nixos-rebuild

Build and switch to new configuration (make boot default)

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch -p [name]

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade

$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch --rollback

$ sudo nixos-rebuild boot

$ sudo nixos-rebuild test

$ sudo nixos-rebuild build-vm

$ nixos-rebuild list-generations

nixos-rebuild [switch|boot|test|build|build-vm] [--upgrade] [--rollback] [-p name]

nixos-rebuild reconfigures a NixOS system by building a new configuration from /etc/nixos/configuration.nix and optionally activating it. NixOS uses a declarative configuration model where the entire system is described in Nix expressions.
Each build creates a new generation that can be selected at boot time. This allows safe rollback to previous working configurations if problems occur.

--upgrade

Update nixpkgs channel before building

Roll back to previous generation

Name for the boot entry

Build from flake reference

Don't rebuild Nix during switch

Skip rebuilding Nix and documentation

Show detailed error traces

switch

Build, activate, and make boot default

Build and make boot default without activating

Build and activate without making boot entry

Build configuration without activating

Build and open configuration in virtual machine

Show what would be built

Show what would change on activation

List available system generations

Requires root privileges for most operations. Configuration errors prevent build completion. Large changes may require significant download and build time. The switch command restarts services that changed.

nixos-rebuild is part of NixOS, the Linux distribution based on the Nix package manager. NixOS was created by Eelco Dolstra and first released in 2003. It pioneered declarative system configuration and atomic upgrades with rollback capability.

nix(1), nix-env(1), nix-channel(1)