NixOS Dotfiles

Opinionated, multi-host NixOS + Home Manager flake with GUI and headless profiles. One vars.nix to configure everything. Add a new host in two lines.

Features

• Multi-host — single repo drives multiple machines (desktop, server, Raspberry Pi)
• Profile-based — gui (GNOME + i3) and headless (CLI-only) profiles, pick per host
• Single config file — all user/host variables in one vars.nix
• Auto-generated hosts — add a host to vars.nix, flake picks it up automatically
• Auto-detect platform — aarch64-linux, x86_64-linux, etc. detected from hardware-configuration.nix
• Flake template — use as a starting point for your own dotfiles
• Shell aliases — nx-switch, nx-update, nx-clean and more, auto-configured per host

What's included

Layer	Tool	Config
Shell	zsh + oh-my-zsh	home-manager/zsh.nix
Prompt	starship	home-manager/starship.nix
History	atuin	home-manager/atuin.nix
Multiplexer	tmux (gpakosz/.tmux)	home-manager/tmux.nix
Window manager	i3 + i3status + dmenu	home-manager/i3.nix
Desktop	GNOME + GDM + pipewire	nixos/desktop.nix
Base system	boot, networking, locale, SSH, packages	nixos/base.nix

Structure

flake.nix                         # Entry point, auto-generates hosts from vars.nix
vars.nix                          # All variables: user, hosts, profiles
nixos/
  base.nix                        # Shared NixOS: boot, network, locale, user, packages
  desktop.nix                     # GNOME, X11, sound, printing (GUI only)
home-manager/
  home.nix                        # Shared HM: shell, git, CLI tools, aliases
  zsh.nix / tmux.nix / atuin.nix / starship.nix / i3.nix
hosts/
  gui/                            # Desktop profile
    configuration.nix / home.nix / hardware-configuration.nix
  headless/                       # Server profile
    configuration.nix / home.nix / hardware-configuration.nix

Quick start

Use as template

nix flake init -t github:maxclax/nix-dotfiles

Edit vars.nix with your username, email, and hostname.

Adding a new host

Just add an entry to vars.nix:

{
  username = "dev";
  fullName = "dev";
  email = "dev@site.com";

  hosts = {
    myhost = {
      hostname = "myhost";
      profile = "gui";        # or "headless"
      flakePath = "~/nix-dotfiles";
    };
  };
}

Then build: sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#myhost

Bootstrap (fresh NixOS install)

Run as root on a fresh NixOS minimal install:

nix-shell -p git --run "git clone https://github.com/maxclax/nix-dotfiles.git /tmp/nix-dotfiles && nixos-rebuild switch --flake /tmp/nix-dotfiles#<host-name>"
passwd dev

For UTM/QEMU VMs with a shared folder:

mkdir -p /mnt/shared
mount -t 9p share /mnt/shared -o trans=virtio,version=9p2000.L
cp /etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix /mnt/shared/nix-dotfiles/hosts/<profile>/
nix-shell -p git --run "git config --global --add safe.directory /mnt/shared/nix-dotfiles && nixos-rebuild switch --flake /mnt/shared/nix-dotfiles#<host-name>"
passwd dev

After reboot, log in as dev. All nx-* aliases are available.

Daily usage

nx-switch       # Rebuild and switch
nx-update       # Update flake inputs and rebuild
nx-test         # Test build without switching
nx-diff         # Show what changed since last switch
nx-clean        # Garbage collect and optimise store
nx-rollback     # Roll back to previous generation

SSH access

ssh dev@<host-ip>   # find IP with: ip a