.system-nix

A comprehensive Nix-based system configuration managed using numtide/blueprint. It provides a structured approach for NixOS, nix-darwin, and Home Manager across multiple machines.

Project Overview

• Core Technologies: Nix, NixOS, nix-darwin, Home Manager.
• Framework: blueprint (automatically handles flake outputs based on directory structure).
• Version Control: Jujutsu (jj) is preferred.

Building and Running

Common operations are aliased for ease of use across different shells (Zsh, Fish, Nushell).

Command	Action	Description
hms	home-manager switch --flake .	Rebuild and activate Home Manager configuration.
nrs	sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .	Rebuild and activate NixOS configuration (Linux only).
drs	darwin-rebuild switch --flake .	Rebuild and activate nix-darwin configuration (macOS only).
nd <name>	nix develop .#<name>	Enter a specific development shell (e.g., nd node22).

Installation

Clone this repository to $HOME/.system-nix:

git clone https://github.com/cwilliams/.system-nix.git ~/.system-nix
# Or use jujutsu
jj git clone https://github.com/cwilliams/.system-nix.git ~/.system-nix

NixOS

For a new installation, use the Custom Installer ISO or bootstrap from an existing NixOS system:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#<hostname>

MacOS (Darwin)

Ensure Nix is installed (recommended: Determinate Systems Nix Installer), then run:

nix run nix-darwin -- switch --flake .#cwilliams-work-laptop

Note: You may need to add --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" if not already enabled.

WSL2 / Standalone Home Manager

Ensure Nix is installed (see Official Installation Instructions), then activate on a fresh system:

nix-shell -p home-manager --run "home-manager switch --extra-experimental-features nix-command --extra-experimental-features flakes --flake .#cwilliams@<hostname>"

Custom Installer ISO

You can build a custom NixOS installer ISO that comes pre-configured with your system settings.

Build the ISO

nix build .#nixosConfigurations.installer.config.system.build.isoImage

The resulting ISO will be in result/iso/.

Testing with a VM

You can test the entire installation process using QEMU:

./modules/home/scripts/test-iso-vm

Installation Guide (from ISO)

1. Boot from the ISO: Flash to USB and boot. (Initial user: cwilliams, password: nixos).
2. Partition Disks: Use parted or fdisk to create EFI (FAT32), Swap, and Root (ext4) partitions.
3. Format and Mount:

   sudo mkfs.fat -F 32 -n boot /dev/nvme0n1p1
   sudo mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/nvme0n1p3
   sudo mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt
   sudo mkdir -p /mnt/boot
   sudo mount /dev/disk/by-label/boot /mnt/boot

4. Install:

   sudo nixos-install --flake /etc/nix-config#cwilliams-laptop

Directory Structure

• hosts/<hostname>/: Entry points for each machine.
• modules/home/<domain>/: Functional domains (dev, ops, desktop, etc.) for user configuration. See modules/home/README.md for details.
• modules/home/home-shared.nix: Universal Home Manager user settings.
• modules/nixos/ & modules/darwin/: System-level modules.
• modules/theming/: Shared styling.