Configure nixos UI

[garbas]

Create a UI to search (instant search), select and configure list of options. Then export them as Nix or JSON. One could even share snippets of configuration.

As we migrated to search.nixos.org one - for some - very important feature was missing. Instant search or search as you type. We removed it (temporarily) since we don't load all the packages/options in the browser first. With the UI developed in this issue first problem we want to solve is searching (instantly) for options.

But we don't want to stop there. As almost a continuation step one can select multiple options (and place them on the side) and configure values for them. We can simply allow any string initially, but sky is the limit to where we can take this UI to.

Important is to start small (focus on instant search first) and add other functionality later.

[davidak]

I think it would be good to have UX design first, so no development ressources are wasted.

I wrote down some ideas here, but question if it would be a good idea at all.

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/how-would-your-nixos-configuration-tool-look/1380/10?u=davidak

Maybe a tool for desktop users on a single system like this is enough.

https://github.com/pmiddend/nixos-manager

[gspia]

~~Hi,~~ ~~Not sure if this is correct issue to discuss search ideas of https://search.nixos.org/packages~~ ~~(this idea, however, maybe as well be valid for tools that can be used to manage nixos)~~

~~Anyhow, it would be cool, if the search tool allowed easy way to include or exclude certain categories of packages.~~ ~~E.g. there could be tick-boxes for extending the search to "rPackages", "nodePackages", haskellPackages", etc.~~

~~Most of the time, when I'm searching for the packages, I actually wouldn't like to search inside any of those language eco-systems. There probably are too many of those language package/module ecosystems to list, so maybe it is worth considering to just have a tick-box for "include language specific packages" that would cover all of them?~~

~~And on those cases, when I do want to search "inside" language, I would not like to see any of those other packages outside lang specific modules/packages.~~

~~(I haven't discussed this idea anywhere else or tried to search if this has been discussed already or how other people feel about it, so no idea how many other people would like this one.)~~

[turboMaCk]

Don't you mean?

[gspia]

@turboMaCk thanks! (I have been completely blind - or just have taken those as additional information, not as filter selections)