I use comma very frequently. I have fast enough Internet that download time doesn't really matter for most things, so it takes a lot for me to actually promote it to a system package

I use nix-shell -p for infrequently used commands, or nix shell flake#packagename for flakes. I prefer the shell environment because I rarely need to run something only one in a session. Usually I forget the cli arguments, and then have to run --help and so on.

For anything I need more frequently, I usually install either via home manager if I care about a specific/newer version, or just as a system package (I don't use NixOS).

I don't have any packages like that to be fair but: no.

I've ran nix run perhaps .. once a year for the last years. I either create a shell.nix or add it into my config.

Just curious what would be a command you're using like this? The only one that came close to that for me was nvidia-smi and that I ran once with run and then created a shell.nix with some other debug stuff :D

Same as you but with nix-shell -p

I mostly use it for coding so nix run ., I use comma for apps I need just once

I do this and then regret it when I'm on my laptop using slow WiFi and have to dowload 1g of stuff to run freecad or Krita or something

Honestly pretty much never, i always use nix shell if i want to quickly try and run something without commiting to it.