NixOS Documentation

Complete reference for NixOS and the Nix ecosystem, auto-generated from official repositories:

• nix.dev - tutorials, guides, best practices
• NixOS Manual - from NixOS/nixpkgs
• Nix Pills - progressive learning series
• Release Wiki - NixOS release process

The references/ directory contains full, unmodified documentation from those sources, updated daily.

How to Use

1. Identify the topic from the user's question and read the matching reference file from the tables below.
2. Base answers on those files. If more detail is needed, fetch the latest docs from the raw GitHub URLs in Live Fetching.
3. Distinguish between NixOS module options (services.nginx.enable = true;) and Nix language expressions (pkgs.mkDerivation { ... }).
4. Show examples using current syntax (configuration.nix or flake-based configs). When flakes are relevant, show both the classic (channels) and flakes approach.
5. For packaging, prefer the callPackage pattern over raw import.
6. Beginners: start with references/first-steps.md or references/nix-pills.md. Troubleshooting: check references/troubleshooting.md and references/faq.md first. System issues: references/nixos-administration.md.

Reference Files

Getting Started

Topic	File
Installing Nix package manager	references/install-nix.md
NixOS installation (USB, PXE, VirtualBox, proxy, other distro)	references/nixos-installation.md
First steps (ad-hoc shells, declarative shell, reproducible scripts)	references/first-steps.md
Upgrading NixOS	references/nixos-upgrading.md
Changing NixOS configuration	references/nixos-changing-config.md
Glossary and terminology	references/glossary.md
FAQ	references/faq.md

Nix Language & Concepts

Topic	File
Nix language tutorial	references/nix-language.md
Flakes (concept and usage)	references/flakes.md
callPackage design pattern	references/callpackage.md
Module system (basics and deep dive)	references/module-system.md
Working with local files in Nix	references/working-with-local-files.md
Pinning nixpkgs versions	references/pinning-nixpkgs.md
Nix Pills (progressive learning, 20 lessons)	references/nix-pills.md

NixOS Configuration

Topic	File
Configuration syntax, modularity, abstractions	references/nixos-config-syntax.md
Package management (declarative, ad-hoc, custom packages)	references/nixos-package-mgmt.md
User management	references/nixos-user-mgmt.md
Networking (firewall, SSH, IPv4/6, wireless, NetworkManager)	references/nixos-networking.md
Filesystems (LUKS, SSHFS, OverlayFS)	references/nixos-filesystems.md
Display server (X11, Wayland, Xfce, GPU acceleration)	references/nixos-display-server.md
Linux kernel configuration	references/nixos-linux-kernel.md
Kubernetes	references/nixos-kubernetes.md
Configuration profiles (minimal, graphical, headless, etc.)	references/nixos-profiles.md

NixOS Administration

Topic	File
Service management, logging, rollback, troubleshooting, boot problems	references/nixos-administration.md
Containers (declarative, imperative, networking)	references/nixos-containers.md

NixOS Development

Topic	File
Writing NixOS modules (options, types, assertions)	references/nixos-writing-modules.md
NixOS tests (writing, running, interactive)	references/nixos-testing.md
Building NixOS images (ISO, systemd-repart)	references/nixos-building-images.md

Packaging & Build

Topic	File
Packaging existing software for nixpkgs	references/packaging-tutorial.md
Cross-compilation	references/cross-compilation.md

Tutorials

Topic	File
NixOS configuration on a VM	references/nixos-vm-tutorial.md
Building and running Docker images	references/nixos-docker-tutorial.md
Building a bootable ISO image	references/nixos-iso-tutorial.md
Integration testing with VMs	references/nixos-testing-tutorial.md
Deploying NixOS with Terraform	references/nixos-terraform-tutorial.md
Distributed builds setup	references/nixos-distributed-builds.md
NixOS on Raspberry Pi	references/nixos-raspberry-pi.md
Provisioning remote machines	references/nixos-remote-machines.md
Binary cache setup	references/nixos-binary-cache.md

Guides & Recipes

Topic	File
Best practices	references/best-practices.md
Troubleshooting	references/troubleshooting.md
Recipes (direnv, CI, dependencies, Python env, binary cache, sharing deps)	references/recipes.md

Release Process

Topic	File
NixOS release process, roles, branch-off, beta, freeze	references/release-process.md

Live Fetching

When reference files are insufficient, fetch the latest docs from raw GitHub:

nix.dev

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nix.dev/master/source/<path>.md

NixOS Manual (nixpkgs)

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/nixos/doc/manual/<section>/<file>.md

Nix Pills

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nix-pills/master/pills/<NN>-<slug>.md