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Holonix

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Holonix

Holonix is a Nix flake that provides a reproducible development environment for building Holochain applications. It installs the correct versions of Holochain, Rust, and all required tooling into a consistent shell, eliminating “works on my machine” problems.

What Holonix Provides

  • The correct version of the Holochain binary
  • Rust toolchain with the required WASM target
  • hc (Holochain CLI) for managing sandboxes and running tests
  • hc-scaffold (scaffolding tool) for generating project boilerplate
  • WASM-related build tools
  • lair-keystore for key management

Installation and Usage

Holonix requires Nix with flakes enabled.

Enter the development shell

nix develop github:holochain/holonix

This downloads and activates the Holonix environment. All Holochain tools are available for the duration of the shell session.

Using a specific Holochain version

nix develop github:holochain/holonix/main-0.4

Check the Holonix repository for available branches corresponding to Holochain releases.

Adding Holonix to your project

Add a flake.nix at the root of your project:

{
  description = "My Holochain app";
 
  inputs = {
    holonix.url = "github:holochain/holonix/main-0.4";
    nixpkgs.follows = "holonix/nixpkgs";
    flake-parts.follows = "holonix/flake-parts";
  };
 
  outputs = inputs:
    inputs.flake-parts.lib.mkFlake { inherit inputs; } {
      systems = builtins.attrNames inputs.holonix.devShells;
      perSystem = { inputs', ... }: {
        devShells.default = inputs'.holonix.devShells.holonix;
      };
    };
}

Then enter the environment:

nix develop

Running the Scaffolding Tool

With Holonix active, generate a new hApp:

hc scaffold happ

Generate a new DNA inside an existing hApp:

hc scaffold dna

Generate a new zome:

hc scaffold zome

Benefits of Holonix

  • Reproducible: Everyone on the team uses identical tooling
  • Version-pinned: Holonix pins exact Holochain and Rust versions
  • No global installs: Tools are scoped to the shell, no system pollution
  • CI-ready: Same environment in local dev and CI pipelines

References

Backlinks

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