Determinate Nix 3.0

Today, we’re thrilled to announce the release of Determinate Nix 3.0. Determinate Nix is our professionally maintained, security-focused distribution of Nix designed for organizations that cannot compromise on security, compliance, or performance.

The version number matters. The Nix project has long intended to release version 3.0 when flakes are stable. With Determinate Nix 3.0, we’ve fulfilled that promise by offering a formal stability guarantee for flakes, making them production-ready today.

Why flake stability matters

Flake stability is essential for organizations developing mission-critical systems. Although flakes enhance the core features of Nix—reproducible environments, predictable builds, composable configurations—by enforcing pinned dependencies, we continue to see deep uncertainty in the ecosystem due to flakes’ experimental status in upstream Nix. Without such a guarantee, organizations have expressed concerns about unpredictable breaking changes that could disrupt CI/CD pipelines, developer workflows, and production deployments.

Our flake stability guarantee mitigates this risk, ensuring that your flake-based configurations function reliably through every update and enabling you to confidently adopt flakes for your most important projects today.

Not a fork, a future-proof foundation

Determinate Nix 3.0 isn’t a fork of Nix—it’s a downstream distribution that ensures full compatibility with the broader Nix ecosystem while incorporating the governance, security features, and performance optimizations necessary for mission-critical deployments.

Building a better Nix

Determinate Nix 3.0 represents a fundamental shift in how we deliver Nix to organizations with mission-critical requirements. We don’t just package upstream Nix—we build it ourselves from source in our secure, SLSA build level 3, controlled infrastructure. This independent build process is crucial for the trust, security, and stability that regulated environments demand.

By maintaining our distribution, we can innovate at the pace our customers need without being constrained by upstream development cycles. This means that Determinate Nix customers will soon have immediate access to critical features like:

• Parallel evaluation of Nix expressions, which can deliver 3-4x faster performance for complex configurations.
• Lazy trees, which can dramatically improve evaluation speed for large source repositories.

Our approach combines the best of both worlds: Determinate Nix customers benefit from cutting-edge capabilities today while we maintain compatibility with the broader Nix ecosystem and actively contribute our improvements to upstream Nix, where the community ultimately determines their inclusion. Choosing Determinate Nix gives you priority access to innovations that address real-world needs while ensuring seamless integration with existing systems.

Security that meets modern standards

Security is central to every aspect of Determinate Nix and the entire Determinate platform.

• SOC 2 Type II certified: Our infrastructure meets rigorous compliance standards.
• Zero-trust security model: Federated authentication combined with fine-grained access controls with federated authentication.
• Modern authentication: Shift from static secrets to secure, policy-driven identities through Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles and identity providers such as GitHub and Microsoft Entra.
• Corporate network integration: Automatic certificate handling for ZScaler, Fortinet, and other security platforms.
• Defined security response: We provide an SLA for vulnerability management, ensuring prompt and predictable security updates.
• Controlled build environments: We build every component in our security-certified infrastructure, with critical components receiving additional signing and notarization.

Stability you can rely on

When your business relies on dependable software delivery, you require predictability and consistency:

• Flake stability guarantee: While flakes remain experimental in upstream Nix, we provide a formal stability guarantee to ensure your workflows remain functional.
• Rigorous release process: Every change undergoes comprehensive security, performance, and compatibility validation.
• Customer roadmap: Transparent decision making and predictable release cycles.

Deployment options for every need

From bare metal to virtual machines, cloud to edge, Determinate Nix 3.0 delivers reproducible builds everywhere:

• First-class macOS support: We provide full MDM integration, including partnerships with leading MDM providers like jamf, and ensure seamless macOS upgrades across your Apple ecosystem.
• Performance optimizations: Ship code faster with improved build times and streamlined workflows.
• Intelligent resource management: Automated garbage collection monitors system conditions to optimize maintenance.

Why organizations choose Determinate Nix

From financial services to healthcare to critical infrastructure, teams choose Determinate Nix when they require:

• Predictable feature implementation with clear timelines for new capabilities.
• Security and compliance that meet and exceed industry requirements.
• Dramatically faster build times that slash evaluation overhead and accelerate development cycles by 3-4x in typical workloads.
• Operational workflows that scale from small projects to global deployments.

Determinate Nix 3.0 transforms Nix from a powerful tool into a trusted platform that delivers the governance, performance, and stability that serious production environments demand.

Get started with Determinate Nix 3.0 today!

Ready to experience Determinate Nix 3.0?

Installing Determinate Nix 3.0

Installation is straightforward whether you’re deploying across an organization or installing on your workstation. Our comprehensive documentation site provides tailored installation instructions for most environments.

Upgrading to Determinate Nix 3.0

Follow these straightforward upgrade instructions for your environment.

For macOS users

Download the universal package and run it.

Install Determinate Nix on macOS now

Apple Silicon and Intel

When the installation is complete, open a terminal and run:

nix —-version

You should see nix (Determinate Nix 3.0.0) 2.26.3.

For NixOS users

If you’re already using the Determinate flake in your NixOS configuration, update the flake: Update the inputs section flake.nix to reference the latest Determinate version:

{
  inputs.determinate.url = "https://flakehub.com/f/DeterminateSystems/determinate/*";
}

Run a system rebuild to apply the changes:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .

Log in to FlakeHub:

determinate-nixd login

Verify your upgrade:

nix --version

You should see nix (Determinate Nix 3.0.0) 2.26.3.

For Linux users

First, download the appropriate determinate-nixd for your platform:

Linux (x86_64)

curl -sSLfo determinate-nixd https://install.determinate.systems/determinate-nixd/stable/x86_64-linux

Linux (aarch64)

curl -sSLfo determinate-nixd https://install.determinate.systems/determinate-nixd/stable/aarch64-linux

Make the file executable and run the upgrade:

chmod +x ./determinate-nixd
sudo ./determinate-nixd upgrade

Log in to FlakeHub:

determinate-nixd login

The upgrade process will:

• Preserve all your existing Nix configurations
• Update to Determinate Nix 3.0 components
• Restart the Nix daemon with the new version

Verify your upgrade:

nix —-version

You should see nix (Determinate Nix 3.0.0) 2.26.3. You can now remove the temporary installation file:

rm ./determinate-nixd

For FlakeHub teams, your authentication and access to private flakes and caches will remain intact throughout the upgrade process. If you encounter any issues during the upgrade or have additional questions, enterprise customers should contact their dedicated account representative directly. All users are also welcome to join our Discord server for community support.

Contact us to transform your Nix experience

Ready to transform the way your team builds critical software? Experience Determinate Nix 3.0 today and leave behind dependency nightmares, security headaches, and performance bottlenecks. Email hello@determinate.systems to discuss how we can empower your team with a robust foundation that enables you to focus on what matters most: creating exceptional software that drives your business forward.