nixos-and-flakes-book/docs/advanced-topics/index.md

Advanced Topics

After becoming familiar with the NixOS, you can further explore Nix's three manuals and other docs to discover more ways to use it:

• Nix Reference Manual: A guide to the Nix package manager, which mainly covers the design of the package manager and instructions for using it from the command line.
• nixpkgs Manual: A manual that introduces parameters of Nixpkgs, how to use, modify, and package Nix packages.
• NixOS Manual: A user manual for NixOS, mainly including configuration instructions for system-level components such as Wayland/X11 and GPU.
• nix-pills: Nix Pills provides an in-depth explanation of how to use Nix to build software packages. It is written in a clear and understandable way and is worth reading, as it is also sufficiently in-depth.

After becoming familiar with Flakes, you may want to try some advanced techniques. Here are some popular community projects to try:

• flake-parts: Simplify the writing and maintenance of configuration through the Module module system.
• flake-utils-plus: A third-party package for simplifying Flake configuration, which is apparently more powerful.
• digga: A large and comprehensive Flake template that combines the functionality of various useful Nix toolkits, but has a complex structure and requires some experience to navigate.
• etc.

And many other useful community projects to explore, here are some of them:

• agenix: secrets management
• colmena: NixOS deployment tools
• nixos-generator: generate iso/qcow2/... from nixos configuration
• lanzaboote: enable secure boot for NixOS
• impermanence: used to make NixOS stateless, to imporve the reproduciability of NixOS system.