Skip to main content

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/pg83/ix/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

IX behavior is controlled through environment variables. Most have sensible defaults and work out of the box, but they can all be overridden before invoking ./ix to customize the store location, parallelism, verbosity, recipe search paths, and execution mode.

​
Variable Reference

VariableDefaultDescription
IX_ROOT/ixRoot directory for the IX store. The package store lives at $IX_ROOT/store/ and realm anchor links at $IX_ROOT/realm/.
IX_EXEC_KINDsystem if /bin/bin_ix/assemble exists, otherwise localOperation mode. Controls whether IX manages the system store or runs as a standalone user tool. See Execution Modes.
IX_PATH{builtin}Colon-separated list of directories containing package recipes. The token {builtin} expands to the pkgs/ directory inside the IX repository.
IX_THREADSNumber of CPUsNumber of parallel build threads.
IX_VERBOSE(unset)When set to any non-empty value, IX shows package dependencies during the build.
IX_DUMP_GRAPH(unset)When set, IX prints the build graph as JSON and exits without building.
IX_DUMP_REPO(unset)When set, IX prints the build graph as JSON but does not exit — the build proceeds.
IX_BINARY(auto-detected)Path to the IX executable. Set automatically by the ./ix wrapper.
IX_DIR(auto-detected)Directory containing the IX executable. Set automatically by the ./ix wrapper.
IX_PKGS_ROOT(auto-detected)Path to the IX repository root.
IX_WHERE(auto-detected)Path to pkgs/die/scripts inside the IX repository.
IX_RANDOM(random integer)A random integer between 0 and 1,000,000,000 used internally by IX.
IX_B_DIR(build-time only)Directory containing host binaries during a package build. Set by IX when invoking a recipe; not normally set by the user.
IX_H_DIR(build-time only)Directory containing host libraries during a package build. Set by IX when invoking a recipe.
IX_T_DIR(build-time only)Directory containing target libraries during a package build. Set by IX when invoking a recipe.

​
Usage Examples

# Use a custom store location instead of /ix
export IX_ROOT=/opt/ix
./ix build bin/b64

# Use 8 parallel build threads
export IX_THREADS=8
./ix build bin/llvm

# Show verbose dependency output during build
export IX_VERBOSE=1
./ix build bin/curl

# Add a custom package overlay while keeping the built-in recipes
export IX_PATH="/home/user/my-pkgs:{builtin}"
./ix build my/custom/pkg

# Print the build graph as JSON and exit without building
export IX_DUMP_GRAPH=1
./ix build bin/curl

​
Execution Modes

The IX_EXEC_KIND variable selects how IX interacts with the host system. There are three modes:
IX_EXEC_KIND=systemFull system-wide package manager mode. IX assembles realms and switches anchor links in /ix/realm/. This is the default when /bin/bin_ix/assemble exists on the system — meaning the host is a stal/IX system with the IX assembler installed.Use this mode when IX manages the operating system’s packages and you want changes to take effect system-wide.
You rarely need to set IX_EXEC_KIND manually. IX detects the correct mode by checking for /bin/bin_ix/assemble at startup. Only override it if you need to force a specific mode for testing or in unusual deployment scenarios.

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us