Agent skill

dotfiles-expert

Expert guidance for peterstorm's NixOS dotfiles repository using flake-parts architecture. Use this skill when working with: NixOS system configuration, home-manager user configurations, flake-parts modular architecture, role-based configuration patterns (host.mkHost, user.mkHMUser), SOPS secrets management with Age encryption and template-based API, Terraform infrastructure for Kubernetes, ArgoCD GitOps patterns, k3s homelab setup, xmonad window manager configuration, neovim Lua configuration, or any task involving this dotfiles repository structure. Triggers on questions about adding hosts, users, roles, secrets, understanding the architecture, or debugging NixOS/home-manager builds.

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SKILL.md

Dotfiles Expert Skill

Expert guidance for peterstorm's NixOS dotfiles repository with flake-parts architecture.

Repository Architecture

Core Pattern: Role-Based Modular Configuration

flake.nix                 # Main flake with inputs and outputs via flake-parts
├── lib/                  # Utility functions
│   ├── host.nix          # host.mkHost - creates NixOS configurations
│   ├── user.nix          # user.mkHMUser - creates home-manager configs
│   ├── sops.nix          # SOPS template-based secrets API
│   └── default.nix       # Exports: host, user, shell, sops
├── roles/                # NixOS system roles
│   ├── core/             # Essential system config, nix settings, sops
│   ├── efi/              # EFI bootloader
│   ├── wifi/             # Network manager
│   ├── desktop-plasma/   # KDE + xmonad
│   └── ...
├── roles/home-manager/   # User roles
│   ├── core-apps/        # Essential user packages
│   ├── window-manager/   # xmonad config
│   └── ...
├── machines/             # Hardware-specific configs
├── secrets/              # SOPS-encrypted secrets
│   ├── common/           # Shared secrets
│   ├── hosts/{hostname}/ # Host-specific secrets
│   └── users/{username}/ # User-specific secrets
└── k8s/                  # Kubernetes infrastructure
    ├── argocd/           # GitOps app definitions
    └── terraform/        # Infrastructure as code

Configuration Flow

  1. flake.nix defines hosts via host.mkHost and users via user.mkHMUser
  2. Each takes a roles list that maps to directories in roles/ or roles/home-manager/
  3. Roles are composed together to build complete configurations
  4. util object (containing sops helpers) is passed to all roles via extraSpecialArgs

Quick Reference

Commands

bash
# NixOS rebuild
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#HOSTNAME
./system-apply.sh

# Home Manager
nix build .#homeManagerConfigurations.$USER.activationPackage && result/activate
./hm-apply.sh

# Testing (ALWAYS git add new files first!)
nix build .#nixosConfigurations.HOSTNAME.config.system.build.toplevel --dry-run --show-trace
nix build .#homeManagerConfigurations.USERNAME.activationPackage --dry-run --show-trace
nix flake check

# Evaluate specific config
nix eval .#nixosConfigurations.HOSTNAME.config.sops.templates --apply 'builtins.attrNames'

Current Configurations

  • Hosts: laptop-xps, laptop-work, desktop, homelab
  • Users: peterstorm, hansen142, homelab
  • Architectures: x86_64-linux, aarch64-darwin

Adding New Configurations

New Host

nix
# In flake.nix, add to legacyPackages.nixosConfigurations:
new-host = host.mkHost {
  name = "new-host";
  roles = [ "core" "wifi" "efi" "desktop-plasma" ];  # Compose roles
  machine = [ "new-host" ];  # References machines/new-host/default.nix
  NICs = [ "wlp0s20f3" ];
  kernelPackage = pkgs.linuxPackages_latest;
  initrdAvailableMods = [ "xhci_pci" "nvme" ];
  initrdMods = [];
  kernelMods = [];
  kernelPatches = [];
  kernelParams = [];
  users = [{
    name = "username";
    groups = [ "wheel" "networkmanager" "docker" ];
    uid = 1000;
    ssh_keys = [];
  }];
  cpuCores = 8;
};

Then create machines/new-host/default.nix:

nix
{ pkgs, lib, config, ...}:
{
  fileSystems."/" = {
    device = "/dev/disk/by-uuid/YOUR-UUID";
    fsType = "ext4";
  };
  fileSystems."/boot" = {
    device = "/dev/disk/by-uuid/YOUR-BOOT-UUID";
    fsType = "vfat";
  };
  hardware.cpu.intel.updateMicrocode = true;
}

