# User profile link

A symbolic link to the user's current profile. 

- `~/.nix-profile`
- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profile` if [`use-xdg-base-directories`] is set to `true`.

By default, this symlink points to:

- `$XDG_STATE_HOME/nix/profiles/default` for regular users
- `$NIX_STATE_DIR/profiles/per-user/root/profile` for `root`

The `PATH` environment variable should include `/bin` subdirectory of the profile link (e.g. `~/.nix-profile/bin`) for the user environment to be visible to the user.
The [installer](@docroot@/installation/installing-binary.md) sets this up by default.

[`use-xdg-base-directories`]: @docroot@/command-ref/conf-file.md#conf-use-xdg-base-directories