a REPL:

(asdf:load-system "nshell")
(nshell:main)