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Uninstall Previous Nix Installation (if applicable)

If you previously installed Nix using the Determinate Systems installer, you'll need to uninstall it first:

sudo /nix/nix-installer uninstall

If you installed Nix using a different method, follow the appropriate uninstall procedure for that installation method before proceeding.

Update Existing Official Nix Installation

If you already have the official Nix installer (not Determinate Systems) installed, you can simply update your configuration instead of reinstalling:

Step 1: Edit /etc/nix/nix.conf

Extend the following configuration in /etc/nix/nix.conf:

experimental-features = nix-command flakes
extra-substituters = https://nix-postgres-artifacts.s3.amazonaws.com
extra-trusted-public-keys = nix-postgres-artifacts:dGZlQOvKcNEjvT7QEAJbcV6b6uk7VF/hWMjhYleiaLI=

Caution

DO NOT add anyone to trusted-users in /etc/nix/nix.conf as it grants root without password. Instead, add the binary cache to extra-substituters and extra-trusted-public-keys.

Read about the binary cache in /nix/docs/binary-cache.md.

Step 2: Restart the Nix Daemon

After updating the configuration, restart the Nix daemon:

On macOS:

sudo launchctl stop org.nixos.nix-daemon
sudo launchctl start org.nixos.nix-daemon

On Linux (systemd):

sudo systemctl restart nix-daemon

Your Nix installation is now configured with the proper build caches and should work without substituter errors.

Install Nix (Fresh Installation)

We'll use the official Nix installer with a custom configuration that includes our build caches and settings. This works on many platforms, including aarch64 Linux, x86_64 Linux, and macOS.

Step 1: Create nix.conf

First, create a file named nix.conf.extra with the following content:

experimental-features = nix-command flakes
extra-substituters = https://nix-postgres-artifacts.s3.amazonaws.com
extra-trusted-public-keys = nix-postgres-artifacts:dGZlQOvKcNEjvT7QEAJbcV6b6uk7VF/hWMjhYleiaLI=

Caution

DO NOT add anyone to trusted-users in /etc/nix/nix.conf as it grants root without password. Instead, add the binary cache to extra-substituters and extra-trusted-public-keys.

Read about the binary cache in /nix/docs/binary-cache.md.

Step 2: Install Nix 2.34.6

Run the following command to install Nix 2.34.6 (the version used in CI) with the custom configuration:

curl -L https://releases.nixos.org/nix/nix-2.34.6/install | sh -s -- --daemon --yes --nix-extra-conf-file ./nix.conf

This will install Nix with our build caches pre-configured, which should eliminate substituter-related errors.

After you do this, you must log in and log back out of your desktop environment (or restart your terminal session) to get a new login session. This is so that your shell can have the Nix tools installed on $PATH and so that your user shell can see the extra settings.

You should now be able to do something like the following; try running these same commands on your machine:

$ nix --version
nix (Nix) 2.34.6

$ nix run nixpkgs#nix-info -- -m
 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 5.15.90.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2, Ubuntu, 22.04.2 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), nobuild`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `yes`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.34.6`
 - channels(root): `"nixpkgs"`
 - nixpkgs: `/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixpkgs`

If the above worked, you're now cooking with gas!

Do some fun stuff

One of the best things about Nix that requires very little knowledge of it is that it lets you install the latest and greatest versions of many tools on any Linux distribution. We'll explain more about that later on. But just as a few examples:

  • Q: I want the latest version of Deno. Can we get that?
  • A: nix profile install nixpkgs#deno, and you're done!
  • Q: What about HTTPie? A nice Python application?
  • A: Same idea: nix profile install nixpkgs#httpie
  • Q: What about my favorite Rust applications, like ripgrep and bat?
  • A.1: nix profile install nixpkgs#ripgrep
  • A.2: nix profile install nixpkgs#bat
  • A.3: And yes, you also have exa, fd, hyperfine, and more!