https://github.com/use-the-fork/snowblower
❄️ 💨 A Nix-based development environment manager that provides consistent, reproducible environments with minimal configuration. All flake, no fluff.
https://github.com/use-the-fork/snowblower
developer-tools development-environment devenv flakes nix nixos reproducible-builds web-development
Last synced: 4 months ago
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❄️ 💨 A Nix-based development environment manager that provides consistent, reproducible environments with minimal configuration. All flake, no fluff.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/use-the-fork/snowblower
- Owner: use-the-fork
- Created: 2024-06-28T19:49:18.000Z (over 1 year ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-06-25T20:37:29.000Z (4 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-06-25T21:30:03.672Z (4 months ago)
- Topics: developer-tools, development-environment, devenv, flakes, nix, nixos, reproducible-builds, web-development
- Language: Nix
- Homepage: https://use-the-fork.github.io/snow-blower/
- Size: 938 KB
- Stars: 1
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
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README
# ❄️ 💨 Snow Blower: All flake no fluff.
[](https://builtwithnix.org)
Have you ever wished you could pull down a repo, enter the shell, and have everything set up for you? Snow Blower makes that possible!
Snow Blower is an opinionated development environment primarily for web-based tools and frameworks. It provides a consistent, reproducible environment for your entire team with minimal configuration.
Setting up a project shouldn't be hard. Getting your team working in the same environment across different machines shouldn't be hard either. Snow Blower makes it easy - just add it to your `flake.nix`, pick the options you want to use, and enter the shell. All the other work is done for you!
## Getting Started
Set up a new project with Nix flakes using our base template:
```sh
nix flake init --template github:use-the-fork/snow-blower
```
This template will create:
- A `flake.nix` file containing a basic development environment configuration
- A `.envrc` file to optionally set up automatic shell activation
- A `justfile` to import our dynamically created just files
Open the Snow Blower shell with:
```sh
nix develop --impure
```
Or, if you have direnv installed:
```sh
direnv allow
```
This will create a `flake.lock` file and open a new shell based on the configuration specified in `flake.nix`.
Now, modify your `flake.nix` file to suit your needs! We've included comments in the flake file to help you get started.
> **NOTE**: Why do I need `--impure`?
>
> When working with flakes, pure mode prevents Snow Blower from accessing and modifying its state data as well as accessing any files that may be ignored by git, such as `.env` files.
## Features
Snow Blower provides a comprehensive development environment with:
- **Language Support**: Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, PHP, Ruby, Java, and more
- **Service Integration**: MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, Memcached, and others
- **Development Tools**: Git hooks, formatting tools, linters, and more
- **Process Management**: Run and monitor multiple processes with dependencies
- **Environment Variables**: Manage with dotenv files and secrets with Agenix
- **Task Running**: Just-based task runner for common development tasks
All features are modular - enable only what you need for your project.
## Documentation
Visit our [documentation site](https://use-the-fork.github.io/snow-blower/) for detailed information on all available modules and configuration options.
## Motivation
Snow Blower was created to build a pure NixOS environment for developing web-based projects. While Devenv is great, it focuses on too many operating systems. Snow Blower provides a pure flake implementation focused on developer productivity.
## Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please see our [contributing guidelines](https://github.com/use-the-fork/snow-blower/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) for more information.
## Credits
- Thanks to [Devenv](https://devenv.sh/) for much of the inspiration for this project
- Thanks to [NotAShelf](https://github.com/NotAShelf/nyx) for being a huge inspiration in learning Nix