NixOS grew out of Eelco Dolstra’s PhD work on the purely functional Nix package manager in the early 2000s. The whole system, from packages to services and users, is described in configuration files and built reproducibly. Every change creates a new “generation” you can roll back to. The nixpkgs repository is one of the largest package collections of any distribution. Stable releases come out in May and November.
NixOS
A Linux distribution configured entirely from declarative files and built on the Nix package manager, with atomic upgrades and rollbacks.
- Active project
- Latest 26.05May 2026
- Supported 1 version
At a glance
- Type
- Linux distribution
- Developer
- NixOS Foundation and community
- First release
- 31 Oct 2013
- Release cadence
- Twice a year (May, November); each supported for 7 months
- OS family
- Linux
- Package manager
- Nix (nixpkgs)
- Configuration
- Declarative, in the Nix language
- Init system
- systemd
- Upgrades
- Atomic, with rollbacks
- License
- Free software (MIT for nixpkgs)
- Website
- nixos.org
Newest release
NixOS 26.05
Released 30 May 2026
Support status
Release history
| Version | Name | Released | End of life | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26.05 | Yarara | 30 May 2026 | 31 Dec 2026 | Supported |
| 25.11 | Xantusia | 30 Nov 2025 | 30 Jun 2026 | End of life |
| 25.05 | Warbler | 23 May 2025 | 31 Dec 2025 | End of life |
| 24.11 | Vicuña | 30 Nov 2024 | 30 Jun 2025 | End of life |
| 24.05 | Uakari | 31 May 2024 | 31 Dec 2024 | End of life |
| 23.11 | Tapir | 29 Nov 2023 | 30 Jun 2024 | End of life |
| 23.05 | Stoat | 31 May 2023 | 31 Dec 2023 | End of life |
| 22.11 | Raccoon | 30 Nov 2022 | 30 Jun 2023 | End of life |
| 22.05 | Quokka | 30 May 2022 | 31 Dec 2022 | End of life |
| 21.11 | Porcupine | 30 Nov 2021 | 30 Jun 2022 | End of life |
| 21.05 | Okapi | 31 May 2021 | 31 Dec 2021 | End of life |
| 20.09 | Nightingale | 27 Oct 2020 | 30 Jun 2021 | End of life |
| 20.03 | Markhor | 20 Apr 2020 | 30 Oct 2020 | End of life |
| 19.09 | Loris | 9 Oct 2019 | 30 Apr 2020 | End of life |
| 19.03 | Koi | 11 Apr 2019 | 30 Oct 2019 | End of life |
| 18.09 | Jellyfish | 5 Oct 2018 | 30 Apr 2019 | End of life |
| 18.03 | Impala | 4 Apr 2018 | 30 Oct 2018 | End of life |
| 17.09 | Hummingbird | 29 Sep 2017 | 30 Apr 2018 | End of life |
| 17.03 | Gorilla | 31 Mar 2017 | 30 Oct 2017 | End of life |
| 16.09 | Flounder | 30 Sep 2016 | 30 Apr 2017 | End of life |
| 16.03 | Emu | 31 Mar 2016 | 30 Oct 2016 | End of life |
| 15.09 | Dingo | 30 Sep 2015 | 30 Apr 2016 | End of life |
| 14.12 | Caterpillar | 30 Dec 2014 | 30 Sep 2015 | End of life |
| 14.04 | Baboon | 30 Apr 2014 | 31 Jan 2015 | End of life |
| 13.10 | Aardvark | 31 Oct 2013 | 31 May 2014 | End of life |
Release data: endoflife.date and vendor announcements, checked 13 Nov 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Support timeline
The 12 most recent releases, from release day to the end of support.
- Active support
- Today
26.05
25.11
25.05
24.11
24.05
23.11
23.05
22.11
22.05
21.11
21.05
20.09
History
Milestones
- 2003Eelco Dolstra starts Nix as a research project at Utrecht University
- 2013The first numbered NixOS release, 13.10
- 2015The NixOS Foundation is created
- 2026NixOS 26.05 is released
Frequently asked questions
What is the latest version of NixOS?
The newest NixOS release is NixOS 26.05, released on 30 May 2026.
Which NixOS versions are still supported?
As of 13 Nov 2026, 1 version is supported: NixOS 26.05 (until 31 Dec 2026).
Is NixOS 25.11 still supported?
No. NixOS 25.11 reached end of life on 30 Jun 2026 and no longer gets free security updates. Upgrade to NixOS 26.05.