# The `stack ghci` and `stack repl` commands ~~~text stack ghci [TARGET/FILE] [--pedantic] [--ghci-options OPTIONS] [--ghc-options OPTIONS] [--flag PACKAGE:[-]FLAG] [--with-ghc GHC] [--[no-]load] [--package PACKAGE] [--main-is TARGET] [--load-local-deps] [--[no-]package-hiding] [--only-main] [--trace] [--profile] [--no-strip] [--[no-]test] [--[no-]bench] ~~~ A read–evaluate–print loop (REPL) environment takes single user inputs, executes them, and returns the result to the user. GHCi is GHC's interactive environment. The `stack ghci` or `stack repl` commands, which are equivalent, allow you to load components and files of your project into GHCi. The command accepts the same TARGET syntax as [`stack build`](build_command.md#target-syntax). By default: * Stack loads up GHCi with all the library and executable components of all the packages in the project. Pass the flag `--test` to include test suite components (unlike `stack build`, test suites will not be run). Pass the flag `--bench` to include benchmark components (unlike `stack build`, benchmarks will not be run). It is also possible to specify a module source code file. For example: ~~~text stack ghci src/MyFile.hs ~~~ Stack will identify which component the file is associated with, and use the options from that component. Pass the `--package` option to load GHCi with an additional package that is not a direct dependency of your components. This option can be specified multiple times. Pass the option `--flag :` or `--flag ` to set or unset a Cabal flag. This option can be specified multiple times. The same Cabal flag name can be set (or unset) for multiple packages with: ~~~text --flag *:[-] ~~~ !!! note In order to set a Cabal flag for a GHC boot package, the package must either be an extra-dep or the package version must be specified with the `--package` option. By default: * Stack uses the GHC specified in Stack's configuration. Pass the `--with-ghc` option with a file path to the executable to specify a different GHC executable; * Stack performs an inital build step. Pass the `--no-build` flag to skip the step. Pass the `--ghc-options` option to pass flags or options to GHC. Pass the `--profile`, `--no-strip`, `--trace` flags for the same behaviour as in the case of the `stack build` command. !!! info Not performing the initial build step speeds up the startup of GHCi. It only works if the dependencies of the loaded packages have already been built. * Stack runs GHCi via `ghc --interactive`. Pass the `--ghc-options` option to pass flags or options to GHC (during the initial build step) and to GHCi. Pass the `--pedantic` flag to pass the GHC options `-Wall` and `-Werror` to GHCi (only). Pass the `--ghci-options` option to pass flags or options to GHCi (only). * Stack configures GHCi to hide unnecessary packages, unless no packages are targeted and no additional packages are specified. Pass the `--package-hiding` flag to hide unnecessary packages or `--no-package-hiding` flag not to hide unnecessary packages. * Stack loads and imports all of the modules for each target. Pass the `--no-load` flag to skip the loading of modules. Pass the `--only-main` flag to skip the loading of modules other than the main module. Pass the `--load-local-deps` flag to include all local dependencies of targets. !!! info Not loading modules speeds up the startup of GHCi. Once in GHCi, you can use `:load myModule` to load a specific module in your project. !!! info The `--only-main` flag can be useful if: 1. You are loading the project in order to run it in GHCi (e.g. via `main`), and you intend to reload while developing. Without flag, you will need to quit and restart GHCi whenever a module gets deleted. With the flag, reloading should work fine in this case. 2. If many of your modules have exports named the same thing, then you will need to refer to them using qualified names. To avoid this, use the `--only-main` flag to start with a blank slate and just import the modules you are interested in. * If there are multiple definitions for the `Main` module, Stack will ask you to select one from a list of options. Pass the `--main-is ` option to specify which `Main` module to load. Stack combines all of the GHC options of components. !!! note Combining GHC options should work out when packages share similar conventions. However, conflicts may arise, such as when one component defines default extensions which are not assumed by another. For example, specifying `NoImplicitPrelude` in one component but not another is likely to cause failures. GHCi will be run with `-XNoImplicitPrelude`, but it is likely that modules in the other component assume that the `Prelude` is implicitly imported. `stack ghci` configures GHCi by using a GHCi script file. Such files are located in subdirectories of `/stack/ghci-script`, where `` refers to the [XDG Base Directory Specification](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html) for user-specific non-essential (cached) data. === "Unix-like" The default for `` is `$HOME/.cache`. === "Windows" On Windows, the default for `` is `$Env:LOCALAPPDATA`. === "Windows (Command Prompt)" On Windows, the default for `` is `%LOCALAPPDATA%`. ## Running plain GHCi `stack ghci` always runs GHCi configured to load code from packages in your project. In particular, this means it passes in flags like `-hide-all-packages` and `-package-id=` in order to configure which packages are visible to GHCi. For doing experiments which just involve packages installed in your databases, it may be useful to run GHCi plainly like: ~~~text stack exec ghci ~~~ This will run a plain GHCi in an environment which includes `GHC_PACKAGE_PATH`, and so will have access to your databases. !!! note Running `stack ghci` on a pristine copy of the code does not currently build libraries (issue [#2790](https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/issues/2790)) or internal libraries (issue [#4148](https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/issues/4148)). It is recommended to always use `stack build` before using `stack ghci`, until these two issues are closed.