Nix Dotfiles

This is my dotfile setup, using Nix, nix-darwin, and home-manager.

Install Dependencies

First, install the Xcode command-line tools:

xcode-select --install

Install Homebrew

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Install Nix

Install Nix using the Determinate Systems installer:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install

Prepare Configuration for Installation

sudo mv /etc/nix/nix.conf /etc/nix/nix.conf.before-nix-darwin

Install the Nix Flake

Important

Make sure your Terminal has full disk access in the Security & Privacy settings.

First-time Installation

Install from GitHub

To install and use this configuration directly from GitHub without cloning:

nix --extra-experimental-features nix-command --extra-experimental-features flakes run nix-darwin -- switch --flake github:kogakure/dotfiles

Clone and Install

Clone the repository:

git clone git@github.com:kogakure/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles

For the initial setup, run:

nix --extra-experimental-features nix-command --extra-experimental-features flakes run nix-darwin -- switch --flake ~/.dotfiles

This command installs nix-darwin and applies your configuration.

Selecting a Specific Configuration

By default the $hostname that matches the current machine is used, but it is possible to manually load one by running:

nix --extra-experimental-features nix-command --extra-experimental-features flakes run nix-darwin -- switch --flake ~/.dotfiles#mac-mini

Updating Configuration

After making changes to your configuration, apply them with:

darwin-rebuild switch --flake ~/.dotfiles

Inspiration

My setup is inspired by davish’s Nix Setup and by a lot of talking to Claude 3.5. 😅