# numtide/system-manager

Manage system config using nix on any distro

Repository: https://github.com/numtide/system-manager
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/system-manager
Homepage: https://system-manager.net/
Language: Nix
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: nix, nix-modules, buildbot-numtide
Last push: 2026-08-26T13:14:28+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 84/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 62, longevity 90
- inputs: {"age_days": 1260, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 174, "gap_med": 64, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1697, forks 57 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:23.985624+00:00)

## What it is
System Manager is a Nix-based tool for declaratively configuring Linux machines on any distribution, not just NixOS. It lets you describe packages, services, and settings in Nix and apply them atomically and reproducibly, similar to Home Manager but for the whole system.

## Use cases
- manage system configuration with nix on ubuntu or debian
- declaratively configure packages and services on non-nixos linux
- apply reproducible system configs like nixos generations
- use nixos modules on any linux distro
- replace puppet or ansible for small-scale system config
- manage root-level packages and services with nix flakes

## When to choose
- you want NixOS-style declarative, atomic configuration on a non-NixOS distro
- you already use Nix or Home Manager and want system-level equivalents
- you prefer reproducible, rollbackable changes over imperative setup scripts

## When to avoid
- you need full-featured configuration management across heterogeneous fleets (Chef, Puppet, Ansible)
- you don't want to install or learn Nix at all
- you need to manage non-Linux systems

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: configuration-management, deployment, developer-tools
- domain: operating-systems, self-hosted
- platform: cli
- tags: nix, declarative-config, immutable, nixos-modules, system-configuration, devops, automation, linux

## Member repositories
- numtide/system-manager (main) score 84

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:23.985624+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 2026-08-30T03:37:51.895010+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/numtide/system-manager (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:23.985624+00:00, sha 98c86ceb76d5)
  - homepage: https://system-manager.net/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:12:34.638232+00:00, sha 99ef38696945)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.