Features

Twist is different from other package managers for Emacs in the following aspects:

• Reproducible builds with Nix

  Rather than running a build process inside a running session of Emacs, Twist builds packages in a sandboxed Nix session. This ensures that your entire configuration is always reproducible.

• Consistent lock system

  All packages are tracked in a lock directory. You can keep a known good state of working configuration to a version control system, so you can restore the state whenever an upgrade breaks your configuration.

  Your lock directory is like a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), which helps to increase the security of your system.

• Developer friendliness

  Twist lets you control sources of individual packages easily. You can update individual packages using nix commands (e.g. nix flake lock) rather than upgrade all packages at once. This is especially useful if you are a constant contributor to Emacs Lisp packages. There is even an experimental Emacs user interface for updating flake inputs, nix3.el.

• Native-like user experience

  Twist also supports hot-reloading of packages (experimental, through use of a standard wrapper and twist.el package). You can use new packages without restarting Emacs, while the configuration is still reproducible.

• Complete runtime environment

  Some Emacs Lisp packages have runtime dependencies on external programs. Twist can provide executable programs to Emacs by defining dependencies alongside the Emacs Lisp package declarations. The extra executables can be added without exiting Emacs, and they are only visible to Emacs.

  Because Nixpkgs supports multiple platforms (Linux and macOS), your Emacs configuration will be a portable, self-contained environment for work.

• Decentralized

  Twist doesn't depend on a central server for building packages. It fetches sources from upstream repositories and builds them on your machine. It relies on the Nix ecosystem's infrastructure, which is backed by many commercial sponsors. You also have an option to set up a binary cache for your packages on a service like Cachix, and it is easy.