Install with Nix

The desktop app ships as an AppImage, a .deb, a Windows installer and a macOS .dmg from the releases page. Nix users do not need any of them: the flake builds the same app and installs it like any other package.

Everything below needs flakes enabled. On NixOS put this in your configuration:

nix.settings.experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];

On other distributions, add experimental-features = nix-command flakes to ~/.config/nix/nix.conf.

Just run it

Downloads, builds and launches in one step, leaving nothing installed:

nix run github:Azgaar/Fantasy-Map-Generator

The first run takes a few minutes — mostly fetching Electron's ~250 MB runtime from cache.nixos.org. Later runs start instantly.

Install it

nix profile install github:Azgaar/Fantasy-Map-Generator

This puts fantasy-map-generator on your PATH and installs a desktop entry, so it also appears in your application launcher.

To update, upgrade and uninstall:

nix profile upgrade fantasy-map-generator
nix profile list                            # find the index or name
nix profile remove fantasy-map-generator

Add it to a NixOS system

Add the flake as an input and pull the package into systemPackages:

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs?ref=nixos-unstable";
    fantasy-map-generator.url = "github:Azgaar/Fantasy-Map-Generator";
  };

  outputs = { nixpkgs, fantasy-map-generator, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.myhost = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        ./configuration.nix
        {
          environment.systemPackages = [
            fantasy-map-generator.packages.x86_64-linux.default
          ];
        }
      ];
    };
  };
}

Home Manager is the same idea with home.packages instead of environment.systemPackages.

The flake pins its own nixpkgs, so the app is built against that rather than your system's. That costs a little disk and buys a build that does not break when your channel moves.

Build from a local checkout

nix build                          # result/ symlinks the built app
./result/bin/fantasy-map-generator

nix develop is a different thing — a shell with Node and the dev tooling for working on the source, not a way to run the packaged app. See Run FMG locally.

What you get

A wrapper around nixpkgs' electron_43 running the renderer built from this repo. It is the same code as the AppImage, assembled by Nix instead of by electron-builder, which means:

• No self-updating. The in-app updater is inactive: a Nix store path is read-only, and an app that rewrites itself would defeat the point. Update through Nix, as above.
• No bundled Chromium. Electron comes from cache.nixos.org and is shared with every other Electron app on your system, instead of a private copy inside an AppImage.
• Your maps are unaffected. They live in ~/.config/fantasy-map-generator, outside the store, and survive updates and uninstalls. The AppImage and the Nix build read the same directory, so you can switch between them without losing anything.

Platform support

Linux only. x86_64-linux is what the package is built and tested on; aarch64-linux is exposed and evaluates, but has not been run.

macOS is deliberately excluded. The package wraps a bare Electron binary, which is not a macOS .app bundle — the dock, the menu bar and file associations all expect one. Use the .dmg from the releases page instead. (nix develop still works on macOS for development.)

Troubleshooting

error: experimental Nix feature 'nix-command' is disabled — enable flakes, see the top of this page.

error: flake 'github:...' does not provide attribute 'packages.x86_64-darwin.default' — you are on macOS; see Platform support.

The window is blank, or fails on a Wayland session — force X11 through XWayland:

NIXOS_OZONE_WL= fantasy-map-generator

The wrapper enables native Wayland only when NIXOS_OZONE_WL is set, so clearing it falls back to XWayland.

Stale build after pulling — Nix caches by flake revision. Refresh it:

nix run --refresh github:Azgaar/Fantasy-Map-Generator