My NixOS Setup

This is my personal NixOS configuration for a clean, keyboard-focused development machine. I built it to keep things simple, consistent, and distraction-free while coding.

demo.mp4

Try Out

nix run github:knoopx/nix

What I Focus On

• Minimal clutter: Shell has no widgets and apps take the whole vertical space. Pressing Super reveals the overlay with the widgets.
• Unified styling: Consistent colors, fonts, and styles across:
  • System GTK/Qt themes and custom Neuwaita icon theme (merged with MoreWaita)
  • Terminal emulators (Kitty, Alacritty)
  • Text editors (VSCode, Helix, Zed)
  • Web browsers (Firefox with custom userstyles)
  • Window manager (Niri with custom color schemes)
  • Desktop shell (Astal with theme-aware widgets)
• Reproducible: Everything's declarative, so I can set it up the same way anywhere

Software

Main Components

• Niri: A modern, Wayland-native tiling window manager that provides efficient keyboard-driven window management. It supports custom layouts, workspaces, and seamless integration with the desktop environment for a distraction-free coding experience.
• Astal Shell: A custom desktop shell built on Astal framework, featuring theme-aware widgets for system monitoring, notifications, and quick access to applications.
• Vicinae: Application launcher inspired by Raycast
• Firefox: Web browser optimized for privacy with uBlock Origin for ad-blocking, custom search engines, and userstyles for consistent theming. Includes policies for enhanced security and performance thanks to BetterFox
• Kitty: GPU-accelerated terminal emulator
• Fish: The user-friendly command line shell.
• Hyprlock: Screen locker with custom theme
• VSCode: Primary code editor. Configured with custom keybindings, themes, and productivity tools for development

Development Environments

The modules/home-manager/packages/dev/ directory contains language-specific development environments, each providing essential tools for programming in that language:

• Crystal: Compiler, Crystalline language server, Shards package manager, and Mint framework for building web applications
• Go: Compiler, gopls language server, Delve debugger, and build tools for efficient Go development
• JavaScript: Node.js runtime, package managers (Yarn, pnpm), TypeScript compiler, and development utilities for modern web development
• Nix: nixpkgs-fmt formatter, linter, and nixd language server for Nix language development and configuration
• Python: Interpreter, package managers (pip, poetry), virtual environment tools, and development utilities
• Ruby: Interpreter, Bundler for dependency management, and development tools for Ruby applications
• Rust: Compiler, Cargo package manager, and additional tools for Rust development
• System: C/C++ compilers (GCC, Clang), build tools, and system-level development utilities

How It's Organized

My Machines

• desktop/: Main workstation featuring:
  • NVIDIA graphics with CUDA support
  • BTRFS filesystem with advanced features
  • Container services (Watchtower for updates)
  • Hardware acceleration for AI models
• minibook/: Chuwi Minibook X N150 laptop configuration:
  • Hardware-specific drivers and optimizations
  • Power management and battery optimizations
• vm/: Virtual machine setup for testing
• live-usb/: Bootable USB configuration for system recovery and installation

Modules

• modules/nixos/: System-level configurations including:
  • defaults/: Global settings for AI, colors, display, fonts, system, and user
  • services/: System services (Plex Media Server, Traefik, Android backup, auto-scrcpy, etc.)
  • system/: Core system settings (boot, networking, hardware, packages)
  • theming/: Stylix theming configuration
  • wm/: Window manager and desktop environment settings
• modules/home-manager/: User environment configurations:
  • packages/: User packages and development tools
    • dev/: Language-specific development environments
    • cli.nix: Command-line interface utilities
    • gtk.nix: GTK-related packages
  • programs/: Application configurations (VSCode, Firefox, Kitty, etc.)
  • services/: User services and daemons
  • wm/: Window manager user settings
  • environment/: User environment variables and session settings
• overlays/: Package customizations and fixes:
  • Custom builds for Glance, Geary, Zed Editor, RetroArch, etc.
  • Theme and UI modifications
• builders/: Helper functions for creating package derivations
• lib/: Utility functions for theming, color manipulation, and module loading
• pkgs/: Custom package definitions (Neuwaita Icon Theme, MoreWaita Icon Theme, Llama Swap, Vicinae, etc.)
• flake.nix: Main flake with inputs, outputs, and system configurations
• flake.lock: Dependency lock file for reproducible builds