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Nix Installation

The recommended way to run Equabot with Nix is via nix-equabot — a batteries-included Home Manager module.

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Quick Start

Paste this to your AI agent (Claude, Cursor, etc.):
📦 Full guide: github.com/equabot/nix-equabot The nix-equabot repo is the source of truth for Nix installation. This page is just a quick overview.

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What you get

  • Gateway + macOS app + tools (whisper, spotify, cameras) — all pinned
  • Launchd service that survives reboots
  • Plugin system with declarative config
  • Instant rollback: home-manager switch --rollback

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Nix Mode Runtime Behavior

When EQUABOT_NIX_MODE=1 is set (automatic with nix-equabot): Equabot supports a Nix mode that makes configuration deterministic and disables auto-install flows. Enable it by exporting:
On macOS, the GUI app does not automatically inherit shell env vars. You can also enable Nix mode via defaults:

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Config + state paths

Equabot reads JSON5 config from EQUABOT_CONFIG_PATH and stores mutable data in EQUABOT_STATE_DIR.
  • EQUABOT_STATE_DIR (default: ~/.equabot)
  • EQUABOT_CONFIG_PATH (default: $EQUABOT_STATE_DIR/equabot.json)
When running under Nix, set these explicitly to Nix-managed locations so runtime state and config stay out of the immutable store.

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Runtime behavior in Nix mode

  • Auto-install and self-mutation flows are disabled
  • Missing dependencies surface Nix-specific remediation messages
  • UI surfaces a read-only Nix mode banner when present

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Packaging note (macOS)

The macOS packaging flow expects a stable Info.plist template at:
scripts/package-mac-app.sh copies this template into the app bundle and patches dynamic fields (bundle ID, version/build, Git SHA, Sparkle keys). This keeps the plist deterministic for SwiftPM packaging and Nix builds (which do not rely on a full Xcode toolchain).