Den patterns

These pages start from how people write Den today. We read the 20 most starred public Den configurations on GitHub, counted which batteries and keys they use, and wrote one page per common shape. Each page shows the Den code and the yen form, and its checks evaluate the real NixOS and home-manager configurations.

Start with From Den for the default template, hosts, users and quirks. The reference fleet shows every capability that Den’s CI tests.

includes, provides and metaHow large Den configurations are written, and the same structure in yen: features in many files, hosts that pick features, user meta.

The dendritic aspect patternsThe eight aspect patterns of the dendritic design guide, and the yen form of each, with the pitfalls that go away.

Every Den batteryEach den.batteries.* entry, in yen: an aspect, a field, a sink, or nothing at all.

Custom classes and forwardden.batteries.forward and den.classes: a sink whose other keys give its content to a class, at a path.