Who it's for
Anyone keeping their config in git, and anyone reading other people’s configs, since most of them use flakes.
Move up when
Your flake.nix is crowded with several machines and shared modules, and you want some structure.
The pour
Your configuration.nix doesn’t change at all. A flake.nix sits next to it and says where everything comes from:
# flake.nix
{
inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-26.05";
outputs = { nixpkgs, ... }: {
nixosConfigurations.endgame = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
modules = [ ./configuration.nix ]; # programs.steam.enable = true; lives in here
};
};
}
Build the machine called endgame:
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#endgame
How it works
The first build writes flake.lock, pinning the exact nixpkgs commit. Commit both files. To update, run nix flake update and rebuild. If the new versions misbehave, roll back as usual or revert the lock file in git.
To switch flakes on, add this to your config and rebuild once:
nix.settings.experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];
A second machine is just another entry under nixosConfigurations, pointing at its own files.
Why people like it
- Reproducible:
flake.lockpins every input, so nothing changes until you runnix flake update. - Lives anywhere (usually a git repo in your home folder) and builds any machine by name.
- Pull in extra sources, like Home Manager or a hardware repo, as inputs.
What it costs you
- Still labelled experimental in Nix, so you switch it on with one setting. In practice most of the community uses it.
- Flakes only see files tracked by git. Forget to
git adda new file and the build won’t find it. - One more file and one more concept to learn up front.
Regulars brewed this way
Minimal and standard flake templates with heavy comments, designed to be the thing you copy on day one.
An AMD gaming desktop and a Surface Pro tablet from one den config, with every feature written as a reusable aspect.
A widely copied personal config, with a clean separation of hosts, users and shared modules.
From the author of the NixOS & Flakes Book: desktops, servers and macOS, all in one place.
Runs NixOS in a VM on a Mac as a daily development machine. A neat look at Nix outside a normal PC.
A polished Hyprland desktop, kept entirely in config.
The personal infrastructure of the person who first wrote up the dendritic pattern, and the reference for what one looks like in practice.
Further reading
- nix.dev: flakes - what flakes are, from the official docs
- NixOS & Flakes Book - a full guide to running NixOS with flakes
- Misterio77/nix-starter-configs - templates to start your own
Last checked against the projects' own docs: 11 November 2026. These tools move quickly; spotted something out of date? Open a pull request.