Environment variables

Complete reference for all environment variables that configure Nx CLI behavior, caching, the daemon, Nx Cloud, and built-in plugins.

Nx reads environment variables to control its behavior without requiring changes to configuration files. Variables set in the environment always take precedence over equivalent settings in nx.json.

You can also set variables in .env, .local.env, or .env.local files at the workspace root. Nx loads these automatically unless NX_LOAD_DOT_ENV_FILES=false.

Core Nx variables

These variables affect the Nx CLI’s core behavior: task execution, caching, and the project graph.

Caching

NX_SKIP_NX_CACHE · boolean

Re-run tasks even when cached results are available. Equivalent to passing --skip-nx-cache on the command line.

NX_DISABLE_NX_CACHE · boolean

Alias for NX_SKIP_NX_CACHE.

NX_CACHE_DIRECTORY · string

Override the local task output cache directory. Defaults to .nx/cache. Equivalent to cacheDirectory in nx.json.

NX_MAX_CACHE_SIZE · string

Maximum local cache size. Accepts byte values or unit suffixes such as "100MB" or "1GB". Overrides maxCacheSize in nx.json. See nx.json reference for supported units.

NX_WORKSPACE_DATA_DIRECTORY · string

Override the directory used for the project graph cache and other internal Nx caches. Defaults to .nx/workspace-data.

NX_SKIP_REMOTE_CACHE · boolean

Disable all remote caching. The remote cache (Nx Cloud or self-hosted) will not be read from or written to.

NX_DISABLE_REMOTE_CACHE · boolean

Alias for NX_SKIP_REMOTE_CACHE.

NX_CACHE_PROJECT_GRAPH · boolean

Set to false to disable the project graph cache. Useful when developing a plugin that modifies the project graph.

Task execution

NX_PARALLEL · number

Number of tasks to run in parallel. Overrides parallel in nx.json and the --parallel flag.

NX_TASKS_RUNNER · string

Name of the tasks runner from nx.json to use. Preferred over NX_RUNNER. Can also be set with --runner on the command line.

NX_RUNNER · string

Deprecated alias for NX_TASKS_RUNNER.

NX_IGNORE_CYCLES · boolean

Set to true to ignore circular dependency errors in the task graph. Equivalent to --nxIgnoreCycles.

NX_BATCH_MODE · boolean

Run tasks in batches for executors that support batch execution.

Project graph

NX_DEFAULT_PROJECT · string

The project used when no project is specified, e.g. bare nx build. Overrides defaultProject in nx.json.

NX_BASE · string

The base git ref used by nx affected to compute changed projects. Overrides defaultBase in nx.json and --base on the command line.

NX_HEAD · string

The head git ref used by nx affected. Overrides --head on the command line.

NX_ADD_PLUGINS · boolean · default: "true"

Set to false to prevent Nx from adding inference plugins when generating new projects.

Daemon

NX_DAEMON · boolean

Set to false to disable the Nx daemon. The daemon speeds up project graph computation by running as a background process. Disable it to print console.log statements in plugin code during development.

Output and logging

NX_VERBOSE_LOGGING · boolean

Print debug information useful for troubleshooting task execution and configuration issues.

NX_PERF_LOGGING · boolean

Print performance profiling information for executors and Nx internals.

NX_PROFILE · string

Path for a JSON performance profile file (e.g. NX_PROFILE=profile.json). Load the file in Chrome DevTools to visualize task execution across processes.

NX_DEFAULT_OUTPUT_STYLE · string

Default output style when running tasks. Overrides --outputStyle.

NX_TASKS_RUNNER_DYNAMIC_OUTPUT · boolean

Set to false to use the non-dynamic (CI-style) output even in terminals that support dynamic output.

NX_SKIP_LOG_GROUPING · boolean

Set to true to prevent Nx from grouping task logs on CI.

Terminal UI (TUI)

NX_TUI · boolean

Enable (true) or disable (false) the interactive Terminal UI. Overrides tui.enabled in nx.json.

NX_TUI_AUTO_EXIT · boolean | number

Controls automatic TUI exit after tasks finish. true exits immediately; false never exits automatically; a number shows a countdown. Overrides tui.autoExit in nx.json.

Generators and migrations

NX_DRY_RUN · boolean

Perform a dry run of a generator — no files are created and no packages are installed.

NX_INTERACTIVE · boolean

Allow Nx to prompt for additional input when running generators.

NX_GENERATE_QUIET · boolean

Suppress file operation logs during nx generate.

NX_SKIP_FORMAT · boolean

Skip Prettier formatting in generators and migrations. Useful when using an alternative formatter such as Biome or dprint.

NX_MIGRATE_SKIP_INSTALL · boolean

Prevent nx migrate --run-migrations from automatically installing packages.

NX_MIGRATE_USE_LOCAL · boolean

Use the locally installed nx version instead of downloading the latest when running nx migrate.

NX_MIGRATE_CLI_VERSION · string

The version of Nx to use for nx migrate. Defaults to "latest".

