Akib | NixOS Config Go Wilde

Current System Preview

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1. Installation — My Version of NixOS

NixOS setup using Flake + Home Manager. Hyprland as the default WM.

Overview

This repository provides two helper scripts (flakes) to automate a two-stage installation:

• Pre-install (preInstall) — run from a Nix live ISO. Partitions & formats disks, bootstraps a minimal flake, optionally updates flake defaults, generates hardware config, and runs nixos-install.
• Post-install (postInstall) — run on the newly installed system. Optionally imports secrets from an encrypted USB (for the maintainer user), updates the flake, clones the repo, and applies the system configuration with nixos-rebuild.

Both scripts check for internet connectivity before proceeding.

Prerequisites

• A Linux machine (UEFI recommended). If using legacy BIOS, adjust commands accordingly.
• A target disk device (e.g. /dev/sda) — know your device identifier.
• Internet connection (scripts use ping to verify).
• For secret import (optional): an encrypted USB containing SSH keys and SOPS/AGE keys (used only when running as the maintainer user).

Installation Steps

Step 0 — Prepare & boot the NixOS live ISO (if needed)

Prepare a bootable NixOS USB and boot into the live environment. Ensure network access (wired is easiest).

Step 1 — Pre-install (run from the live ISO)

Run:

sudo su
nix-shell -p git --command 'nix run github:akibahmed229/nixos#preInstall --experimental-features "nix-command flakes"'

NOTE: What the preInstall script does:

• Verifies internet connectivity.
• Prompts for:
  • Username (e.g. akib)
  • Hostname (desktop or virt)
  • Device (e.g. /dev/sda)
• Initializes a minimal flake under /home/<username>/flake using the minimal template.
• Formats and partitions disks using disko (the script invokes nix run github:nix-community/disko).
• Optionally updates flake.nix defaults (username & device) via sed if you confirm.
• Generates or copies hardware-configuration.nix:
  • Uses the bundled hardware configuration for the default maintainer (akib + desktop).
  • Otherwise runs nixos-generate-config --root /mnt and copies /mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix into the flake.
• Runs nixos-install --no-root-passwd --flake "/home/<username>/flake#<hostname>".
• The default password for the user is 123456 you can change it later from ./hosts/nixos/{desktop,virt}/users/main/default.nix.

Important: the script will ask for confirmation before changing flake.nix. You can still edit flake.nix manually later.

Step 2 — Post-install (run on the installed system)

After rebooting into your new NixOS installation, run:

nix run github:akibahmed229/nixos#postInstall

NOTE: What the postInstall script does:

Detects current user and system hostname. Verifies internet connectivity. If running as the repository maintainer user (e.g. akib) it will:

• Prompt for an encrypted USB device path (e.g. /dev/sdb).
• Mount the LUKS USB, and copy SSH keys and AGE/SOPS keys into:
  • /home/<username>/.ssh/ (gitlab key)
  • /var/lib/sops-nix/ and /home/<username>/.config/sops/age/ (sops/age keys)
• Configure ~/.ssh/config to use the GitLab key.

Updates the flake metadata in the cloned repo (replaces defaults like username & device).

Removes the secrets input from flake.nix (so the flake update won't attempt to fetch the private secrets repo).

Clones (shallow) this repository into the script's working flake directory.

Runs nixos-rebuild switch --flake ".#<hostname>" (applies the system configuration).

2. File Structure

Structurally, this flake is designed to interpret as much information as possible from the directories it manages. Rather than have a "master list" of configurations to manage, adding files to the hosts/, modules/, overlays/, & pkgs/ folders will cause them to be automatically detected and configured on flake rebuild. This is achieved by programmatically determining the objects that need to be evaluated and generated. The downside of this, of course, is that there's not one "master list" to reference;

System Architecture

Designing my config around a small set of custom helpers in lib. For example:

• mkSystem and mkFlake handle pulling everything together in one place, so each system lives in its own directory and is built the same way. This is achieved by programmatically determining the objects that need to be evaluated and generated.

• mkImport and mkScanPath let me bulk-import predefined modules or user configs without writing long lists of imports by hand. I just point to a folder and it picks them up.

• Each user/module has enable flags (enableSystemConf, enableHomeConf) and a clear schema, so I don’t have to wonder what’s active — it’s explicit.

