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Top 23 Nix Dotfile Projects
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Just NixOS. When building the VM / live CD I copy my dotfiles into the Nix store and then during first boot-up I copy them into my home dir and set up symlinks.
The main reason I decided against home-manager was that it makes my simple symlink setup (~/.foo -> ~/.dotfiles/foo) virtually impossible: Symlinks will always point to the read-only Nix store in one way or another. See https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/issues/3514 or one of the countless other tickets on the topic. Through this episode I also learned that home-manager isn't exactly well-documented, either, and also quite opinionated. (Which, to be fair, is not a bad thing – if it works for you, it probably works great.)
Finally, not using home-manager was also a risk management decision in that it's probably best to not go all-in on Nix, NixOS, home-manager etc. all at once. Start with the simplest possible config that gets you running, then iterate.
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Stream
Stream - Scalable APIs for Chat, Feeds, Moderation, & Video. Stream helps developers build engaging apps that scale to millions with performant and flexible Chat, Feeds, Moderation, and Video APIs and SDKs powered by a global edge network and enterprise-grade infrastructure.
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Project mention: Show HN: Virby, a vfkit-based Linux builder for Nix-Darwin | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-07-06
What is the advantage of this over the inbuilt linux-builder in nix-darwin[1]?
I assume it being vfkit based might make it more performant? Are there any benchmarks comparing them?
[1] https://github.com/nix-darwin/nix-darwin/blob/master/modules...
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nix-starter-configs
Simple and documented config templates to help you get started with NixOS + home-manager + flakes. All the boilerplate you need!
This doesn't mirror my experience at all. I think the biggest challenge facing NixOS is the learning curve. There's a lot thrown at you from the start, and as you start to factor your configuration into separate modules, there's a lot of complexity you have to unpack.
I've since migrated to a flake-based setup with machine-based variations (for my laptop and desktop), including easily swappable desktop environments. At a whim, I can switch between sway, hyprland, and gnome. This was mostly a result of me exploring/tweaking these without wanting to discard the configs; I always end up coming back to re-explore tiling WMs.
My experience through all of this has been great. I've even done a full re-install on both machines when the xz vulnerability was discovered and the process was effortless. That includes lanzaboote for SecureBoot, LUKS, and out-of-tree git-based flake builds for custom applications I build from source.
The one thing I found really helpful when starting with flakes was this repo that includes starter configs to help flatten that initial curve: https://github.com/Misterio77/nix-starter-configs/tree/main
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nixos-config
General purpose Nix configuration for macOS / NixOS (with starter templates!) (by dustinlyons)
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nixos-and-flakes-book
:hammer_and_wrench: :heart: Want to know NixOS & Flakes in detail? Looking for a beginner-friendly tutorial? Then you've come to the right place! 想要学习使用 NixOS 与 Flakes 吗?在寻找一份新手友好的教程?那你可来对地方了!
Project mention: NixOS and Flakes Book: An unofficial book for beginners | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-01-06 -
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InfluxDB
InfluxDB – Built for High-Performance Time Series Workloads. InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.
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nix-config
❄️ My nix config for both desktops(NixOS+macOS) and homelab servers(NixOS). (by ryan4yin)
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nixcfg
My nix configuration(s), using flakes. It's my laptop, it's my servers, it's my everything, in code. (by MatthewCroughan)
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SaaSHub
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
Nix Dotfiles discussion
Nix Dotfiles related posts
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Show HN: Virby, a vfkit-based Linux builder for Nix-Darwin
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I like to install NixOS (declaratively)
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My new Nix series!
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Home Manager using Nix for User Environment
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LnL7/Nix-Darwin: Nix modules for Darwin
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Upgrading Homebrew and avoiding the failed to verify attestation error
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Nix Modules for Darwin
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A note from our sponsor - InfluxDB
www.influxdata.com | 11 Jul 2025
Index
What are some of the best open-source Dotfile projects in Nix? This list will help you:
# | Project | Stars |
---|---|---|
1 | Home Manager using Nix | 8,282 |
2 | nix-darwin | 4,170 |
3 | nix-starter-configs | 3,217 |
4 | dotfiles | 2,896 |
5 | nixos-config | 2,753 |
6 | nixos-and-flakes-book | 2,603 |
7 | dotfiles | 1,798 |
8 | nix-config | 1,468 |
9 | nix-config | 1,047 |
10 | dotfiles | 1,016 |
11 | digga | 1,010 |
12 | nix-config | 967 |
13 | dotfiles | 960 |
14 | crystal | 775 |
15 | nix-config | 701 |
16 | system | 490 |
17 | yuki | 476 |
18 | nixpkgs | 438 |
19 | nixcfg | 436 |
20 | nixdots | 344 |
21 | nix-homelab | 328 |
22 | nixflakes | 313 |
23 | nixcfg | 309 |