NX_MIGRATE_SKIP_REGISTRY_FETCH · boolean

Skip fetching package metadata from the registry during migration.

Other

NX_LOAD_DOT_ENV_FILES · boolean

Set to false to prevent Nx from loading .env, .local.env, and .env.local files.

NX_USE_LOCAL · boolean

Use the locally installed Nx version instead of downloading the latest for commands such as nx init and nx migrate.

NX_PREFER_TS_NODE · boolean

Force Nx to use ts-node to execute TypeScript plugin files, even when @swc-node/register is installed.

NX_PREFER_NODE_STRIP_TYPES · boolean

Use Node.js native TypeScript type stripping (Node.js 22.6+) instead of @swc-node/register or ts-node. Improves startup performance.

NX_NATIVE_FILE_CACHE_DIRECTORY · string

Override the directory where native .node binary files are cached. Interpreted as an absolute path.

NX_FORMAT_SORT_TSCONFIG_PATHS · boolean

Sort TypeScript path mappings in the root tsconfig file when generators run.

NX_PLUGIN_NO_TIMEOUTS · boolean

Disable timeouts for plugin operations.

Variables set by Nx during task execution

Nx injects the following variables into the process environment when running tasks. They are available inside executors, generators, and any script invoked by a task.

Variable	Type	Description
NX_TASK_TARGET_PROJECT	string	The name of the project being run.
NX_TASK_TARGET_TARGET	string	The target name being run (e.g. build, test).
NX_TASK_TARGET_CONFIGURATION	string	The configuration name being used (e.g. production).
NX_GRAPH_CREATION	boolean	true while the project graph is being constructed. Use to run different code paths in inference plugins.
NX_DRY_RUN	boolean	true during generator dry runs. Use to skip side effects.
NX_INTERACTIVE	boolean	false when generators run with --interactive=false.

Plugin disable variables

Use these variables to disable specific built-in Nx plugins in environments where the required toolchain is unavailable (e.g. a CI agent without Java).

Variable	Description
NX_DOTNET_DISABLE	Disable the @nx/dotnet plugin.
NX_GRADLE_DISABLE	Disable the @nx/gradle plugin.
NX_MAVEN_DISABLE	Disable the @nx/maven plugin.

Nx Cloud variables

These variables configure integration with Nx Cloud for remote caching and distributed task execution.

Nx Cloud also respects NX_VERBOSE_LOGGING to output debug information about agent communication and cache operations.

Authentication and connection

NX_CLOUD_ACCESS_TOKEN · string

Nx Cloud access token. Takes precedence over accessToken in nx.json. A common pattern is to store a read-only token in nx.json and set a read-write token here in CI.

NX_CLOUD_API · string

URL of the Nx Cloud instance. Overrides nxCloudUrl in nx.json. Use for self-hosted Nx Cloud deployments.

NX_CLOUD_ENCRYPTION_KEY · string

Encryption key for end-to-end encryption of cached artifacts. Also configurable via nxCloudEncryptionKey in nx.json.

NX_NO_CLOUD · boolean

Prevent Nx Cloud from being used for the current run. No remote cache will be read or written. Cannot be used with distributed task execution.

CI integration

NX_BRANCH · string

The current branch name. Auto-detected for most CI providers. Must be set to the PR number for GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab PR integrations.

NX_CI_EXECUTION_ID · string

A unique identifier for the current CI run. Auto-detected for most CI providers. The main job and all agents must share the same value.

NX_CI_EXECUTION_ENV · string

Distinguishes multiple main jobs (e.g. Linux vs Windows). Agents with a matching value will be assigned tasks from the corresponding main job.

NX_WORKING_DIRECTORY · string

Subdirectory containing the Nx workspace, when the workspace is not at the repository root. Only used by Nx Agents.

NX_AGENT_LAUNCH_TEMPLATE · string

Attaches a launch template type to agents for Manual DTE assignment rules.

Metrics and diagnostics

NX_CLOUD_DISABLE_METRICS_COLLECTION · boolean

Disable collection of CPU and memory metrics during task execution. Metrics are enabled by default for enterprise users on Nx 22.1+.

NX_CLOUD_METRICS_DIRECTORY · string

Directory where Nx writes resource usage metrics during task execution.

NX_CLOUD_NO_TIMEOUTS · boolean

Disable the default 10-second timeout for Nx Cloud requests.

Deprecated Nx Cloud variables

These variables are deprecated. Migrate to the recommended alternatives.

Variable	Replacement	Description
NX_RUN_GROUP	NX_CI_EXECUTION_ID + NX_CI_EXECUTION_ENV	Older CI run group identifier.
NX_CLOUD_DISTRIBUTED_EXECUTION	--no-dte / --no-agents flags	Setting to false disabled distributed execution.
NX_CLOUD_DISTRIBUTED_EXECUTION_STOP_AGENTS_ON_FAILURE	--stop-agents-on-failure flag	Stopped agents on failure.