Overview

Manzil is an independent way to manage $HOME with Nix.

Current scope

• per-user home-file management through manzil.users.<name>
• direct home files and XDG files
• generated text, source-backed files, or generator/value output
• file actions including symlink, copy, delete, directory, and modify
• per-user package installation through the host user configuration
• generated session environment exports via environment.loadEnv
• XDG mimeapps.list generation
• generated user systemd units on supported platforms
• opt-in restart/reload trigger handling for generated user units on NixOS
• manifest contracts that constrain allowed target and source roots

Supported module entrypoints

• manzil.nixosModules.default
• manzil.darwinModules.default
• default.nix for non-flake imports

Activation modes

• Default: bundled manzil linker for manifest-based activation
• Linux-only fallback: manzil.linker = null for systemd-tmpfiles mode

Tmpfiles mode has a narrower behavior surface than manifest mode. Manifest mode is where Manzil's contracts, cleanup semantics, and trigger-aware unit reloads live.