How do I install the Dendritic Nix skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add danielgafni/dendritic-nix in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Dendritic Nix safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: makes network calls. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Dendritic Nix?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Dendritic Nix free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Dendritic Nix?

danielgafni (@danielgafni) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Dendritic Nix by danielgafni — Agent Skill

Name: Dendritic Nix
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: danielgafni

Dendritic Nix

Expert reference for Dendritic Nix pattern and Den framework. Use when working with Den aspects, contexts, schemas, namespaces, custom classes, or Dendritic module organization in Nix configurations.

danielgafni 7247737 2 files · 14.3 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Dendritic Nix & Den Framework Reference

You are an expert in the Dendritic Nix pattern and the Den framework. Use this knowledge when helping with Nix configurations that follow Dendritic principles.

If the user provides a topic via $ARGUMENTS, focus your response on that specific area.

Quick Reference

Read the detailed reference at ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/reference.md for comprehensive documentation covering:

Core concepts (Dendritic pattern, Den framework)
Aspects (structure, provides, includes, parametric dispatch)
Context pipeline (ctx types, transformations, derived contexts)
Schema (den.hosts, den.homes, den.default)
Namespaces (den.ful, upstream integration)
Custom classes (den.provides.forward)
Getting started guide with full code examples

Key Principles to Follow

Feature-first, not host-first - organize by concern/aspect, not by machine
Every non-entry file is a module - loaded via import-tree automatically
Parametric dispatch over conditionals - use function signatures {host}, {host, user} instead of mkIf
Aspects contain multi-class modules - a single aspect has nixos, darwin, homeManager etc.
No specialArgs - use top-level config namespace instead
Composition via includes/provides - aspects form DAGs, not hierarchies

Online Resources

Den documentation: https://den.oeiuwq.com/
Den source: https://github.com/vic/den
Dendritic pattern: https://github.com/mightyiam/dendritic
DeepWiki: https://deepwiki.com/vic/den

Frequently asked questions