nixos-and-flakes-book/docs/best-practices/simplify-nixos-related-commands.md

Simplifying NixOS-Related Commands

To simplify NixOS-related commands, I utilize just, which proves to be very convenient.

Alternatively, you can also use similar tools like Makefile or cargo-make for this purpose. Here, I will provide my approach as a reference.

Below is an example of how my Justfile looks:

The latest Justfile I'm using: ryan4yin/nix-config/Justfile

# just is a command runner, Justfile is very similar to Makefile, but simpler.

############################################################################
#
#  Nix commands related to the local machine
#
############################################################################

deploy:
  nixos-rebuild switch --flake . --use-remote-sudo

debug:
  nixos-rebuild switch --flake . --use-remote-sudo --show-trace --verbose

update:
  nix flake update

history:
  nix profile history --profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/system

gc:
  # remove all generations older than 7 days
  sudo nix profile wipe-history --profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/system  --older-than 7d

  # garbage collect all unused nix store entries
  sudo nix store gc --debug

############################################################################
#
#  Idols, Commands related to my remote distributed building cluster
#
############################################################################

add-idols-ssh-key:
  ssh-add ~/.ssh/ai-idols

aqua: add-idols-ssh-key
  nixos-rebuild --flake .#aquamarine --target-host aquamarine --build-host aquamarine switch --use-remote-sudo

aqua-debug: add-idols-ssh-key
  nixos-rebuild --flake .#aquamarine --target-host aquamarine --build-host aquamarine switch --use-remote-sudo --show-trace --verbose

ruby: add-idols-ssh-key
  nixos-rebuild --flake .#ruby --target-host ruby --build-host ruby switch --use-remote-sudo

ruby-debug: add-idols-ssh-key
  nixos-rebuild --flake .#ruby --target-host ruby --build-host ruby switch --use-remote-sudo --show-trace --verbose

kana: add-idols-ssh-key
  nixos-rebuild --flake .#kana --target-host kana --build-host kana switch --use-remote-sudo

kana-debug: add-idols-ssh-key
  nixos-rebuild --flake .#kana --target-host kana --build-host kana switch --use-remote-sudo --show-trace --verbose

idols: aqua ruby kana

idols-debug: aqua-debug ruby-debug kana-debug

By Save this Justfile to the root directory of your Nix flake. Then, I can use just deploy to deploy the configuration to my local machine, and just idols to deploy the configuration to all my remote servers.

This approach simplifies the execution of NixOS commands by abstracting them behind target names in the Justfile, providing a more user-friendly and convenient experience.