# Nix Flakes {#ch-nix-flakes}

Home Manager is compatible with [Nix
Flakes](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Flakes). But please be aware that this
support is still experimental and may change in backwards
incompatible ways.

Just like in the standard installation you can use the Home Manager
flake in three ways:

1.  Using the standalone `home-manager` tool. For platforms other than
    NixOS and Darwin, this is the only available choice. It is also
    recommended for people on NixOS or Darwin that want to manage their
    home directory independently of the system as a whole. See
    [Standalone setup](#sec-flakes-standalone) for instructions on how
    to perform this installation.

2.  As a module within a NixOS system configuration. This allows the
    user profiles to be built together with the system when running
    `nixos-rebuild`. See [NixOS module](#sec-flakes-nixos-module) for a
    description of this setup.

3.  This allows the user profiles to be built together with the system
    when running `darwin-rebuild`. See [nix-darwin
    module](#sec-flakes-nix-darwin-module) for a description of this
    setup.

```{=include=} sections
nix-flakes/prerequisites.md
nix-flakes/standalone.md
nix-flakes/nixos.md
nix-flakes/nix-darwin.md
```


