# nix-community/nixos-generators

Collection of image builders [maintainer=@Lassulus]

Repository: https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-generators
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/nixos-generators
Language: Nix
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: iso, qcow2-image, nixos-generators, image-builder, nix, nixos, nix-community-buildbot
Archived: true
Last push: 2026-01-30T22:50:15+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 65, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3049, "days_push": 215, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2400, forks 157 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:43.778781+00:00)

## What it is
A collection of Nix-based image builders that generate NixOS system images in many formats (ISO, qcow2, cloud provider images, containers, kexec). It has been deprecated and upstreamed into nixpkgs as of NixOS 25.05, replaced by `nixos-rebuild build-image`.

## Use cases
- build a bootable NixOS ISO image
- generate cloud images for AWS, Azure, GCE, or OpenStack
- create a qcow2 virtual machine image from a NixOS configuration
- build an LXC or Docker container image of NixOS
- make a kexec tarball to boot NixOS from a running system
- produce a Proxmox VMA image for a NixOS host

## When to choose
- you are on NixOS older than 25.05 and need multi-format image generation
- you maintain legacy NixOS configurations that already use nixos-generators

## When to avoid
- you are on NixOS 25.05 or newer - use the built-in `nixos-rebuild build-image` instead
- you need a tool that will receive new features, since the project is retired

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: build-tool, deployment, developer-tools
- domain: cloud-computing, self-hosted, operating-systems
- platform: cli
- tags: nixos, image-builder, iso, qcow2, cloud-images, deprecated, nix, devops, linux

## Member repositories
- nix-community/nixos-generators (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:43.778781+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:34:16.734650+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-generators (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:43.778781+00:00, sha 626faa191fdc)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.