disko/README.md

# disko - Declarative disk partitioning

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[Documentation Index](./docs/INDEX.md)

NixOS is a Linux distribution where everything is described as code, with one
exception: during installation, the disk partitioning and formatting are manual
steps. **disko** aims to correct this sad 🤡 omission.

This is especially useful for unattended installations, re-installation after a
system crash or for setting up more than one identical server.

## Overview

**disko** can either be used after booting from a NixOS installer, or in
conjunction with [nixos-anywhere](https://github.com/numtide/nixos-anywhere) if
you're installing remotely.

Before using **disko**, the specifications of the disks, partitions, type of
formatting and the mount points must be defined in a Nix configuration. You can
find [examples](./example) of typical configurations in the Nix community
repository, and use one of these as the basis of your own configuration.

You can keep your configuration and re-use it for other installations, or for a
system rebuild.

**disko** is flexible, in that it supports most of the common formatting and
partitioning options, including:

- Disk layouts: GPT, MBR, and mixed.
- Partition tools: LVM, mdadm, LUKS, and more.
- Filesystems: ext4, btrfs, ZFS, bcachefs, tmpfs, and others.

It can work with these in various configurations and orders, and supports
recursive layouts.

## How to use disko

Disko doesn't require installation: it can be run directly from nix-community
repository. The [Quickstart Guide](./docs/quickstart.md) documents how to run
Disko in its simplest form when installing NixOS. Alternativly you can
also use the new [disko-install](./docs/disko-install.md) tool, which combines
the `disko` and `nixos-install` into one step.

For information on other use cases, including upgrading from an older version of
**disko**, using **disko** without NixOS and downloading the module, see the
[How To Guide](./docs/HowTo.md)

For more detailed options, such as command line switches, see the
[Reference Guide](./docs/reference.md)

To access sample configurations for commonly-used disk layouts, refer to the
[examples](./example) provided.

Disko can be also used to create [disk images](./docs/disko-images.md).

## Sample Configuration and CLI command

A simple disko configuration may look like this:

```nix
{
 disko.devices = {
  disk = {
   my-disk = {
    device = "/dev/sda";
    type = "disk";
    content = {
     type = "gpt";
     partitions = {
      ESP = {
       type = "EF00";
       size = "500M";
       content = {
        type = "filesystem";
        format = "vfat";
        mountpoint = "/boot";
       };
      };
      root = {
       size = "100%";
       content = {
        type = "filesystem";
        format = "ext4";
        mountpoint = "/";
       };
      };
     };
    };
   };
  };
 };
}
```

If you'd saved this configuration in /tmp/disk-config.nix, and wanted to create
a disk named /dev/sda, you would run the following command to partition, format
and mount the disk.

```console
sudo nix --experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run github:nix-community/disko -- --mode disko /tmp/disk-config.nix
```

## Related Tools

This tool is used by
[nixos-anywhere](https://github.com/numtide/nixos-anywhere), which carries out a
fully-automated remote install of NixOS.

We also acknowledge https://github.com/NixOS/nixpart, the conceptual ancestor of
this project.

## Licensing and Contribution details

This software is provided free under the
[MIT Licence](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT).

If you would like to become a contributor, please see our
[contribution guidelines.](https://github.com/numtide/docs/contribution-guidelines.md)

---

This project is supported by [Numtide](https://numtide.com/).
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