Bootstrapping

The bootstrap.sh script handles everything needed to set up a fresh machine from zero to a fully configured system.

One-Liner

sh -c 'curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RobertDeRose/nix-config/main/bootstrap.sh | bash -s -- <hostname>'

What It Does

macOS

1. Installs Xcode Command Line Tools (if missing)
2. Clones this repo to ~/workspace/personal/nix-config (if not already inside it)
3. Creates hosts/<arch>-darwin/<hostname>/ from the darwin template (if it doesn’t exist)
4. Installs Homebrew (if missing)
5. Installs Nix via the Determinate Systems installer (if missing)
6. Runs darwin-rebuild switch to build and activate the full configuration

Linux (Ubuntu headless)

1. Clones this repo (if not already inside it)
2. Creates systems/<arch>-linux/<hostname>/ from the linux template
3. Installs Nix (if missing)
4. Builds and activates system-manager configuration
5. Builds and activates home-manager configuration

After Bootstrap

Once the initial bootstrap completes, day-to-day changes are applied with:

mise run nix:switch

CI Mode

The bootstrap script supports a ci-bootstrap argument for testing in CI without actually activating:

./bootstrap.sh ci-bootstrap

This runs the full pipeline but evaluates configurations without building, verifying the flake is valid on a fresh machine.