My Nix journey started back in summer 2023. I was drawn to the idea of a declarative system and keeping my configurations neatly on GitHub. The fact that Nix has the largest package repository sealed the deal for me.
So, I just yoloed it: I wiped Fedora from my Framework laptop, my main machine, and installed NixOS. The initial plan was to take it slow, just installing packages and exploring things one step at a time.
To be honest, it wasn’t always a smooth ride. Some problems really tested my patience, but I was determined to see it through.
Now, more than two years later, I’m a very happy NixOS user. I’ve had the chance to go to two NixCons and have become a contributor to the ecosystem myself. I’m a maintainer for a few packages and services in nixpkgs and have recently contributed to home-manager and stylix as well.
I’ve learned a lot, and now I want to help you have an easier start. This tutorial series is how I would approach learning Nix if I could start all over again.
This will be also a personal endeavor to document my knowledge somewhere. Especially since the Nix documentation isn’t really that centralized and I want a place for my thoughts to be gathered!
Let’s get started.