mnix

mnix is a lightweight Python implementation of a remote development workflow built around Nix flakes, SSH, and Podman.

The repository includes a root flake.nix, so mnix new can use the default ./flake.nix and nix develop works directly from the project root.

Commands

Client

mnix ls
mnix select [project-name]
mnix new [-f path/to/flake.nix] [--server server-name] project-name
mnix rebuild-switch [path/to/flake.nix] [--project project-name]
mnix shell [--project project-name]
mnix exec [--project project-name] -- command [args...]
mnix server ls
mnix server add ssh://user@example.com server-name
mnix server rm server-name

Server

The client talks to the server by invoking mnix-server over SSH. The server CLI is structured so it can later be reused behind Flask or FastAPI.

mnix-server project launch --name project-name --flake flake.nix
mnix-server project rebuild-switch --name project-name --flake flake.nix
mnix-server project shell --name project-name --flake flake.nix
mnix-server project exec --name project-name --flake flake.nix -- command [args...]

Configuration

Both client and server use TOML configuration.

Client config

Default path: ~/.config/mnix/client.toml

ssh_binary = "ssh"
remote_binary = "mnix-server"
remote_podman_binary = "podman"
default_server = "my-server"
database_path = "~/.local/state/mnix/client.db"

Server config

Default path: ~/.config/mnix/server.toml

podman_binary = "podman"
base_image = "docker.io/nixos/nix:latest"
workspace_root = "/tmp/mnix/workspaces"
warmup_command = "nix --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' develop -c true"
container_command = "sleep infinity"

Architecture

• src/mnix/client: thin CLI, local SQLite state, SSH transport, workspace archiving.
• src/mnix/server/domain: domain entities and value objects.
• src/mnix/server/application: use cases for project launch and rebuild.
• src/mnix/server/infrastructure: Podman runner, config loading, workspace extraction.
• src/mnix/server/interfaces: server CLI adapter.

The current implementation is intentionally stateless on the server side: it stages a workspace, ensures a Podman container exists for the project, and returns command results directly to the client.