Home Manager integration and modular configuration

Trade-offs between the two installation modes#

Feature	1. Standalone mode	2. NixOS module mode
Command to apply changes	`home-manager switch`	`nixos-rebuild switch`
Independence	High; no system configuration changes required	Low; must be included in the system configuration
Rollback	System and HM rollbacks are separate	Rolls back with the system (closely synchronized)
Recommended for	People who want to use Nix on Arch/macOS	NixOS users (strongly recommended)

In practice: integrate as a module in a flake#

This approach ensures that your system and personal configuration are managed through the same flake.lock.

1. Edit flake.nix

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    home-manager = {
      url = "github:nix-community/home-manager";
      inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
    };
  };

  outputs = { nixpkgs, home-manager, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.my-host = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        ./configuration.nix
        home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager {
          home-manager.useGlobalPkgs = true;
          home-manager.useUserPackages = true;
          home-manager.users.alice = import ./home.nix;
        }
      ];
    };
  };
}

2. Create home.nix

This is the core of your personal configuration.

{ config, pkgs, ... }: {
  home.username = "alice";
  home.homeDirectory = "/home/alice";

  # 只有在这里添加的包，才属于你个人
  home.packages = [ pkgs.ripgrep pkgs.fd ];

  programs.home-manager.enable = true;
  home.stateVersion = "24.11"; # 示例初装版本，升级输入时不自动修改
}

Modularize your home.nix#

As your configuration grows, home.nix can become very unwieldy. Use imports to split it up:

# home.nix
{
  imports = [
    ./modules/zsh.nix
    ./modules/git.nix
    ./modules/vscode.nix
  ];
}

Why choose module mode?#

When you select an older version in the boot menu to roll back, module mode includes the corresponding Home Manager activation entry in the system configuration. Still check the activation service to confirm whether the user configuration has actually switched. Mutable application data, running processes, and databases do not automatically revert to a historical snapshot.

References & further reading

Adapted from technical notes. Examples use generic names.