nixpkgs-multiverse

Please read this blog post for context.

Every nixpkgs revision, reachable from a single evaluation. One flake input, no juggling nixpkgs pinned at N commits.

The whole index is browsable at https://nixmultiverse.com/

Search any attribute for every version it ever shipped, with copy-paste run and pin commands, plus the full revision and release tables.

Documentation: Design · Comparisons · Selectors · The Nix API · The mvs CLI · NixOS / nix-darwin / home-manager module · Replacing nixpkgs inputs · Without flakes · Building the index · The store-path index

Also published at https://nixmultiverse.com/docs/.

Questions, ideas, and "does it handle X?" are welcome in the Discord thread.

Status

• 306,387 package versions across 31,962 attributes, from 1,537 revisions
• 2012-07-05 → 2026-08-23, newest 56c02bc00adc · nixos-26.11pre1060451

Quickstart

Every version of every package ever packaged in nixpkgs, from 2012 to 2026, as an installable:

$ nix run 'github:fzakaria/nixpkgs-multiverse#versions.python3."3.6.2"' -- --version
Python 3.6.2

# the latest version of a package
$ nix run 'github:fzakaria/nixpkgs-multiverse#latest.python3' -- --version
Python 3.14.6

# a whole revision: the newest indexed, a release channel, or a commit
$ nix run github:fzakaria/nixpkgs-multiverse#tip.hello
$ nix run github:fzakaria/nixpkgs-multiverse#26.05.hello
$ nix shell github:fzakaria/nixpkgs-multiverse#967d40bec14b.python3

The commands above fetch and evaluate a ~378 MB nixpkgs tree the first time. The fast path skips both: the store-path index already knows the path Hydra built, so Nix substitutes it straight from cache.nixos.org — seconds instead of minutes, after tomberek's fastpkgs trick. Append the output (.out) — a fake derivation has nothing to build, only a path to fetch:

$ nix shell 'github:fzakaria/nixpkgs-multiverse#fast.versions.python3."3.8.9".out'
$ nix build 'github:fzakaria/nixpkgs-multiverse#fast.latest.hello.out'

The same questions answered offline, out of a database baked into the flake, by the mvs tool:

$ nix run github:fzakaria/nixpkgs-multiverse#mvs -- query versions python3
python3 · 64 versions · 2012-07-05 .. 2026-08-16
VERSION   FIRST       LAST        REVS
3.2.3     2012-07-05  2013-03-01  8
…
3.14.7    2026-08-12  current     3

Pin a package from a NixOS, nix-darwin, or home-manager configuration:

{
  # Use darwinModules.default on nix-darwin or homeManagerModules.default in
  # home-manager.
  imports = [ inputs.multiverse.nixosModules.default ];

  multiverse.enable = true;
  multiverse.pins.python3 = "3.8.9";
}

Enumerating versions fetches nothing — it reads an index file. A revision is materialised the first time you force a derivation.

From here, the Nix API covers selecting revisions by date, release, or commit; the mvs CLI covers the command line; and the module covers system configuration.

License

MIT, please see LICENSE.

The Nix expressions and tooling are original work. revisions.json, index/versions.json and index/history.json are generated metadata about nixpkgs: revisions, dates, hashes and version strings, not nixpkgs source. Nixpkgs itself is MIT and is fetched at evaluation time.