NixOS Configuration

A structured, traditional-channel NixOS config for one or more machines. No flakes required — easy to understand, easy to migrate to flakes later.

---

Directory Structure

.nix-config/
├── flake.nix
├── flake.lock
├── hosts/
│   ├── desktop/
│   │   ├── configuration.nix      ← machine entry point
│   │   └── hardware-configuration.nix  ← auto-generated, machine-specific
│   └── notebook/                  ← add later, same pattern
│       ├── configuration.nix
│       └── hardware-configuration.nix
│
├── modules/                       ← shared, reusable config pieces
│   ├── user/                      ← config pieces loaded by home-manager
│   │   ├── sublime.nix            ← sublime4-text configuraiton
│   │   ├── trilium.nix            ← trilium-desktop configuraiton
│   │   ├── zen.nix                ← zen browser configuraiton
│   │   ├── zsh.nix                ← zsh configuraiton
│   │   └── neovim.nix             ← neovim configuraiton
│   ├── apps.nix                   ← applications (GUI machines only)
│   ├── base.nix                   ← locale, fonts, nix settings (ALL machines)
│   ├── desktop-kde.nix            ← KDE Plasma 6 + SDDM (GUI machines only)
│   ├── git.nix                    ← git + GitHub CLI
│   ├── kde.nix                    ← kde configuration user specific
│   ├── shell.nix                  ← zsh system-level + env vars
│   ├── apps.nix                   ← thunderbird configuration
│   └── wireguard.nix              ← wireguard configuration
│
├── home/
│   └── default.nix                ← home-manager: dotfiles, per-user config
│
└── assets/
    └── wallpaper/                 ← wallpapers
        └── forest.jpg

---

First-Time Setup

1. Boot the NixOS installer

Download the ISO from https://nixos.org/download and boot it.

2. Partition & format your disk

# Example for a single-disk UEFI system (adjust device names!):
sudo fdisk /dev/sda    # or gdisk for GPT
# Create: 1 GiB EFI partition (type EFI), rest Linux filesystem

sudo mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2           # or btrfs — see note below

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/boot
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Btrfs tip: If you want snapshots (great with NixOS), format with mkfs.btrfs and create subvolumes @ and @home. Many guides online.

3. Generate hardware config

sudo nixos-generate-config --root /mnt

This creates /mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix and a stub configuration.nix. Keep the hardware file, discard the stub.

4. Clone this repo onto the new system

sudo nix-shell -p git git-crypt gnupg
git clone <your-repo-url> /mnt/etc/nixos/nix

To decrypt the encrypted files the GPG key has to be imported

# Import the key
gpg --import /path/to/gpg-private.asc

# In the GPG prompt, trust the key
gpg> trust
# Choose 5 (ultimate trust)
gpg> quit

# Securely delete the key file
shred -u /path/to/gpg-private.asc

Unlock the cloned git repo

# Unlock
git-crypt unlock

# When prompted enter the password for the GPG key

5. Copy hardware config into the repo

cp /mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix \
   /mnt/etc/nixos/nix/hosts/desktop/

6. Set up the channels

# NixOS (should already be set if using the installer):
sudo nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-25.11 nixos
sudo nix-channel --update

# home-manager (must match NixOS release):
sudo nix-channel --add https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/archive/release-25.11.tar.gz home-manager
sudo nix-channel --update

7. Point /etc/nixos/configuration.nix at your host config

sudo ln -sf /etc/nixos/nix/hosts/desktop/configuration.nix /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

8. Edit the config for your machine

Before rebuilding, open the files and change:

File	What to change
hosts/desktop/configuration.nix	hostname, GPU section, username
home/default.nix	username

9. Install!

sudo nixos-install
sudo reboot

---

10. Pushing new Configuration

When changing or adding files, check if they are commited encrypted

# Check the status of the files
git-crypt status

# If some files that should get encrypted are not show as that force the encryption
git-crypt status -f

# Add new or changed files
git add <changes-done>

# Commit change
git commit -m "Message"

# Push
git push origin main

---