My nix-darwin + home-manager setup, using Determinate Nix to manage the macOS environment.

• Use determinate-nix to install and manage the Nix version.
• nix-mac is a public repository based on nix-darwin + home-manager, managing essential macOS software like zsh, postgresql, etc.
• dot-sec is a private repository based on home-manager, managing private configuration data, including sops-nix, age, ssh, and more.
• dot-sec is a standalone git repo, symlinked to ~/.sec as an optional home-manager submodule.
  • If ~/.sec exists, it will be deployed together with darwin-rebuild.
  • If it doesn't exist, it won't affect the nix-darwin deployment—just a missing notice will be shown.

1. Install Determinate Nix.
2. Clone the nix-mac repository.
3. Run darwin-rebuild to switch configurations.
4. Run iup for further initialization.

• Sign in to your Apple ID and ensure a stable internet connection.
• Installing Homebrew and Xcode Command Line Tools may require significant downloads.

Recommended: use the Determinate Nix Installer:

curl -fsSL https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install

## need auth login???

For the pkg installer, see:

• https://docs.determinate.systems/getting-started/individuals/
• https://install.determinate.systems/determinate-pkg/stable/Universal

References:

• https://zenn.dev/trifolium/articles/da11a428c53f65?locale=en
• https://github.com/NixOS/nix-installer
• https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer

Test the installation:

nix shell nixpkgs#hello
nix shell nixpkgs#hello --command hello --version
nix run nixpkgs#hello -- --version
nix shell github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable#hello
nix run nixpkgs#cowsay -- "Hello"
# nix shell nixpkgs#pkg1 nixpkgs#pkg2

# First time
mkdir -p ~/dev && cd ~/dev
git clone -v --depth=3 https://github.com/cao7113/nix-mac.git
cd nix-mac
sudo nix run "nix-darwin/nix-darwin-26.05#darwin-rebuild" -- switch --flake ".#mac" --show-trace --impure
# Then
iup

xcode-select --install
# Check the current path:
xcode-select -p

If your network is unstable, you can temporarily comment out the Homebrew section in flake.nix.

It is recommended to install jnoortheen.nix-ide:

• https://github.com/nix-community/vscode-nix-ide?tab=readme-ov-file#language-servers

nix profile add github:DeterminateSystems/fh
# Temporary shell install:
nix shell "https://flakehub.com/f/DeterminateSystems/fh/*"
nix run github:DeterminateSystems/fh -- --help
fh --version

gh auth login
gh ssh add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

• https://devenv.sh/getting-started/#3-configure-a-github-access-token-optional

If your network is unstable, you can use ShadowsocksNG:

export http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:1087
export https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:1087

• https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager
• https://home-manager-options.extranix.com/?query=direnv&release=release-25.11
• https://github.com/nix-darwin/nix-darwin
• https://nix-darwin.github.io/nix-darwin/manual/index.html
• https://callistaenterprise.se/blogg/teknik/2025/05/28/nix-darwin/
• https://github.com/HestHub/nixos
• https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.28/introduction.html