lxd-nixos

NixOS support for LXD. Flake (parts) native.

Features:

• Container and VM image building
• Importing and customizing images

Flake setup

Add to your flake

inputs.lxd-nixos.url = "git+https://codeberg.org/adamcstephens/lxd-nixos";

Import Images

There are multiple supported ways to import and customize images.

Base Images

This flake provides a set of base NixOS images that can be imported without any configuration.

Use these commands to build images for both containers and VMs and then import them into LXD

$ nix run git+https://codeberg.org/adamcstephens/lxd-nixos#import/nixos/2305/container
$ nix run git+https://codeberg.org/adamcstephens/lxd-nixos#import/nixos/unstable/container

# now available for running
$ lxc launch nixos/23.05/container test1

Customized Base Images

These customized base images use the same names as the default base images, but allow for overriding the configuration. By using lxd.imageDefaults.extraConfig, nixos configuration can be applied to all the base images.

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    lxd-nixos.url = "git+https://codeberg.org/adamcstephens/lxd-nixos";
  };

  outputs = inputs @ {flake-parts, ...}:
    flake-parts.lib.mkFlake {inherit inputs;} {
      imports = [
        inputs.lxd-nixos.flakeModules.images
        inputs.lxd-nixos.flakeModules.baseImages
      ];

      systems = ["x86_64-linux" "aarch64-linux"];

      lxd.imageDefaults.extraConfig = {
        _module.args = {
          inherit inputs;
          hostname = "bootstrap";
        };

        imports = [
          ../core
          inputs.home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager
          inputs.ragenix.nixosModules.age
        ];
      };
    };
}

Standalone Images

Images can be built, checked and imported by creating custom lxd.images.

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    lxd-nixos.url = "git+https://codeberg.org/adamcstephens/lxd-nixos";
  };

  outputs = inputs @ {flake-parts, ...}:
    flake-parts.lib.mkFlake {inherit inputs;} {
      imports = [
        inputs.lxd-nixos.flakeModules.images
      ];

      systems = ["x86_64-linux" "aarch64-linux"];

      lxd.images = {
        mycontainer = {
          release = "unstable";
          nixpkgs = inputs.nixpkgs;
          system = "x86_64-linux";
          imageName = "mycontainer";
          type = "container";
          config = {
            environment.systemPackages = [
              inputs.nixpkgs.legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.hello
            ];
          };
        };
      };
    };
}

Generate Images from nixosConfigurations

Use lxd.generateImporters to automatically create import apps for all nixosConfigurations.

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    lxd-nixos.url = "git+https://codeberg.org/adamcstephens/lxd-nixos";
  };

  outputs = inputs @ {flake-parts, ...}:
    flake-parts.lib.mkFlake {inherit inputs;} {
      imports = [
        inputs.lxd-nixos.flakeModules.images
      ];

      systems = ["x86_64-linux" "aarch64-linux"];

      lxd.generateImporters = true;

      nixosConfigurations = {
        test = inputs.nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
          system = "x86_64-linux";

          modules = [
            inputs.lxd-nixos.nixosModules.virtual-machine
          ];
        };
      };
    };
}

Background

Much of this code was copied from nixpkgs with a goal of quicker iteration and dedicated focus on LXD. I claim no credit and thank all the previous contributors.