The following document describes the different ways to install nix-maid. In a nutshell, nix-maid:

• Provides a single bundle package.
• Provides a script activate contained in the bundle.
• The user must add bundle to some package list, and run activate.

Standalone

# my-config.nix
let
  pkgs = import <nixpgks> {}
  nix-maid = import (builtins.fetchTarball "https://github.com/viperML/nix-maid/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz") {
  # Or if you use npins:
  #  sources = import ./npins;
  #  pkgs = import sources.nixpkgs;
  #  nix-maid = import sources.nix-maid;
in
  nix-maid pkgs {
    # nix-maid configuration
    packages = [
      pkgs.git
    ];
    file.home.".gitconfig".text = ''
      [user]
        name=Maid
    '';
    imports = [
      ./my-submodule.nix
    ];
  }

Install with:

$ nix-env -if ./my-config.nix
$ activate

NixOS Module

# configuration.nix
{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }: let
  nix-maid = import (builtins.fetchTarball "https://github.com/viperML/nix-maid/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz") {
  # Or if you use npins:
  #  sources = import ./npins;
  #  nix-maid = import sources.nix-maid;
in {
  imports = [
    nix-maid.nixosModules.default
  ];

  # ...

  users.users.alice = {
    isNormalUser = true;

    maid = {
      # nix-maid configuration
      packages = [
        pkgs.git
      ];
      file.home.".gitconfig".text = ''
        [user]
          name=Maid
      '';
      imports = [
        ./my-submodule.nix
      ];
    };
  };
}

Call nixos-rebuild switch normally, no need to do anything else. You can re-trigger the activation with activate.

Standalone + Flakes

# flake.nix
{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    nix-maid.url = "github:viperML/nix-maid";
  };
  outputs = {self, nixpkgs, nix-maid}: let
    system = "x86_64-linux";
    pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.${system};
  in {
    packages.${system}.default = nix-maid pkgs {
      # nix-maid configuration
      packages = [
        pkgs.git
      ];
      file.home.".gitconfig".text = ''
        [user]
          name=Maid
      '';
      imports = [
        ./my-submodule.nix
      ];
    };
  };
}

Install with

$ nix profile install .
$ activate

NixOS Module + Flakes

# flake.nix
{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    nix-maid.url = "github:viperML/nix-maid";
  };
  outputs = {self, nixpkgs, nix-maid}: let
    system = "x86_64-linux";
    pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.${system};
  in {
    nixosConfigurations.mySystem = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_84-linux";
      modules = [
        ./configuration.nix
        nix-maid.nixosModules.default
      ];
    };
  };
}

# configuration.nix
{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }: {
  # ...

  users.users.alice = {
    isNormalUser = true;

    maid = {
      # nix-maid configuration
      packages = [
        pkgs.git
      ];
      file.home.".gitconfig".text = ''
        [user]
          name=Maid
      '';
      imports = [
        ./my-submodule.nix
      ];
    };
  };
}

Call nixos-rebuild switch normally, no need to do anything else. You can re-trigger the activation with activate.