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* install software declaratively in your user profile, rather than using nix-env
* install software declaratively in your user profile, rather than using nix-env
* manage dotfiles in the home directory of your user.
* manage dotfiles in the home directory of your user.
Home Manager has many [https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/options.html options], which can look daunting at first, but most of those options only boil down to creating some dotfile and installing some software in a way similar way to nix-env.
Home Manager has many [https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/options.xhtml options], which can look daunting at first, but most of those options only boil down to creating some dotfiles and installing some software in a way similar way to nix-env.


{{Note|Before attempting to use Home Manager [https://github.com/rycee/home-manager#words-of-warning please read the warning].}}
{{Note|Before attempting to use Home Manager [https://github.com/rycee/home-manager#words-of-warning please read the warning].}}
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== Configuration ==
== Configuration ==


Home Manager can be configured as a user in <code>~/.config/nixpkgs/home.nix</code> or as a module inside configuration.nix.
Home Manager can be configured as a user in <code>~/.config/home-manager/home.nix</code> or as a module inside configuration.nix.


=== Installation as a user ===
=== Installation as a user ===


Follow the [https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager#installation official guide]
Follow the [https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.xhtml#ch-installation official guide]


Your configuration is stored in <code>~/.config/nixpkgs/home.nix</code>. Each time you modify it, rerun <code>home-manager switch</code> for changes to have effect.
Your configuration is stored in <code>~/.config/home-manager/home.nix</code>. Each time you modify it, rerun <code>home-manager switch</code> for changes to have effect.


Note that to work correctly, home-manager needs your shell to source <code>~/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh</code>. The most convenient way to do so it to have home-manager manage your whole shell configuration, eg <code>programs.bash.enable = true;</code> or <code>programs.zsh.enable = true;</code>. But in this case your whole bashrc is managed with Home Manager: the years of customization you accumulated in your former .bashrc must be migrated to Home Manager options, which may take some time. The quick and dirty way to do the migration is to move your bashrc to some other location and source it from Home Manager:
To work correctly, Home Manager needs your shell to source <code>~/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh</code>. The most convenient way to do so is to have Home Manager manage your whole shell configuration, eg <code>programs.bash.enable = true;</code> or <code>programs.zsh.enable = true;</code>. But in this case your whole bashrc is managed with Home Manager: the years of customization you accumulated in your former .bashrc must be migrated to Home Manager options, which may take some time. The quick and dirty way to do the migration is to move your bashrc to some other location and source it from Home Manager:
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
{ pkgs, ...}: {
{ pkgs, ...}: {
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   home-manager.users.my_username = {
   home-manager.users.my_username = {
     /* Here goes your home-manager config, eg home.packages = [ pkgs.foo ]; */
    /* The home.stateVersion option does not have a default and must be set */
    home.stateVersion = "18.09";
     /* Here goes the rest of your home-manager config, e.g. home.packages = [ pkgs.foo ]; */
   };
   };
}
}
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It can either be incorporated in <code>/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</code> or be placed in a standalone file and imported in configuration.nix: <code>imports = [ ./thefile.nix ]</code>.
It can either be incorporated in <code>/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</code> or be placed in a standalone file and imported in configuration.nix: <code>imports = [ ./thefile.nix ]</code>.


To use it inside nixosConfigurations in a Flake, put home-manager in your inputs and in your configuration modules import <code>home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager</code>, then you can use it as above.
Whenever you change you Home Manager configuration, you must rerun <code>nixos-rebuild switch</code>. With this method, changing the configuration of an unprivileged user requires to run a command as root.


Whenever you change you home-manager configuration, you must rerun <code>nixos-rebuild switch</code>. With this method, changing the configuration of an unprivileged user requires to run a command as root.
=== Usage as a NixOS module in a Flake ===
Here is the skeleton of how to add Home Manager as a module to your system(s) via your [[Flakes|flake]]:
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-25.05";
    home-manager = {
      url = "github:nix-community/home-manager/release-25.05";
      inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
    };
  };
  outputs =
    {
      self,
      nixpkgs,
      home-manager,
      ...
    }@inputs:
    {
      nixosConfigurations.<HOSTNAME> = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem { # replace <HOSTNAME> with your actual hostname
        system = "x86_64-linux";
        modules = [
          ./configuration.nix
          home-manager.nixosModules.default
          {
            home-manager = {
              useGlobalPkgs = true;
              useUserPackages = true;
              users.<USERNAME> = ./home.nix; # replace <USERNAME> with your actual username
            };
          }
        ];
      };
    };
}
</syntaxhighlight>
     
Here's an example of Home Manager configuration in ./home.nix
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
{ config, pkgs, ... }:
 
{
  # This value determines the Home Manager release that your
  # configuration is compatible with. This helps avoid breakage
  # when a new Home Manager release introduces backwards
  # incompatible changes.
  #
  # You can update Home Manager without changing this value. See
  # the Home Manager release notes for a list of state version
  # changes in each release.
  home.stateVersion = "24.11";
}
</syntaxhighlight>
 
Of course you'll probably want to keep more stuff in there than just a state version, but the state version is required.
 
The downside to doing it this way over the User config is that you have to do a full system rebuild; the Home Manager config is part of the full system, and so must be built as root or at least a trusted user.