New User

nix
# In flake.nix, add to legacyPackages.homeManagerConfigurations:
newuser = user.mkHMUser {
  roles = [ "core-apps" "window-manager/xmonad" ];  # Compose roles
  username = "newuser";
};

New Role

nix
# roles/my-new-role/default.nix (NixOS role)
{ config, pkgs, lib, util, ... }:
{
  # util.sops is available for secrets
  environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.some-package ];
}

# roles/home-manager/my-role/default.nix (home-manager role)
{ config, pkgs, lib, util, ... }:
{
  home.packages = [ pkgs.some-package ];
}

Roles support path nesting: "core-apps/neovim"roles/home-manager/core-apps/neovim/default.nix

SOPS Secrets Management

Template-Based API (Recommended)

Templates prevent secrets from entering the Nix store:

nix
{ lib, config, pkgs, util, ... }:

(util.sops.mkSecretsAndTemplatesConfig
  # 1. Define secrets (references to encrypted values)
  [
    (util.sops.userSecret "github-token" "personal-github.yaml" "token")
    (util.sops.hostSecret "api-key" "service.yaml" "api_key" { owner = "root"; })
    (util.sops.commonSecret "shared-secret" "common.yaml" "key")
  ]
  
  # 2. Define templates (rendered files with actual values)
  [
    (util.sops.envTemplate "app-env" {
      GITHUB_TOKEN = "github-token";
      API_KEY = "api-key";
    })
    
    (util.sops.configTemplate "app-config" ''
      token = ${config.sops.placeholder."github-token"}
    '')
  ]
  
  # 3. Regular configuration
  {
    systemd.services.myservice = {
      serviceConfig.EnvironmentFile = config.sops.templates."app-env".path;
    };
  }
) { inherit config lib; }

Secret Path Resolution

  • userSecret: secrets/users/{current-user}/filename.yaml
  • hostSecret: secrets/hosts/{current-host}/filename.yaml
  • commonSecret: secrets/common/filename.yaml

Template Locations

  • NixOS: /run/secrets/rendered/{template-name}
  • Home Manager (Linux): ~/.config/sops-nix/secrets/rendered/{template-name}
  • Home Manager (Darwin): ~/.config/sops-nix/secrets/rendered/{template-name}

Age Key Locations

  • NixOS/Linux: /var/lib/sops-nix/keys.txt
  • Darwin: ~/Library/Application Support/sops/age/keys.txt

Encrypting Secrets

bash
# Encrypt new file
sops -e -i secrets/users/username/secret.yaml

# Edit existing
sops secrets/hosts/hostname/secret.yaml

# Update keys after adding recipient to .sops.yaml
sops updatekeys secrets/path/file.yaml

Reference Files

For detailed information on specific domains:

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Build fails with "file not found"

bash
git add .  # Nix flakes only see git-tracked files

SOPS decryption fails

bash
# Check key location and presence
ls -la /var/lib/sops-nix/keys.txt  # Linux
ls -la "$HOME/Library/Application Support/sops/age/keys.txt"  # Darwin

# Verify public key in .sops.yaml
age-keygen -y /path/to/keys.txt

# Re-encrypt with correct keys
sops updatekeys secrets/path/file.yaml

Templates show placeholders at runtime

bash
# Restart sops-nix service (Darwin)
launchctl kickstart gui/$(id -u)/org.nix-community.home.sops-nix

# Verify templates rendered
ls -la ~/.config/sops-nix/secrets/rendered/

Nix evaluation errors

bash
# Always use --show-trace for debugging
nix build .#nixosConfigurations.HOSTNAME.config.system.build.toplevel --dry-run --show-trace 2>&1 | less

# Test template evaluation without full build
nix eval .#nixosConfigurations.HOSTNAME.config.sops.templates.template-name.content

Code Style

Nix

  • Use { config, pkgs, lib, util, ... }: function arguments
  • Prefer with lib; only when using many lib functions
  • Use mkIf, mkMerge, optionalAttrs for conditional config
  • Follow existing role patterns in the repository

Roles Pattern

  • Each role is self-contained in its directory
  • Use imports = [ ... ]; to compose sub-roles
  • Put role-specific files (configs, scripts) alongside default.nix
  • Access SOPS via util.sops helpers passed through extraSpecialArgs

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