NixOS/nix

repl complete: support quoted attributes

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#13,760 opened on Aug 15, 2025

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Description

Is your feature request related to a problem?

Using nix repl complete on quoted attributes doesnt work. For example if it has . (dot symbol).

For example we have an attribute nixosConfiguration."test.server.example.com"

nix-repl> nixosConfigurations.test<TAB>
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations.test.server.example<TAB>
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations.test.server.example
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations."test<TAB>
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations."test
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations."test.server.example.com".<TAB>
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations."test.server.example.com".

Proposed solution

nix-repl> nixosConfigurations.test<TAB>
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations."test.server.example.com"
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations."test<TAB>
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations."test.server.example.com"
nix-repl> nixosConfigurations."test.server.example.com".<TAB>
attr1
attr2

Checklist

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Contributor guide

Research direction
Study the tab completion logic in nix repl codebase, specifically how attribute paths are parsed and completed. Modify the completion handler to detect and handle quoted attribute names (e.g., those containing dots).
Tech stack
cpp
Domain
cli
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
None
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65