API Reference

Each module is a self-contained, readable implementation of one Nix concept. No external dependencies — stdlib only.

pix modules

Module	Lines	What it implements
pix.base32	~40	The Nix base32 encoding — custom alphabet, reversed bit extraction
pix.hash	~20	SHA-256 wrapper + XOR-fold compression
pix.nar	~80	NAR archive serialization (files, dirs, symlinks)
pix.store_path	~70	Store path fingerprinting for text, source, fixed-output, and derivation outputs
pix.derivation	~250	ATerm parser/serializer + hashDerivationModulo
pix.daemon	~270	Unix socket client: handshake, stderr draining, store operations

pixpkgs modules

Module	Lines	What it implements
pixpkgs.drv	~140	drv() constructor + Package dataclass — the mkDerivation equivalent
pixpkgs.package_set	~30	PackageSet with call() — the callPackage equivalent
pixpkgs.realize	~30	Write .drv to store and build via daemon

Dependency graph

pixpkgs
  drv ─────────── derivation + store_path
  package_set     (standalone — inspect only)
  realize ──────── daemon

pix
  daemon  (standalone — wire protocol only)

  store_path ─── hash
      │            │
      └── base32   │
                   │
  nar ─────────────┘

  derivation ─── hash

No circular dependencies. daemon is fully independent — it speaks the binary protocol directly without needing local hash computation.

Reading the code

The modules are designed to be read top-to-bottom. Each file starts with a docstring explaining the format or protocol, then implements it in the most straightforward way possible.

If you want to understand why the algorithms work the way they do, see the Internals section. If you want to see how they're implemented, read the source — it's all in pix/ and pixpkgs/.