configuration.nix

NixOS Configuration as Code for a fully modularized fleet setup. Pick and fit together the desired pieces, then enable or disable modules on demand for a clean environment.

The flake is intentionally small at the top level: flake-parts owns system-indexed outputs, while host and module helpers keep the NixOS and Darwin interfaces close without hiding real platform differences.

What This Manages

• Desktop stack: Ly display manager, AwesomeWM, Alacritty, Tmux, Rofi, Chromium
• Shell stack: ZSH, Git, GnuPG, Pass, FZF, Direnv, ASDF
• Development tools: Python, Go, Rust, Node, Java, Elixir, Lua, Ruby, Android, Flutter, C/C++
• Cloud and infra tools: Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform, AWS, GCP, Ansible, Vagrant
• Local packages and overlays under packages/ and overlays/

Layout

flake.nix              flake-parts entry point and public outputs
default.nix            shared NixOS base module
hosts/                 machine-specific NixOS and Home Manager entries
modules/               feature modules, disabled by default unless selected
lib/                   repo helpers for host discovery, XDG paths, platform targets
packages/              custom packages exposed as flake packages and pkgs.my
config/                static config files linked by modules
tests/                 NixOS test helpers

Flake Outputs

Common outputs:

nix flake show

NixOS systems:

nix build .#nixosConfigurations.<name>.config.system.build.toplevel --impure

macOS Home Manager:

nix eval .#homeConfigurations.<name>.activationPackage.drvPath --impure

Development shell:

nix develop

Unified local activation:

nix run .#activate

Usage

Show available Make targets:

make

Build a NixOS host:

make build NIXOS_HOST=<name>

Switch a NixOS host:

make switch NIXOS_HOST=<name>

Activate the local configuration for the current OS:

make activate

Install a NixOS host from an installer environment:

make install-nixos NIXOS_HOST=<name> MOUNT_PATH=/mnt

Switch the macOS Home Manager profile:

make install-darwin HOME_CONFIG=<name>

The generic install target detects the current OS:

make install

On Linux, this activates the configuration with nixos-rebuild switch. Use make install-nixos NIXOS_HOST=<name> MOUNT_PATH=/mnt only when installing into a mounted target filesystem from a NixOS installer environment. Linux targets invoke sudo automatically; macOS uses the normal user-level Home Manager activation.

Module Conventions

Modules should keep shared knowledge in local attrsets and use the repo helpers instead of repeating Linux/Darwin branches.

Use xdgPaths from lib/paths.nix for paths:

xdg = (lib.my or (import ../../lib/paths.nix { inherit lib; })).xdgPaths {
  inherit config isDarwin;
};

toolEnvVars = {
  TOOL_CONFIG = xdg.shell.config "tool/config";
  TOOL_CACHE = xdg.shell.cache "tool/cache";
  TOOL_DATA = xdg.shell.data "tool";
};

Use platformPackages, platformEnv, and platformPath from lib/modules.nix when only the target option differs:

(platformPackages {
  inherit isDarwin;
  packages = toolPackages;
})

(platformEnv {
  inherit config isDarwin;
  inherit shellExports;
  envVars = toolEnvVars;
  darwinTarget = "zsh";
})

Keep platform branches when behavior is genuinely platform-specific, such as Linux-only packages, Home Manager file targets, services, hardware support, or different VM backends.

Validation

Run formatting on touched Nix files:

nixfmt path/to/file.nix

Check whitespace:

git diff --check

Evaluate representative outputs:

nix eval .#nixosConfigurations.<name>.config.system.build.toplevel.drvPath --impure
nix eval .#homeConfigurations.<name>.activationPackage.drvPath --impure

Inspect generated macOS ZSH env when touching shell rendering:

nix eval --raw '.#homeConfigurations.<name>.config.xdg.configFile."zsh/env.zsh".text' --impure

Credits

This repository started from patterns inspired by hlissner/dotfiles, flake-parts, and the broader NixOS community. The current shape is optimized for this repo's NixOS plus standalone Home Manager workflow.