NixFleet

Sovereign Infrastructure for Europe
April 2026 · Confidential

01 The Problem

European infrastructure faces three simultaneous crises:

Configuration Drift

Legacy tools (Ansible, Puppet) describe actions to perform, not states to reach. The outcome depends on pre-existing state. Configuration drift is structurally inevitable.

Vendor Lock-in

Jamf, Intune, AWX make your infrastructure a dependency of their cloud. Your ability to deploy depends on their availability. Cloud Act exposure, opaque internals, proprietary formats.

NIS2 Regulatory Pressure

15,000+ French entities affected. Deadline: end of 2027. Fines up to €10M or 2% of global revenue. Personal liability for executives.

The audit gap: standard tools manage desired state but cannot prove actual state. Verifying that a system matches its policy requires a separate audit tool, a separate agent, and trust in the runtime environment. NixFleet closes this gap structurally.

02 The Solution

NixFleet transforms NixOS's mathematical guarantees — reproducibility, atomicity, traceability — into an enterprise fleet management platform, NIS2-compliant by construction and 100% self-hosted.

<90sFleet-wide rollback
12Active NIS2 controls
3-5xCost reduction
100%Self-hosted
TRL 5Validated prototype

Nix Framework

Single mkHost API to declare an entire fleet in one flake.nix. 11 scopes auto-activate. No proprietary DSL — standard NixOS.

Rust Control Plane

Central server: fleet state, rollout orchestration (canary, staged, all-at-once), full audit trail. mTLS + API key authentication.

Rust Agent

Autonomous binary on each host. Pull model (polling). State machine with health checks and automatic rollback on failure. Works even if the CP is temporarily down.

NIS2 Compliance

12 active NIS2 control modules (+ 4 reserved for DORA/ISO) with enforce + prove pattern. NIS2 preset (essential/important). Automatic evidence collection. Works with or without NixFleet.

02b What We Built

NixFleet is not a research project or a vision. It is a working product, tested, with production-ready security.

ComponentStatusDetail
Nix Framework (mkHost)WorkingSimplified API, 11 auto-activating scopes, flake templates
Rust Control PlaneWorkingAxum, SQLite, HTTPS, mTLS, rollouts, audit trail
Rust AgentWorkingState machine, polling, health checks, auto-rollback
Rust CLIWorkingbootstrap, deploy, status, rollout, policy, schedule
SecurityProduction-readymTLS agent-CP, API keys SHA-256 (RBAC), mandatory HTTPS
NIS2 Compliance12 active controls+ 4 reserved DORA/ISO, automatic evidence collector
Tests143+ testsRust unit, VM fleet (canary mTLS), compliance end-to-end, Nix eval
DocumentationCompletemdbook, getting started, architecture, API reference

02c Why NixFleet vs NixOS Alone?

NixOS provides the foundational guarantees. NixFleet adds everything needed to go from a well-configured server to an enterprise-managed fleet:

CapabilityNixOS Alone (DIY)With NixFleet
Fleet deploymentManual SSH or Colmena (push)Autonomous agent (pull), works through firewalls
Progressive rolloutNone — all or nothingCanary, staged %, health-gated
RollbackManual, host by hostAutomatic on health check failure, fleet-wide <90s
Fleet visibilityNo centralized viewReal-time state of every host via control plane
SecurityConfigure it yourselfmTLS + API keys + HTTPS built-in, zero config
NIS2 complianceConsiderable manual effort12 NIS2 controls enabled in 1 line, automatic evidence
Audit trailNon-existentFull log with actor identity, CSV/JSON export
SupportCommunity (best-effort)SLA, dedicated support, compliance expertise
In short: NixOS ensures each machine is correct. NixFleet ensures the entire fleet is correct, visible, auditable, and compliant — with commercial support and regulatory expertise.

03 Architecture

Declaration
flake.nix · mkHost per machine · flake.lock (SHA-256)
Binary Cache
Attic · self-hosted · S3-compatible
Rust CLI
Operator
Control Plane
Axum · SQLite · Rollouts · Audit
Rust Agent ×N
Polling · Health check · Auto-rollback
NixOS
web-01
NixOS
db-01
NixOS
edge-01
NixOS
...
Security: mTLS between each agent and the control plane (per-host client certificate). SHA-256 scoped API keys (readonly/deploy/admin) for operators. Mandatory HTTPS in production. The Nix store is content-addressed — a modified binary is physically impossible to substitute.

