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Installing NixOS on a New Host (Remote)

Prerequisites

  • A machine with Nix installed (to run nixctl)
  • The sops age key at ~/.config/sops/age/keys.txt and ~/.ssh/sops_ed25519
  • The target machine (physical or VM)

First-time sops setup (only once):

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/sops_ed25519 -N ""
mkdir -p ~/.config/sops/age
nix shell nixpkgs#ssh-to-age -c ssh-to-age -private-key -i ~/.ssh/sops_ed25519 > ~/.config/sops/age/keys.txt

1. Create the host config

Create modules/hosts/<hostname>/ with three files:

<hostname>.nix — pick a profile and aspects:

{den, ...}: {
  den.aspects.<hostname> = {
    includes = [
      # Pick ONE profile:
      den.aspects.desktop-base   # Desktop: niri, noctalia, stylix, pipewire, browser
      # den.aspects.server-base  # Server: openssh, firewall, no GUI (~4 GiB)

      # Optional aspects:
      # den.aspects.work-profile # docker, dev-languages, work tools
      # den.aspects.ssd          # fstrim
      # den.aspects.intel-cpu    # Intel microcode
      # den.aspects.nvidia       # Nvidia drivers
      # den.aspects.mysql        # MySQL service
      # den.aspects.lanzaboote   # Secure boot (needs sbctl keys)
    ];

    nixos = {pkgs, ...}: {
      networking.hostName = "<hostname>";

      boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = true;
      boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;

      environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [vim];
    };
  };
}

hardware.nix — disk layout:

{...}: {
  den.aspects.<hostname>.nixos = {modulesPath, ...}: {
    hardware.facter.reportPath = ./facter.json;

    disko.devices.disk.main = {
      device = "/dev/sda";  # SATA=/dev/sda  NVMe=/dev/nvme0n1  virtio=/dev/vda
      type = "disk";
      content = {
        type = "gpt";
        partitions = {
          ESP = {
            size = "512M";
            type = "EF00";
            content = {
              type = "filesystem";
              format = "vfat";
              mountpoint = "/boot";
              mountOptions = ["fmask=0077" "dmask=0077"];
            };
          };
          root = {
            size = "100%";
            content = {
              type = "filesystem";
              format = "ext4";
              mountpoint = "/";
            };
          };
        };
      };
    };
  };
}

facter.json — placeholder (auto-generated during install):

{}

2. Register the host

Add to modules/flake/hosts.nix:

<hostname> = {users.tatu.classes = ["homeManager"];};

3. Verify it builds

git add -A
nix build .#nixosConfigurations.<hostname>.config.system.build.toplevel

4. Prepare the target

Physical machine

Build and flash the installer ISO:

./nixctl iso
sudo dd if=result/iso/nixos-minimal-*.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress

Boot from USB, then:

sudo passwd root
sudo systemctl start sshd
ip a  # note the IP

VM (for testing)

./nixctl vm

This boots a QEMU VM from the installer ISO with SSH on localhost:2222. Then in the VM:

sudo passwd root
sudo systemctl start sshd

5. Install

ssh-copy-id [-p 2222] root@<target>
./nixctl install

The wizard prompts for:

Prompt Description
Configuration Select your host
Target root@<ip> (or root@localhost for VM)
SSH port 22 (or 2222 for VM)
Auth key (after ssh-copy-id)
User password Login password for tatu
LUKS Optional disk encryption

It automatically:

  • Generates and encrypts the host SSH key (sops)
  • Encrypts the user password (sops)
  • Partitions the disk (disko)
  • Detects hardware (nixos-facter)
  • Installs NixOS (nixos-anywhere)

6. Post-install

After rebooting:

  1. Commit the generated files:
git add -A
git commit -m "feat: add <hostname>"
git push
  1. To update the config later:
./nixctl deploy <hostname> root@<target> [port]

Testing different configs

To switch a running host to a different config without reinstalling:

./nixctl deploy <other-config> root@<target> [port]