Bootstrap.

Edit flake.nix and change hostName and userName.

Install nix

sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install)

On a fresh MacOS install you can run the following to bootstrap your system.

make darwin # answer no to editing the file, then yes for all
sudo rm /etc/nix/nix.conf
make bootstrap

Test your system is buildable.

make test

Activate your system

make install

Rollback a generation

make rollback

Interactive shell

Your flake includes a development shell which includes tools like niv (for dependency management), alejandra (nix code formatter).

nix develop

Add home-managed nixpkgs applications.

Edit nix/homeConfigurations/your-username.nix and add the desired values for home.programs, for example, if you like to use exa:

home.programs = with pkgs; [ exa ];

Install home-managed dmg applications (sourced by Niv)

Your flake can use niv to declare external source dependencies, like .dmg applications distributed via github releases or for MacOS apps not available via nixpkgs.

See niv --help and the niv homepage for more instructions on adding, updating and removing dependencies.

Suppose we would like to install Keytty. First, we need to determine the .dmg url from keytty's releases page. And then add a dependency using niv.

niv add Keytty -t 'https://github.com/keytty/shelter/releases/download/<version>/Keytty.<version>.dmg' -v '1.2.8'

After adding the Keytty dependency at version 1.2.8, we can install it by editing nix/homeConfigurations/your-username.nix:

home.programs = [ pkgs.nivApps.Keytty ] # NOTE: same name as niv-managed dependency.