---
id: platform-nixos
area: platform
level: 3
title: "Artefact — Declarative multi-host configuration"
claim: "Machines are described rather than assembled — a shared NixOS base · a replicated desktop and terminal · and Proxmox underneath the virtualised side."
confidence: running
period: "2020–"
tech: [NixOS, Niri, Proxmox, Neovim, Zsh, Ghostty]
metrics: [{label: "hosts on the declarative base", value: 4}]
artefacts: []
public: true
last_verified: 2026-10-26
tags: [platform, nixos, artefact]
---

A redacted excerpt of the configuration tree lands in Phase 7. No hostnames, addresses or keys are published.

## What the artefact is

The shape of the configuration: one shared base, per-host modules, and the parts that make the desktop and the terminal identical everywhere — window manager, editor, shell and the plugins that carry the work. Proxmox hosts the virtualised side, including the file server and the home automation appliance.

## What it proves

That a machine can be rebuilt from a description, and that the same environment follows the person between machines instead of being re-created by memory.

## Limits stated on the page

The terminal-first setup is deliberate: a heavier desktop was downgraded to the terminal on one machine for memory headroom. A phone-as-server experiment is on hold, not shipped, and is described as on hold.

## When it is delivered

Phase 7. Source facts: evidence notes section 3.