I am experiencing a critical issue with Google Cloud IDX that is completely preventing me from developing my project. The Nix environment within IDX is not initializing correctly, resulting in the following problems:
-
HOME Environment Variable Incorrect: The HOME environment variable is incorrectly set to /root instead of /home/user. This causes problems with package installation and environment configuration.
-
idx Command Not Found: The idx command-line tool is not available within the IDX terminal (bash: idx: command not found). This prevents me from rebuilding the environment using idx restart.
-
Linker (ld) Not Found: The C/C++ linker (ld) is not found, even when the dev.nix file includes the necessary pkgs.gcc package. This prevents me from building software that requires linking (specifically, PJSIP).
These issues persist even after creating multiple new workspaces and trying different project templates. This is clearly not a user-side configuration error, but a fundamental problem with the IDX environment itself.
Steps to Reproduce (Minimal Example):
-
Create a new IDX workspace using the “Python Flask” template.
-
Replace the contents of .idx/dev.nix with the following:
{ pkgs, … }: {
channel = “stable-24.05”;
packages = [
pkgs.gcc
pkgs.git
];
}
-
Attempt to rebuild the workspace using idx restart in the terminal.
-
Observe that the idx command is not found.
-
Open a new terminal and run the following commands:
echo $HOME
ld --version
- Observe that echo $HOME outputs /root (incorrect) and ld --version fails with “ld is not installed…”.
Expected Result:
-
The idx command should be available and rebuild the environment.
-
echo $HOME should output /home/user.
-
ld --version should show the linker version information.
Actual Result:
-
idx command is not found.
-
HOME is set to /root.
-
ld is not found.
Troubleshooting Steps Already Taken:
I have already tried all of the following without success:
- Created multiple new IDX workspaces (at least 5).
- Used different project templates (“Blank”, “Python Flask”).
- Explicitly set HOME = “/home/user”; in dev.nix.
- Attempted to use idx restart to rebuild (but the command is not found).
- Cleared browser cache and cookies.
- Tried a different browser (Chrome and Firefox).
- Tried an incognito/private window.
- Verified my IAM roles (Owner and Cloud Workstations Admin).
- Attempted to source the Nix profile manually (but the file /nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/profile.d/nix-daemon.sh does not exist).
- Searched for the idx executable using find (not found).
Impact:
This issue is a complete blocker for my development work. I am unable to build the necessary software (PJSIP) or manage my environment within IDX. I cannot proceed with my project.
Request:
I request urgent assistance in resolving this issue. Due to the persistence of the problem across multiple workspaces and after extensive troubleshooting, this clearly requires escalation to an engineer familiar with the Google Cloud IDX platform and its Nix environment configuration. Please provide a solution as soon as possible.
Attachments:
{ pkgs, … }: {
channel = “stable-24.05”;
packages = [
pkgs.gcc # Correct way to get the C/C++ compiler and linker
pkgs.git
pkgs.python311
pkgs.python311Packages.pip
pkgs.openssl # For SSL/TLS support in PJSIP
pkgs.alsaLib # For audio
pkgs.libpulseaudio # For audio
pkgs.libuuid # Required by PJSIP
pkgs.libsndfile # For audio file handling
pkgs.pkgconfig # Essential for finding libraries
pkgs.SDL2 # For multimedia (optional, but good to have)
pkgs.ffmpeg # For audio/video codecs
pkgs.srtp #For secure media
pkgs.libyuv #hHandles color space
pkgs.webrtc #Echo cancellation
# Add any other PJSIP codecs here (if needed)
];
env = {
HOME = “/home/user”; # Explicitly set HOME to avoid permission issues
# You can add other NON-SENSITIVE environment variables here if needed
};
idx = {
extensions = [
“ms-python.python” # Essential Python extension for VS Code
];
previews = { enable = true; }; # Enable web previews (not directly used, but harmless)
workspace = {
onCreate = {
# Install requests and elevenlabs using pip within the Nix environment
install-python-packages = ‘’
${pkgs.python311}/bin/python3 -m pip install requests elevenlabs
‘’;
};
onStart = {
# Intentionally left blank. We don’t want any automatic startup commands.
};
};
};
}
