CfgMgmtCamp 2026 Ghent

In an age where GitOps and Configuration as Code are redefining how we build and operate systems, reproducibility has become essential. Yet, while we often talk about Infrastructure as Code, the developer experience is still too often left behind.

In this talk, we’ll explore how to extend the "... as Code" philosophy to the entire software development lifecycle. From Development Environment as Code, through custom package builds, to full Infrastructure as Code, using the Nix ecosystem as the backbone.

We will walk step by step through the process of evolving a trivial Nix setup into a fully reproducible, modular, and GitOps-friendly workflow:

• Starting from a traditional shell.nix,
• Transitioning to a declarative flake.nix setup,
• Leveraging a flake framework for modular design,
• Defining multiple development shells (for NodeJS, Go, Python, Java, etc.),
• Building wrappers to ensure custom and consistent environment behaviour.
• Building full operating system and deploy them on a real machine or simply testing them in a virtual machine

The session will be highly practical and supported by live demos.

All examples will be based on an open-source tutorial I have started to develop. Attendees will be able to reproduce every step afterwards and apply the same ideas directly in their own environments or workplaces. Designing the repository for educational purposes has been a challenge in itself: each commit is tagged and associated with a dedicated branch, illustrating the evolution of the project step by step. Every new feature or idea comes with its own commit and branch, making it easy to compare changes and understand the reasoning behind each decision. You could even call it "Tutorial as Code": a fully reproducible learning experience where every change tells a story.

By the end of the presentation, you’ll see how Nix enables a seamless continuum from developer laptop to production system, empowering teams to tame complexity, ensure reproducibility, and make their workflows truly "Everything as Code", a real GitOps approach.

Whether you’re a DevOps engineer, software engineer, or curious technologist, this session will provide you with concrete techniques and design patterns to strengthen your GitOps practice and simplify your daily workflow.