04 NIS2 Compliance

NIS2 Directive (Article 21) defines 10 categories of measures. NixFleet covers all 10 with 12 active control modules, each following the enforce + prove pattern: enforce the control at the infrastructure layer, then emit machine-readable evidence.

NIS2 ObligationTraditional ApproachNixFleet
Change traceabilitySIEM + separate tools (+€30k/yr)Every change = signed Git commit
Incident recovery <24hManual runbooks, uncertain outcomeAtomic rollback < 90 seconds
Supply chain securitySeparate SBOM tools, manual integrationAuto-generated SBOM from flake.lock
Cryptography (Art. 21h)Per-system manual config, inconsistentLUKS + mTLS + TLS policy, fleet-wide
Access control (Art. 21i)Separate IAM, manual CMDBSSH hardening + access audit built-in
Asset inventoryExpensive CMDB, often inaccurateComplete inventory in nixosConfigurations
Compliance is a by-product of the architecture, not an additional effort. The Nix configuration IS the security policy. An auditor reading the Nix expression knows exactly what is enforced — no gap between documentation and reality.

05 Competitive Advantage

CapabilityAnsible / PuppetJamf / IntuneColmenaNixFleet
Bitwise reproducibilityNoNoYesYes
Full sovereignty (self-hosted)PartialNoYesYes
Commercial support / SLAYesYesNoYes
Atomic fleet rollbackNoNoNoYes
Built-in NIS2 complianceNoNoNoYes
Rollout strategiesManualLimitedNoYes
Evidence collectionNoPartialNoYes

06 Market

Primary Target

European SMBs and mid-market enterprises (50-500 employees) subject to NIS2, without dedicated compliance teams. These organizations face regulatory pressure but lack the budget and staff to stack traditional tools.

Priority Verticals

  • Public sector — sovereignty mandate, ANSSI/BSI
  • Finance — NIS2 + DORA, operational resilience
  • Energy / Telecom — critical infrastructure
  • Research / HPC — reproducibility, large fleets
  • Tech startups — rapid growth, small infra teams

Geographies

CountryOpportunity
France15,000+ NIS2 entities, largest EU market
GermanyBSI sovereignty mandate
NetherlandsStrong NixOS community
BelgiumEU institutions headquarters
SwitzerlandFinance, pharma, neutrality
NordicsHigh digital maturity

Cost Comparison (200 machines/year)

SolutionCost
Ansible + AWX + compliance€80-150k
Jamf / Intune€40-100k
NixFleet Pro€6-36k

07 Business Model

Open-core model: the engine is open source (MIT/AGPL), commercial value lies in enterprise orchestration and compliance expertise. Clients never depend on NixFleet — if they leave, their Nix configuration works without us.

TierPriceTarget
CommunityFree< 10 machines
Pro€499-2,999/mo10-200 machines, SMBs
Enterprise€50-500k/yr200+ machines
SovereignCustomGovernment, defense

Services

ServiceDescription
NIS2 AuditGap analysis + remediation plan
PilotAudit + deployment on 5-10 machines
MigrationTransition from Ansible/Puppet
TrainingNix/NixOS for infrastructure teams

08 Project Status

Done Phase 0-4 Nix simplification, Rust hardening (mTLS, audit), fleet orchestration, infra modules, compliance framework
In progress Phase 5 Open source launch: documentation, templates, public repos
Next Phase 6 Outreach and pilots: ANSSI, consulting partners, Horizon Europe, 3 pilots
Blocked Phase 7 Enterprise: multi-tenant, RBAC, dashboard — pending pilot feedback
~10kLines of code (Rust + Nix)
143+Automated tests
13API endpoints

09 What We're Looking For

Early Adopters

NIS2-regulated operators (5-10 machines) for a free 3-month pilot. You get the audit + deployment, we get a real-world use case.

Consulting Partners

Firms with NIS2/DORA expertise (Capgemini, Wavestone, Deloitte). Co-pilot model: your regulatory expertise + our platform.

Research Partners

Horizon Europe CL3 consortium (deadline Sept. 2026). Formal verification, security audit, compliance research.

Free pilot program — deploy your first NixFleet in 15 minutes

github.com/arcanesys · contact@arcanesys.fr