Installing nix

Linux

Install Nix (multi-user, recommended)

curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh -s -- --daemon

Follow the prompts. When it finishes, restart your shell or source the environment:

. /etc/profile.d/nix.sh

Enable flakes (if not already enabled)

mkdir -p ~/.config/nix
cat <<EOF >> ~/.config/nix/nix.conf
experimental-features = nix-command flakes
EOF

Validate the Install

nix --version

Then:

nix shell nixpkgs#hello -c hello

Expected output:

Hello, world!

If you see that, Nix is working.

macOS

On macOS, the recommended way to install Nix is using the Determinate Systems installer. It installs upstream Nix, not a fork, and handles macOS-specific details cleanly.

This is the installer we will use for the workshop.

curl -fsSL https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install --use-upstream-nix

You’ll be prompted for your password to set up the daemon and launchd services.

Restart your terminal afterward.

Enable flakes

mkdir -p ~/.config/nix
cat <<EOF >> ~/.config/nix/nix.conf
experimental-features = nix-command flakes
EOF

Validate the Install

nix --version

Then:

nix shell nixpkgs#hello -c hello

You should see:

Hello, world!

WSL (Ubuntu / Debian-based)

Edit /etc/wsl.conf:

[boot]
systemd=true

Then restart WSL from Windows:

wsl --shutdown

Reopen your WSL terminal.

Install Nix
curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh -s -- --daemon

Then load the environment:

. /etc/profile.d/nix.sh

Enable flakes

mkdir -p ~/.config/nix
cat <<EOF >> ~/.config/nix/nix.conf
experimental-features = nix-command flakes
EOF

Validate the Install

nix --version

Then:

nix shell nixpkgs#hello -c hello

Expected output:

Hello, world!