I'd say start even smaller by making a simple `flake.nix` with a devShell output within a project and use it to manage the project's dependencies, that way you'

I'd say start even smaller by making a simple `flake.nix` with a devShell output within a project and use it to manage the project's dependencies, that way you're experiencing it within a fairly constrained opt-in environment. Nix is simple when you 'get it' but it can be quite overwhelming for someone new to it, Home-Manager is pretty big and has regions of complexity and while it might be a good candidate for daily driving Nix without running NixOS, IMO it's best to start really small.