jpetrucciani/nix

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mica ​

mica is a TUI and CLI for managing Nix environments. It lets you search packages, apply presets, and keep a managed default.nix with much less manual Nix editing.

Why It Matters Here ​

  • This repo packages mica at pkgs/cli/mica.nix, so it is available as part of the same pinned package set.
  • It fits the repo's broader goal of making Nix more ergonomic.
  • It is a good on-ramp for people who want reproducible package environments before they are ready for a full Home Manager setup.

A Lightweight Alternative To Home Manager, For Packages ​

Home Manager is the larger tool. It manages packages, program configuration, dotfiles, and user services through a module system.

mica is narrower. It focuses on package selection, presets, and managed environment files. If you mostly want "search packages, pick a few, save a reproducible environment", it is a lighter place to start.

That makes it a useful complement to this repo:

  • Use Home Manager when you want the full user-environment layer.
  • Use mica when you mainly want a convenient package manager for project or global environments.

How To Install It From This Repo ​

Install it directly from the archive form of this repo:

bash
nix-env -f https://github.com/jpetrucciani/nix/archive/main.tar.gz -iA mica

Or run it once through the flake output:

bash
nix run github:jpetrucciani/nix#mica -- --global

Because this repo exports mica as a package, you can also use mica itself to add mica into the global environment it manages. That gives you a small bootstrap path: run it once, then let it manage its own future installation as part of the global package set.

Typical Uses ​

  • mica init, create a managed default.nix for a project.
  • mica tui, launch the package-search TUI.
  • mica --global list, inspect the global package state.
  • mica --global add ripgrep fd, add a couple of packages globally.