So instead of manually tracking dozens of scattered imports, I rely on these patterns to keep things predictable and scalable.

File/Folder	Purpose
flake.nix	Main flake file for defining the system configuration
flake.lock	Lock file for the flake inputs
lib	Library helper functions, providing a set of functions that can be used to mange stuff in a more concise way
hosts	Host-specific configuration files
home-manager	Configuration files for desktop environment & window manager
modules	Program-specific configuration files (includes custom and predefined modules for NixOS and Home Manager)
overlays	Customize pkgs & extend entries nixpkgs itself
pkgs	Nix derivations, custom packages, and shell scripts
public	Wallpaper folder, Template for different system, & GTK/QT themes and doc
devShell	Flake file defining the development shell

3. This Flake Provide

• Overlays for custom packages and Nixpkgs

  
  

  You can also plug this into a flake to include it into a system configuration.

  {
      inputs = {
       akibOS.url = "github:akibahmed229/nixos";
      };
  }

  This input can then be used as an overlay to replace the default Nixpkgs with the custom one. (nixos , home-manager)

  {inputs, ... }:
  {
      nixpkgs.overlays = [
         inputs.akibOS.overlays.discord-overlay # pull the latest version of discord
         inputs.akibOS.overlays.nvim-overlay # my custom nvim with nixvim
         inputs.akibOS.overlays.flatpak-overlay # patch flatpak font
         inputs.akibOS.overlays.unstable-packages # pull pkgs from unstable. be accissible through `pkgs.unstable`
      ];
  }

• DevShell for development environments

  
  

  you can access the development shell by running the following command:

  nix develop github:akibahmed229/nixos#kernel_build_env # kernel development environment
  nix develop github:akibahmed229/nixos#jupyter # jupyter development environment
  nix develop github:akibahmed229/nixos#gtk3_env # gtk3 development environment
  nix develop github:akibahmed229/nixos#prisma # prisma query engine

• Custom Pkgs & Shell scripts

  
  

  you can access the shell scripts by running the following command:

  nix run github:akibahmed229/nixos#nix-update-input # this will update specific flake input of you flake.nix
  nix run github:akibahmed229/nixos#nixvim # you can try my custom nixvim
  nix run github:akibahmed229/nixos#wallpaper # you need to define your env variable $WALLPAPER

  You can also plug this into a flake to include it into a system configuration.

  {
      inputs = {
       akibOS.url = "github:akibahmed229/nixos";
      };
  }

  This input can then be used as Nixpkgs with the custom one. (nixos , home-manager)

  From NixOS Configuration

  {inputs, pkgs,... }:
  {
      environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
        inputs.akibOS.packages.${pkgs.system}.wallpaper # make sure you have set the env variable $WALLPAPER
        inputs.akibOS.packages.${pkgs.system}.custom_nsxiv # my modify version of nsxiv
      ];
  
      # custom pkgs for sddm theme for
      services.displayManager.sddm = {
        enable = true;
        theme = ''${inputs.akibOS.packages.${pkgs.system}.custom_sddm.override {
            imgLink = {
              url = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/akibahmed229/nixos/main/public/wallpaper/nix-wallpaper-nineish-dark-gray.png"; # you can change the image for sddm theme
              sha256 = "07zl1dlxqh9dav9pibnhr2x1llywwnyphmzcdqaby7dz5js184ly"; # change the hash accordingly
            };
          }}'';
      };
  }

  From Home Manager

  {inputs, pkgs,... }:
  {
     home.packages  = with pkgs; [
        inputs.akibOS.packages.${pkgs.system}.wallpaper # make sure you have set the env variable $WALLPAPER
        inputs.akibOS.packages.${pkgs.system}.custom_nsxiv # my modify version of nsxiv
      ];
  }

• My Custom library helper function that will allow multiple hosts with easy-to-administer

  
  

  NixOS configuration ( flake & home-manager as module) with my mkSystem lib function

    nix flake init -t github:akibahmed229/nixos#nixos

  Standalone home-manager configuration with my mkSystem lib function

    nix flake init -t github:akibahmed229/nixos#homeManager

  Nix-On-Droid configuration for Android (flake & home-manager as module) with my mkSystem lib function

    nix flake init -t github:akibahmed229/nixos#nixOnDroid