nix

Personal Nix configuration for multiple machines (NixOS + home-manager), built as a single flake.

Repository general structure

The flake wires together flake-parts, import-tree, and den. It is organized with the dendritic pattern and the den framework.

Dendritic pattern

import-tree ./modules recursively imports every .nix file under modules/ except files prefixed with _. As a result:

• Each file is a self-contained, top-level module implementing one feature (it can contribute NixOS, home-manager, and darwin config at once).
• There is no manual registry of imports — dropping a file under modules/ activates it.
• File paths are just organization, not semantics; files can be renamed, merged, or split without changing behavior.
• _-prefixed files (e.g. _hardware-configuration.nix) are skipped by import-tree and are meant to be imports-ed manually from elsewhere.

Den framework & the aspects pattern

Den layers a few concerns on top of the dendritic module tree. The central one is the aspects pattern:

• Aspects (den.aspects.<name>) are composable bundles of config that span multiple Nix classes (nixos, homeManager, darwin, ...) in one place — "what a feature does."
• An aspect can pull in other aspects (or den's built-in batteries) via includes, so features compose transitively.
• Entities — hosts and users — are declared under den.hosts.<system>.<hostname>.users.<user> and opt into aspects.
• Aspect functions take typed context parameters ({ host, user, ... }) and Den decides whether an aspect applies based on the available context, instead of enable flags or lib.mkIf conditionals.

Den also automatically creates an aspect for every host and every user. For example, declaring den.hosts.x86_64-linux.zagreus.users.lorenzo yields a den.aspects.zagreus aspect and a den.aspects.lorenzo aspect that hold that entity's own config (see modules/hosts/zagreus/default.nix).

Learn more:

• Dendritic pattern — https://github.com/mightyiam/dendritic/blob/master/README.md
• Den framework — https://den.denful.dev/overview/

Hosts

Each host is declared under modules/hosts/<name>/default.nix via den.hosts.<system>.<hostname>. The den.default aspect applies to every host, and the user aspect lorenzo (which itself pulls in shell, ai, and sops) applies to its user. For desktops and VMs, Basic features / Services names the desktop environment in use; for servers it lists the services the host runs instead. See Aspects below for the full aspect breakdown behind each host.

Host	Machine	System	Type	Basic features / Services
zagreus	Beelink SER8	x86_64-linux	Desktop	Hyprland with Noctalia
nixvm	Virtual machine	x86_64-linux	VM	Hyprland with Noctalia
nyx	GMKtec G5 (Intel N95, 12GB RAM)	x86_64-linux	Server	Traefik, Technitium DNS, Glance

Build/deploy a host with:

nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#<host>

Aspects

Feature aspects defined under modules/, and the other aspects each one pulls in via includes. Host aspects (zagreus, nixvm, nyx) and the user aspect (lorenzo) are auto-generated by den from the entities declared above and are covered by the Hosts table instead.

Aspect	Description	Includes
base	Foundational config for every machine: SSD trim, bootloader, networking, core CLI packages	hardware.ssd, boot.limine, networking.networkmanager
base.nixos	NixOS-level extension point for base (currently no active settings)	—
boot.kernel-cachyos	CachyOS kernel overlay (linuxPackages-cachyos-bore)	—
boot.kernel-latest	Latest upstream kernel (linuxPackages_latest)	—
boot.limine	Limine bootloader	—
boot.plymouth	Plymouth boot splash	—
desktop	Core desktop environment: dconf, zram swap, cursor theme, fonts, wallpapers	hardware.firmware, desktop.sound, desktop.printing
desktop._1password	1Password GUI + CLI	—
desktop.bambu-studio	Bambu Studio 3D-printing slicer	—
desktop.base-applications	Browsers, terminals, office/media apps installed on every desktop	desktop._1password
desktop.bluetooth	Blueman applet	hardware.bluetooth
desktop.gaming	Steam, Proton-GE/CachyOS, Gamescope, ananicy-cpp	—
desktop.hyprland	Hyprland compositor + session management	desktop, desktop.wm, desktop.base-applications, desktop.wm-applications, desktop.wlr-which-key, desktop.noctalia-greeter, desktop.noctalia
desktop.messaging	Telegram Desktop, Vesktop (Discord)	—
desktop.noctalia	Noctalia shell/bar for Hyprland	desktop.noctalia-greeter
desktop.noctalia-greeter	noctalia-greeter login greeter	—
desktop.printing	CUPS printing	—
desktop.sound	PipeWire audio stack	—
desktop.vicinae	Vicinae app launcher	—
desktop.wlr-which-key	wlr-which-key keybinding menu	—
desktop.wm	Services needed by any window manager (keyring, gvfs, udisks2, ...)	—
desktop.wm-applications	Nautilus, file-roller, Satty screenshot annotator	desktop.vicinae
desktop.work	Slack, Teams for Linux	—
development	Dev toolchain: Rust, Node/Deno/Bun, gcc, gdb, direnv, lazygit	—
docker	Docker daemon + user group	—
glance	Glance homelab dashboard	—
hardware.bluetooth	Bluetooth hardware support	—
hardware.btrfs	Weekly Btrfs scrub + smartd	—
hardware.cpu-amd	AMD CPU/pstate/zenpower support	—
hardware.cpu-intel	Intel CPU support	—
hardware.firmware	fwupd firmware updates	—
hardware.igpu-amd	AMD iGPU kernel params, mesa/libva, RADV	—
hardware.igpu-intel	Intel iGPU support	—
hardware.ssd	fstrim	—
networking	Base networking: Avahi/mDNS, cifs-utils	networking.networkmanager, networking.firewall, networking.tailscale
networking.firewall	Firewall, aggregating ports contributed by other aspects	—
networking.networkmanager	NetworkManager, systemd-resolved	networking.firewall
networking.tailscale	Tailscale	—
shell	Fish shell, aliases, and interactive-shell HM programs (starship, fzf, zellij, ...)	—
sops	sops-nix secrets management	—
technitium	Technitium DNS server	—
theming.base	Base GTK/Qt theming	—
theming.catppuccin	Catppuccin theme across NixOS and Home Manager apps	theming.base
traefik	Reverse proxy with Cloudflare DNS-01 ACME	—

Add a new host

See docs/new-host.md.

Acknowledgments

This configuration's structure is built on top of:

• Dendritic pattern
• Den framework