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Installation

glixos ships everything from one flake at github:donnismoore/glixos:

  • glix — the Go CLI you run from your shell.
  • nixosModules.glixos — the OS layer, pulled in as a flake input by the user-packages repo glix init creates. It installs glix itself into environment.systemPackages, so once a glixos host is up it always has the CLI.

You install glix first to bootstrap. After the first rebuild, the module keeps it in sync.

Requirements​

  • A working NixOS or nix-with-flakes installation:
    • Nix 2.18 or newer.
    • nix-command and flakes enabled. On non-NixOS systems, add to /etc/nix/nix.conf: 
      experimental-features = nix-command flakes
  • git available on $PATH (glix auto-commits every mutation).
  • Go 1.22+ only if you're building glix from source.

You do not need glixos itself before installing glix; the CLI is just a Go binary that drives nix and nixos-rebuild for you.

Option A — Already on a glixos host​

Nothing to do — nixosModules.glixos installs glix for you. Verify:

glix --version
# → glix <ver> (<commit>)

If a host should not ship glix (e.g. minimal appliances), set glixos.glix.enable = false in that host's module.

Option B — nix run (no install)​

nix run github:donnismoore/glixos -- version

This builds glix on the fly and runs it. Drop the -- version for interactive use, but for repeated work you'll want a real install.

Option C — nix shell (ephemeral)​

nix shell github:donnismoore/glixos
glix version

Exit the shell when you're done; nothing is installed permanently.

Option D — Build glix from source​

git clone https://github.com/donnismoore/glixos.git
cd glixos/glix
go build -o glix ./cmd/glix
sudo install -m 0755 glix /usr/local/bin/glix
glix version
# → glix 0.1.0-m7 (unknown)

To install for just your user:

go install ./cmd/glix
# ensure $(go env GOBIN) (or $HOME/go/bin) is on $PATH

The (unknown) commit field appears because go build doesn't stamp the revision; the Nix build does.

Verify​

glix doctor

Expected output is a series of [OK] lines covering nix, flakes, repo discovery, and per-host manifests (none yet on a fresh machine). WARN about a missing repo is fine on first install — that's what glix init fixes.

Next​

Head to Quickstart to bootstrap your first host.