# Any downsides on using flakes directly?
**URL:** https://discourse.flox.dev/t/any-downsides-on-using-flakes-directly/738
**Category:** Developing with flox
**Created:** [May 4, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/any-downsides-on-using-flakes-directly/738 "2023-05-04T14:56:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/any-downsides-on-using-flakes-directly/738/1 "2023-05-04T14:56:06Z")
I had the case that “gimme-aws-creds” was updated 2 days ago and it has some fixes I need. Flox packages seem to be on a 2-week cycle so I just flox subscribed to Nike-Inc/gimme-aws-creds and I have a new version with “gimme-aws-creds-autocomplete.sh” added in the proper place.
I didn’t notice in docs that you mention that subscribe can be used for any Flakes so I want to ask - is there any downside to using this method for fetching newer packages?
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### Author:  [@robinbrantley](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/robinbrantley)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2023, 3:15pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/any-downsides-on-using-flakes-directly/738/2 "2023-05-04T15:15:34Z")
Hi @anon59756714! The only downside I can think of is that since you are not using our catalog, there is a chance in the future that this flake may break and therefore break your ability to upgrade your environment as a result. You are fine doing this for now as you can later replace it with the nixpkgs version once that has been updated in the catalog. 🙂