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Nix Best Practices

Checked
0xbigboss·vlatest·backend·Apache-2.0

Ensures Nix expressions adhere to best practices, promoting reproducibility, maintainability, and efficient builds.

Repository

Install on your platform

Showing Claude Code. One command installs this skill into any of the agents below.

  1. 1

    Run this in your project

    terminal
    $ npx skills add alleneubank/claude-code --skill nix-best-practices -a claude-code

  2. Uses the open-source skills CLI and needs Node.js. Add -g to install it for your user instead of this project.

What we know about this skill

Publisher

0xbigboss

Taken from the source listing. We haven't verified who controls this account.

Install target

Live repository

Not pinned. Installing fetches whatever the repository holds at the time you run the command.

No human has reviewed this code. The checks below are a static scan of the files at one commit — nobody has run this skill or judged whether it works. A skill runs with whatever access you give your agent, so read the source before you install it.

Automated safety checks

scanned

This skill passed all 6 checks. We read its files at one commit and looked for the things that make a skill dangerous to run — not for whether it works.

  • Declares what it does: passed

    SKILL.md parses and declares a name and a description.

    SKILL.md exists, its frontmatter parses, and it declares a name and a description.

  • No undeclared network calls: passed

    Makes no network calls.

    Every host the skill dials — from its scripts, its config endpoints or the commands it tells the agent to run — is either well-known package and API infrastructure or declared in its own frontmatter. Links in documentation are not counted.

  • No obfuscated payloads: passed

    No encoded or obfuscated payloads.

    No base64, hex or compressed blob is decoded and then executed, and no encoded shell commands.

  • No credential access: passed

    Reads no keys, tokens, keychains or credential files.

    Neither the code nor the SKILL.md instructions read SSH keys, cloud credentials, keychains, token stores, browser cookie databases or dotfiles that hold secrets.

  • No pipe-to-shell installers: passed

    No pipe-to-shell or download-and-run installers.

    No `curl … | sh` pattern, in the code or in the instructions, that runs code fetched at run time.

  • Pinned to a commit: passed

    Scanned 0xbigboss/claude-code at 2921eb8a68.

    The exact upstream commit SHA that was scanned is recorded, so the result refers to specific bytes.

Commit
2921eb8a68
Manifest
.claude/skills/nix-best-practices/SKILL.md
Scanned
1 file, 314 lines
This is a static scan, not a review. It reads the skill's files; it does not run them, and it cannot tell you whether the skill is any good or whether the code does what its description says. A skill runs with whatever access you give your agent.
What each check looks for →

About this skill

The nix-best-practices skill equips AI agents with deep knowledge of NixOS system administration, enabling them to write idiomatic configuration files and troubleshoot complex dependency issues. It ensures generated code adheres to community standards for reproducibility, security, and maintainability within the Nix ecosystem.

When to use it

  • Configuring a new NixOS workstation or server with specific hardware requirements.
  • Refactoring legacy shell scripts into declarative Nix expressions for better version control.
  • Debugging build failures caused by conflicting package versions or environment variables.
  • Setting up reproducible development environments that match production exactly.

Key capabilities

  • Generates valid configuration.nix and flake.nix files following current best practices.
  • Advises on proper use of overlays, flakes, and channel management.
  • Identifies common anti-patterns like mutable state or hardcoded paths in Nix code.
  • Provides solutions for dependency resolution and cross-compilation challenges.

Example prompts

"Create a flake.nix that builds a Rust project with specific compiler flags." "How do I configure NixOS to enable SSH access only from my home network?" "Explain why my Nix build is failing due to a hash mismatch and how to fix it."

Tips & gotchas

Ensure your AI agent has access to the latest Nix documentation or flake.lock files, as best practices evolve rapidly. Avoid asking the agent to modify system files directly; instead, have it generate configuration snippets for review before applying them via nixos-rebuild.