DAWO Handbook

DAWO is a declarative control-plane for fleets of NixOS devices. Configuration is data in a git overlay; Nix turns that data into signed system closures; devices pull and converge (comin). Sextant is the human and API surface that edits the data safely, proves it builds, stages the rollout, and reports what each device actually runs. It is not MDM: declarative pull, no live command channel, every change an audited git commit.

This handbook is for operators running a DAWO fleet and for engineers working on it. It is built with mdBook and served self-hosted; it uses no external CDN.

The lifecycle at a glance

1. Set up an imaging station - a NUC or mini-PC that boots devices over the network and reports what it sees to the console.
2. Image a device - the console dispatches an image job; the station runs the install and reports progress until the device is on disk and converging.
3. Manage it - configuration flows organisation -> group -> device; every change passes the Nix gate and can be reviewed as a change-request.
4. Update it - a rollout ships a new revision in waves, each gated on health and soak, with an optional manual test gate.
5. Retire or wipe it - an audited intent the device acts on locally; a crypto-wipe destroys the disk’s keys, and is armed per device.

Start with setting up an imaging station.