== Usage ==
== Usage ==


=== Using Home Manager as a declarative version of nix-env ===
=== Using Home Manager to install package declaratively ===


Nix-env has problematic behavior due to its imperative nature. For example, after installing java 8 with  
Nix-env has problematic behavior due to its imperative nature. For example, after installing java 8 with  
<code>nix-env -i jdk8</code>, running <code>nix-env --upgrade</code> upgrades java to 10 despite the fact that we initially explicitly requested java 8.
<code>nix-env -i jdk8</code>, running <code>nix-env --upgrade</code> upgrades java to 10 despite the fact that we initially explicitly requested java 8.


Installing software with Home-manager avoids this problem:
Installing software with Home Manager avoids this problem:
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
{ pkgs, ...}: {
{ pkgs, ...}: {
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</syntaxhighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>


It is a perfectly valid use case for home-manager to only install software with <code>home.packages</code> without managing dotfiles at all.
It is a perfectly valid use case for Home Manager to only install software with <code>home.packages</code> without managing dotfiles at all.


=== Usage on non-NixOS Linux ===
=== Usage on non-NixOS Linux ===
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   programs.git = {
   programs.git = {
     enable = true;
     enable = true;
     userName  = "my_git_username";
     settings = {
    userEmail = "my_git_username@gmail.com";
      user = {
        name = "my_git_username";
        email = "my_git_username@gmail.com";
      };
    };
   };
   };
</syntaxhighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>
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This will create symlink <code>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3blocks/config</code> and <code>~/.gdbinit</code>.
This will create symlink <code>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3blocks/config</code> and <code>~/.gdbinit</code>.


You have the whole list of the options available in home-manager [https://rycee.gitlab.io/home-manager/options.html here]
{{Note|In both ways ("source" and "text"), the symlink points to a target in /nix/store. The difference is that, "source" would overwrite the content of the dot file, while "text" would add the text to the dot file that may also be affected in other places.}}
 
You have the whole list of the options available in Home Manager [https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/options.xhtml here]


=== Examples ===
=== Examples ===
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* [https://github.com/yrashk/nix-home/blob/master/home.nix Yurii Rashkovskii's home.nix]
* [https://github.com/yrashk/nix-home/blob/master/home.nix Yurii Rashkovskii's home.nix]
* [https://git.sr.ht/~ben/config bsima's configs]
* [https://git.sr.ht/~ben/config bsima's configs]
* [https://github.com/srid/nix-config srid's config, modularized]
* [https://github.com/drupol/nixos-x260 drupol's config, with flakes]


== FAQ ==
== FAQ ==


=== I cannot set GNOME themes via home-manager ===
=== I cannot set GNOME or Gtk themes via Home Manager ===


You will have to add
If you get [https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.xhtml#_why_do_i_get_an_error_message_about_literal_ca_desrt_dconf_literal_or_literal_dconf_service_literal an error about {{ic|ca.desrt.conf}} or {{ic|dconf.service}}] on NixOS, add
<syntaxHighlight lang=nix>
<syntaxHighlight lang=nix>
programs.dconf.enable = true;
programs.dconf.enable = true;
</syntaxHighlight>
</syntaxHighlight>
to your system configuration. ( [https://old.reddit.com/r/NixOS/comments/b255k5/home_manager_cannot_set_gnome_themes/ Source] )
to your system configuration.


=== Installed apps don’t show up in Ubuntu's/GNOME's "Show Applications" ===
=== Installed apps don’t show up in Ubuntu's/GNOME's "Show Applications" ===


Consider some of the workarounds here: https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/issues/1439.
Consider some of the workarounds here: https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/issues/1439.
=== Workaround with <code>home on tmpfs</code> and standalone installation ===
home-on-tmpfs users who installed Home Manager standalone may meet problems that cannot load configs after reboot, caused by auto cleaning symlink under the toplevel of the home directory. You need to ensure <code>/home/<user>/.nix-profile</code> exists since the standalone install will not act symlink while the system boots.
If your toplevel of home is on tmpfs, one possible workaround is manually write <code>activationScripts</code> to link the directory:
<syntaxHighlight lang="nix">
  system.activationScripts = {
    # workaround with tmpfs as home and home-manager, since it not preserve
    # ~/.nix-profile symlink after reboot.
    profile-init.text =
      ''
        ln -sfn /home/${user}/.local/state/nix/profiles/profile /home/${user}/.nix-profile
      '';
  };
</syntaxHighlight>
Other files may also need to manually symlink in this case.
== Templates ==
* https://github.com/juspay/nix-dev-home A Home Manager template providing useful tools & settings for Nix-based development.


== Alternatives ==
== Alternatives ==


* [[Wrappers vs. Dotfiles]] shows how (per-user) wrapper scripts can be used in place of dotfiles in the user's home directory
* [[Wrappers vs. Dotfiles]] shows how (per-user) wrapper scripts can be used in place of dotfiles in the user's home directory
* [https://github.com/viperML/wrapper-manager wrapper-manager], an implementation of the idea above using the module system


== See also ==
== See also ==
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* Starting from a machine with a minimal freshly installed NixOS ISO (KDE Plasma version), this video outlines the basics of using Home Manager as of 2021: [http://enia.cc/r/wilt-nixos-install-home-manager Wil T's "''NixOS Installation Guide''" (Home Manager section starts at 27:22)]
* Starting from a machine with a minimal freshly installed NixOS ISO (KDE Plasma version), this video outlines the basics of using Home Manager as of 2021: [http://enia.cc/r/wilt-nixos-install-home-manager Wil T's "''NixOS Installation Guide''" (Home Manager section starts at 27:22)]


[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Software]][[Category:Home Manager]]
Retrieved from "https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Home_Manager"