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dotfiles-nix

macOS flake layout using:

  • nix-darwin for macOS system settings
  • nix-homebrew + homebrew module for Homebrew packages and casks
  • home-manager for user-level dotfiles and shell config

Structure

.
|-- flake.nix
|-- scripts/                 # Custom scripts installed into PATH
|   `-- rebuild              # Build and switch system configuration
|-- config/                  # Dotfile configs (symlinked)
|   |-- ghostty/
|   |-- karabiner/
|   |-- nvim/
|   |-- rime/
|   |-- starship.toml
|   |-- tmux/
|   `-- zsh/
|-- hosts/
|   |-- darwin-arm64-main/
|   |   `-- default.nix
|   `-- darwin-x86_64-legacy/
|       `-- default.nix
|-- home/
|   `-- <username>/
|       `-- default.nix
`-- modules/
    |-- darwin/
    |   |-- default.nix
    |   |-- packages.nix
    |   `-- settings.nix
    |-- home-manager/
    |   |-- default.nix
    |   |-- git.nix
    |   |-- packages.nix
    |   |-- zsh.nix
    `-- homebrew/
        `-- default.nix

Installed Software

CLI Tools (Nix)

Category Tools
Core bat eza fd fzf git neovim ripgrep tmux tree wget zoxide
Languages go rust rust-analyzer python3 nodejs
Dev Tools gh gitmux sesh starship uv yq
Shell oh-my-zsh zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting

GUI Apps (Homebrew Casks)

Category Apps
Communication WeChat DingTalk Telegram QQ
Input Squirrel (Rime)
Browser Arc Chrome
IDE Zed VSCode Neovim
AI CC-Switch
Note Obsidian Logseq
Terminal Ghostty iTerm2
Player IINA
Productivity Raycast Karabiner Easydict OrbStack MonitorControl
Other Snipaste f.lux Beekeeper Studio Mos MQTTX
Fonts Fira Code Monaspace
Proxy clash-party

Homebrew Brews

  • mole - Deep clean and optimize Mac

Dotfile Configs

Config Location
Ghostty ~/.config/ghostty
Karabiner ~/.config/karabiner
Neovim ~/.config/nvim
Rime ~/Library/Rime (rime-ice + custom)
Starship ~/.config/starship.toml
Tmux ~/.config/tmux
Zsh ~/.zshrc

Reuse model

  • Shared config lives in modules/
  • Shared user config lives in home/<username>/
  • Dotfile configs live in config/ (symlinked)
  • Per-machine differences live in hosts/<hostname>/

Most of your CLI tools, shell config, dotfiles, and env vars should stay shared. Host files should stay thin and only describe machine-specific differences.

Current hosts

  • darwin-arm64-main: Apple Silicon, aarch64-darwin
  • darwin-x86_64-legacy: Intel, x86_64-darwin

These names are logical host roles, not hardware model names.

What goes where

  • System CLI tools: modules/darwin/packages.nix
  • GUI apps from Homebrew: modules/homebrew/default.nix
  • User shell config: modules/home-manager/zsh.nix
  • Dotfile configs: config/ (symlinked via home/<username>/default.nix)
  • Custom scripts: scripts/ (installed into PATH via modules/home-manager/packages.nix)

Dev Shells

Per-project dev environments are managed via kalifun/devshells + direnv.

mkdevshell is installed globally as a system package. Use it to generate a .envrc:

mkdevshell simple rust-stable

Modes:

  • simple <name> — writes use flake github:kalifun/devshells#<shell> to .envrc, activates immediately
  • composite — interactive fzf multi-select to combine shells
  • template [name] — initialize a project with nix flake init

Available shells: go-latest, go-1_25, go-1_24, nodejs-22, nodejs-20, python-313, python-311, python-314, rust-stable, rust-nightly, rust-nightly-wasm, lua, zig, zig-latest, thrift, nix, java-android

Apply

Choose one bootstrap mode before the first apply.

Option 1: Official Nix Installer

Set nix.enable = true in modules/darwin/settings.nix. In this mode, nix-darwin is allowed to manage the Nix installation.

Install Nix with the official installer, then open a new shell:

curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh

First apply:

Apple Silicon:

nix run github:LnL7/nix-darwin/master#darwin-rebuild -- switch --flake .#darwin-arm64-main

Intel:

nix run github:LnL7/nix-darwin/master#darwin-rebuild -- switch --flake .#darwin-x86_64-legacy

Later applies:

Apple Silicon:

sudo darwin-rebuild switch --flake .#darwin-arm64-main

Intel:

sudo darwin-rebuild switch --flake .#darwin-x86_64-legacy

Option 2: Determinate Nix

Keep nix.enable = false in modules/darwin/settings.nix. In this mode, Nix is managed outside nix-darwin.

Install Determinate Nix, then open a new shell.

First apply:

Apple Silicon:

nix run github:LnL7/nix-darwin/master#darwin-rebuild -- switch --flake .#darwin-arm64-main

Intel:

nix run github:LnL7/nix-darwin/master#darwin-rebuild -- switch --flake .#darwin-x86_64-legacy

Later applies:

Apple Silicon:

sudo darwin-rebuild switch --flake .#darwin-arm64-main

Intel:

sudo darwin-rebuild switch --flake .#darwin-x86_64-legacy

In both modes, the first apply uses nix run because darwin-rebuild is usually not available until after the first successful switch.

You can also use the rebuild script from the dotfiles directory:

rebuild           # switch to current config
rebuild --update  # update all flake inputs, then switch

Troubleshooting

systemPackages disappear after reboot

On recent macOS versions, System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > Allow in the Background may show some Nix-related background items as plain sh entries.

These are easy to mistake for something suspicious, but they are required for nix-darwin / Determinate Nix boot integration. On this setup they may include:

  • org.nixos.activate-system
  • org.nixos.darwin-store
  • systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook

If you disable those sh entries, the system profile may not be restored on the next boot. Typical symptoms:

  • /run/current-system is missing after reboot
  • commands from environment.systemPackages are no longer found
  • shell startup reports errors such as command not found: starship or command not found: zoxide

If that happens, re-enable the related sh entries in Allow in the Background and reboot. If you need an immediate recovery without rebooting, run:

sudo launchctl bootstrap system /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.activate-system.plist
sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/org.nixos.activate-system