Post-install applications

After a fresh Keystone laptop install, the desktop ships with core utilities and Chromium. Additional applications are added in your config flake.

Where to add packages

Where	Scope	Installed via	Example
`shared.desktopUserModules`	Desktop hosts only	Home Manager (per-user)	Obsidian, VS Code, Bitwarden
`shared.userModules`	Every host	Home Manager (per-user)	fd, ripgrep
`shared.systemModules`	Every host	NixOS (OS-wide)	btop, 1Password NixOS module
`hosts/<name>/configuration.nix`	One host	NixOS (OS-wide)	GPU-specific tools

Desktop user modules apply to laptop and workstation hosts but not servers. GUI apps belong in desktopUserModules — installed per-user via Home Manager, not at the OS level.

flake.nix example

keystone.lib.mkSystemFlake {
  admin = { /* ... */ };
  hostsRoot = ./hosts;

  shared = {
    # Installed in your user profile via Home Manager on every host.
    userModules = [
      ({ pkgs, ... }: { home.packages = with pkgs; [ fd ]; })
    ];

    # Installed OS-wide via NixOS on every host.
    systemModules = [
      ({ pkgs, ... }: { environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ btop ]; })
    ];

    # Installed in your user profile via Home Manager on desktop hosts only.
    # Each entry is a Nix function that receives { pkgs, ... } and returns
    # config. As the list grows, you can extract it to a file:
    #   desktopUserModules = [ (import ./modules/home/desktop-apps.nix) ];
    desktopUserModules = [
      (
        { pkgs, ... }:
        {
          home.packages = with pkgs; [
            # obsidian              # Knowledge management (vaults at ~/notes/)
            # vscode                # VS Code (supports Claude Code extension)
            # zed-editor
            # bitwarden-desktop
          ];
        }
      )
    ];
  };

  # Default browser — Chromium ships by default, bound to $mod+B.
  # Uncomment to switch:
  # keystone.desktop.browser = "google-chrome-stable";
  # keystone.desktop.browser = "firefox";

  hosts = {
    laptop = { kind = "laptop"; };          # gets desktopUserModules
    workstation = { kind = "workstation"; }; # gets desktopUserModules
    server-ocean = { kind = "server"; };     # does not
  };
}

Finding packages

Search for available packages and NixOS service options at:

Packages — find the attribute name to use in home.packages or environment.systemPackages
Options — find NixOS module options like programs._1password-gui.enable

Default browser

Chromium ships by default and is bound to $mod+B. To switch browsers, set keystone.desktop.browser to the binary name:

keystone.desktop.browser = "google-chrome-stable";  # Chrome
keystone.desktop.browser = "firefox";               # Firefox
keystone.desktop.browser = "chromium";               # Chromium (default)

Set this in a shared module or per-host config. Remember to also add the browser package in desktopUserModules.

Notes

Helix ships by default via the terminal module with automatic theme integration.
OS-level desktop settings (like programs._1password-gui.enable) go in per-host configuration.nix or shared.systemModules if needed everywhere.

Applying changes

ks build        # verify it compiles
ks switch       # apply immediately (requires approval)