Run nixos in podman. There is an option --systemd of podman run to run systemd inside the container. We can use this to run a nixos with systemd.
podman run -it -p 2222:22 docker.io/anillc/nixosThen you can ssh into the container with password nixos:
ssh root@127.0.0.1 -p 2222You can use tools like deploy-rs to deploy configurations to the container. Example configuration:
{ inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable"; inputs.deploy.url = "github:serokell/deploy-rs"; inputs.podman-nixos.url = "github:Anillc/podman-nixos"; outputs = inputs@{ self, nixpkgs, flake-parts, deploy, podman-nixos, }: flake-parts.lib.mkFlake { inherit inputs; } { systems = [ "x86_64-linux" ]; perSystem = { inputs', pkgs, ... }: { devShells.default = pkgs.mkShell { buildInputs = with pkgs; []; nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [ inputs'.deploy.packages.default ]; }; }; flake.nixosConfigurations.nixos = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem { system = "x86_64-linux"; modules = [ podman-nixos.nixosModules.default { system.stateVersion = "25.05"; users.users.root.openssh.authorizedKeys.keys = [ "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJqu43h92/UcQLf+E7AnUqmjjdGLkcazB9Z9nNRferqD" ]; services.openssh.enable = true; } ]; }; flake.deploy.nodes.nixos = { sshUser = "root"; hostname = "127.0.0.1"; sshOpts = [ "-p" "2222" ]; profiles.system.path = deploy.lib.x86_64-linux.activate.nixos self.nixosConfigurations.nixos; }; }; }Then use deploy -s .#nixos to deploy the configuration to the container.