Mac Development Environment with Nix

A comprehensive, reproducible macOS development environment using Nix, nix-darwin, and home-manager. Perfect for developers who want a declarative, version-controlled system configuration.

🤔 Why Nix?

Nix is a package manager that treats packages as isolated, immutable units. Each package is stored with a unique hash in /nix/store/, ensuring:

• Zero Conflicts: Multiple versions of a package can exist together without conflict
• Perfect Reproducibility: Same configuration = same environment, everywhere
• Rollback Capability: Every change is reversible
• Declarative Configuration: Your entire system as code

🚀 Quick Start

One-Line Installation

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/salemaljebaly/mac-dev-setup/main/install.sh)"

Manual Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/salemaljebaly/mac-dev-setup.git ~/.config/nix-config
cd ~/.config/nix-config

# Run the installer
./install.sh

📋 What's Included

Development Tools

• Editors: VSCode, Cursor
• Mobile Development: Android Studio, Xcode (automated installation)
• Containers: Docker Desktop
• Version Control: Git with enhanced configuration
• Package Managers: Homebrew (managed by Nix)

Productivity Tools

• Communication: Slack
• Design: Figma
• AI Assistant: ChatGPT Desktop
• Laravel Development: Herd

Utilities

• VPN: ProtonVPN, WireGuard, Cloudflare Warp
• Terminal: Wave Terminal
• File Sharing: LocalSend
• Automation: fastlane

🏗️ Architecture

This setup uses a modular architecture:

• nix-darwin: System-level configuration and macOS preferences
• home-manager: User-specific configurations and dotfiles
• nix-homebrew: Declarative Homebrew management
• Flakes: Reproducible, version-locked dependencies

🎯 Customization

Adding New Tools

1. For Nix packages, edit home/common/packages.nix:

myPackages = with pkgs; [
  # Add your package here
  neovim
];

2. For Homebrew casks, edit modules/system/homebrew.nix:

casks = [
  # Add your cask here
  "discord"
];

3. For App Store apps, edit modules/system/homebrew.nix:

masApps = {
  "App Name" = APP_ID;
};

Rebuilding After Changes

# Apply system changes (recommended method)
# if command not work, just run with sudo privileges
nix run nix-darwin -- switch --flake .

Note: darwin-rebuild requires sudo privileges to modify system configurations. It will prompt for your password.

🧪 Testing Your Configuration

Dry Run

nix run nix-darwin -- switch --dry-run --flake .

Check Configuration

nix flake check

List Generations

nix run nix-darwin -- --list-generations

Rollback

nix run nix-darwin -- switch --rollback

📁 Directory Structure

• flake.nix - Main entry point and dependency management
• hosts/ - Machine-specific configurations
• home/ - User environment configurations
• modules/ - Reusable configuration modules

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. "error: experimental Nix feature 'nix-command' is disabled"

   • This happens when using sudo with Nix commands
   • Solution: Use nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run ...
   • Or ensure /etc/nix/nix.conf contains experimental-features = nix-command flakes

2. "system activation must now be run as root"

   • darwin-rebuild requires sudo privileges
   • The installer handles this automatically
   • For manual runs: darwin-rebuild will prompt for sudo

3. "$HOME is not owned by you" when using sudo

   • This is normal when sudo changes to root user
   • Use absolute paths instead of relative paths with sudo

4. Homebrew casks fail to install

   • Ensure Xcode Command Line Tools are installed: xcode-select --install

5. Permission denied errors

   • Some apps need manual permission grants in System Preferences > Security & Privacy

6. Can't find applications

   • GUI apps are in /Applications/Nix Apps/
   • Add to Spotlight: System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy

7. "darwin-rebuild: command not found" after installation

   • This happens on first install before PATH is updated
   • Solution 1: Open a new terminal window
   • Solution 2: Run source /etc/static/zshrc (or bashrc)
   • Solution 3: Run ./activate.sh from the repository
   • Solution 4: Use full path: /run/current-system/sw/bin/darwin-rebuild

Reset Everything

# Uninstall nix-darwin
nix-build https://github.com/LnL7/nix-darwin/archive/master.tar.gz -A uninstaller
./result/bin/darwin-uninstaller

# Uninstall Nix
/nix/nix-installer uninstall

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

1. Test the tool on your Mac and report any issues
2. Add new packages or configurations
3. Improve documentation
4. Share your experience

Found a Bug?

Please open an issue with:

• Your macOS version
• Error messages
• Steps to reproduce

Want to Contribute?

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Run make test to ensure quality
5. Submit a PR with a clear description

Conventional Commits

• feat: New features
• fix: Bug fixes
• docs: Documentation changes
• style: Code style changes
• refactor: Code refactoring
• test: Test additions or modifications
• chore: Maintenance tasks

📝 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• nix-darwin maintainers
• home-manager community
• Determinate Systems for the improved Nix installer

📚 Resources

• Nix Pills - Learn Nix fundamentals
• nix-darwin Manual
• home-manager Manual
• Nix Flakes - Understanding flakes

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Built with ❤️ for the developer community. Contributions welcome!