This is the way, system packages are for the system. Everything you need lives in .local or in your case /nix. The amount of tooling headaches I've had to deal

This is the way, system packages are for the system. Everything you need lives in .local or in your case /nix. The amount of tooling headaches I've had to deal with is pretty close to zero now that I don't depend on a platform that by design is shifting sand.