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Install ClickHouse on NixOS

ClickHouse is available in the Nixpkgs repository and can be installed using Nix on Linux and macOS.

Review recommendations​

Before installing ClickHouse, review the following recommendations:

  • Swap: Disable the operating system's swap file in production environments.
  • Disk space: The ClickHouse binary requires at least 2.5 GB of disk space for installation.
  • Network: For distributed deployments (clustering), use at least 10 Gbit network connectivity. Network bandwidth is critical for processing distributed queries with large amounts of intermediate data, as well as for replication.

Estimating storage requirements

To estimate the disk space needed for your data:

  1. Estimate data volume: Take a sample of your data and calculate the average row size, then multiply by the number of rows you plan to store.
  2. Apply the compression coefficient: Load a sample into ClickHouse and compare the original data size with the stored table size. Clickstream data, for example, is typically compressed 6-10x.
  3. Account for replicas: If you plan to store data in multiple replicas, multiply the estimated volume by the number of replicas.

For more detailed hardware requirements, see "Sizing and hardware recommendations"

Install ClickHouse using Nix​

You can use Nix to install ClickHouse without permanently adding it to your system:

# Install the latest stable version
nix shell nixpkgs#clickhouse

# Or install the LTS version
nix shell nixpkgs#clickhouse-lts

This will make the clickhouse binary available in your current shell session.

  • The nixpkgs#clickhouse package provides the latest stable version.
  • The nixpkgs#clickhouse-lts package provides the Long Term Support version.
  • Both packages work on Linux and macOS.

Permanent installation​

To install ClickHouse permanently on your system:

For NixOS users, add to your configuration.nix:

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
  clickhouse
];

Then rebuild your system:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

For non-NixOS users, install using Nix profile:

# Install the latest stable version
nix profile install nixpkgs#clickhouse

# Or install the LTS version
nix profile install nixpkgs#clickhouse-lts

Start ClickHouse server​

After installation, you can start the ClickHouse server:

clickhouse-server

By default, the server will start with a basic configuration and listen on localhost:9000.

For production use on NixOS, you may want to configure ClickHouse as a system service. Refer to the NixOS manual for available configuration options.

Start ClickHouse client​

To connect to the ClickHouse server, open a new terminal and run:

clickhouse-client

About the Nix Package​

The ClickHouse package in Nixpkgs includes:

  • clickhouse-server - The ClickHouse database server
  • clickhouse-client - The command-line client for connecting to ClickHouse
  • clickhouse-local - A tool for running SQL queries on local files
  • Other ClickHouse utilities

For more information about the ClickHouse package in Nixpkgs, visit: