> Do you get anything when not using NixOS to manage everything? [...] Has anyone gone down this route? Yeah, for sure! I don't use Nix this way very much on L

> Do you get anything when not using NixOS to manage everything? [...] Has anyone gone down this route? Yeah, for sure! I don't use Nix this way very much on Linux because I mostly just use NixOS. But I use Nix this way on macOS at work every day, because that's the Unix desktop that's available to engineers there. By not going full NixOS, the tradeoff is that you suffer some minor integration issues, and in return you get some more escape hatches. This is a pretty good option for some people imo. Declarative system config on non-NixOS is a bit more work, because you either have to write your own sort of metapackages with buildEnv¹ or use a third-party module system like Home Manager, System Manager (that one's in very early stages, so pronably skip it if you're a newbie), or Nix-Darwin. The latter are really nice, but you might have to think about how they plug into things like your OS's bashrc file sometimes, and sometimes their install procedures are kinda wonky. The other main integration quirk to watch out for on non-NixOS is 3D graphics acceleration. Check out nixGL and you'll be covered for that. Using Nix for nifty per-project development environments, though, is pretty smooth and basically identical whether you're on NixOS or not. If that's an interesting use case for you, Nix on non-NixOS is worth checking out. Nix as a package manager for CLI tools that don't depend on the base system, or trying out software without permanently installing it, is also kinda nice on other distros. It's especially nice for running newer software on top of stale distros, but it can also take you in the other direction, which might sometimes be useful on Arch. I think the head first approach of just committing to daily driving NixOS can be good for some people, and it certainly was for me. But learning your way around the Nix language and developer tools by focusing on developer environments and oddball packages on a foreign OS can definitely make for an easier, lower stakes learning process. > What good is it if half my system is installed by pacman, half by asdf-per-project and the rest by nix? If you're not using Nix for any per-project stuff, you're definitely missing some value, as that's likely among the first low-hanging fruit you'll encounter on your Nix journey. That said, stacking Nix with other package managers and only using it where it makes most sense is totally viable. On macOS, I use it in combination with light use of pkgsrc and Homebrew. You can definitely do the same kind of thing on Linux.