clan: add nixpkgs version checks

docs/mkdocs.yml

@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ nav:
       - Networking:
           - Introduction to Networking: guides/networking/networking.md
           - Zerotier VPN: guides/networking/mesh-vpn.md
+      - Nixpkgs Flake Input: guides/nixpkgs-flake-input/index.md
       - Disko Templates:
           - Community Disko Templates: guides/disko-templates/community.md
       - Backups:

docs/site/guides/nixpkgs-flake-input/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+**Q**: How should I choose the nixpkgs input for my flake when using clan-core?
+
+**A**: In general, you should pin your flake to a recent nixpkgs version.
+There are two common ways to do this, each with its own trade-offs:
+
+## Follow clan-core
+
+- (+) Recommended for most people.
+- (+) Verified by our CI and widely used by others
+- (-) Coupling to version bumps in clan-core,
+    - Upstream features and packages may take longer to land.
+
+```nix
+inputs = {
+    clan-core.url = "https://git.clan.lol/clan/clan-core/archive/main.tar.gz";
+    # Uses the nixpkgs version that was locked in clan-core
+    nixpkgs.follows = "clan-core/nixpkgs";
+}
+```
+
+## Use your own nixpkgs version
+
+- (+) Faster access to new upstream features and packages
+- (-) Recommended for advanced usage.
+- (-) Not covered by our CI — you’re on the frontier
+
+```nix
+inputs = {
+    # Use your own version here.
+    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
+
+    clan-core.url = "https://git.clan.lol/clan/clan-core/archive/main.tar.gz";
+    # Uses the nixpkgs version of your own flake in clan-core
+    clan-core.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
+}
+```
+
+## Recommended
+
+To avoid ambiguity or incompatibility issues, it’s a good idea to check your `flake.lock` for duplicate `nixpkgs` entries.
+This usually indicates that one of your flake inputs is missing a `follows` directive.
+
+If you see something like this, it means you have multiple versions of `nixpkgs`:
+
+```json
+    "nixpkgs": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 315532800,
+        "narHash": "sha256-1tUpklZsKzMGI3gjo/dWD+hS8cf+5Jji8TF5Cfz7i3I=",
+        "rev": "08b8f92ac6354983f5382124fef6006cade4a1c1",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://releases.nixos.org/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-25.11pre862603.08b8f92ac635/nixexprs.tar.xz"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://nixos.org/channels/nixpkgs-unstable/nixexprs.tar.xz"
+      }
+    },
+    "nixpkgs_2": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1758346548,
+        "narHash": "sha256-afXE7AJ7MY6wY1pg/Y6UPHNYPy5GtUKeBkrZZ/gC71E=",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "b2a3852bd078e68dd2b3dfa8c00c67af1f0a7d20",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "ref": "nixos-25.05",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "type": "github"
+      }
+    },
+```
+
+You can grep through your lock file to locate which inputs are referencing the wrong nixpkgs.
+
+In this example, `home-manager` is pointing to `nixpkgs_2` instead of the main `nixpkgs`
+
+```json
+    // ...
+    "home-manager": {
+      "inputs": {
+        "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs_2"
+      }
+    // ...
+```
+
+To fix this add the following line to your flake.nix inputs:
+
+```nix
+home-manager.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
+```
+
+Repeat this process until all duplicate `nixpkgs` entries are eliminated.
+
+This helps prevent cross-version conflicts and ensures all inputs use the same `nixpkgs` source.

flakeModules/clan.nix

@@ -22,18 +22,18 @@ in
       default = config.flake.clan.clanInternals;
     };
     # The clan module
-    clan = lib.mkOption {
+    clan =
-      description = "Clan module. Define your clan inside here";
-      default = { };
-      type = types.submoduleWith {
-        class = "clan";
-        specialArgs =
       # TODO: make these explizit options and deduplicate with lib.clan function
       let
         nixpkgs = inputs.nixpkgs or clan-core.inputs.nixpkgs;
         nix-darwin = inputs.nix-darwin or clan-core.inputs.nix-darwin;
       in
-          {
+      lib.mkOption {
+        description = "Clan module. Define your clan inside here";
+        default = { };
+        type = types.submoduleWith {
+          class = "clan";
+          specialArgs = {
             inherit self;
             inherit nixpkgs nix-darwin;
           };
@@ -41,6 +41,21 @@ in
             clan-core.modules.clan.default
           ];
         };
+        apply =
+          config:
+          # TOOD:
+          # - allow to disable version check?
+          # - self-incrementing version?
+          if !lib.versionAtLeast nixpkgs.lib.version "25.11" then
+            throw ''
+              Nixpkgs version: ${nixpkgs.lib.version} is incompatible with clan-core. (>= 25.11 is required)
+              ---
+              Your version of 'nixpkgs' seems too old for clan-core.
+              Please read: https://docs.clan.lol/guides/nixpkgs-flake-input
+              ---
+            ''
+          else
+            config;
       };
 
     # Mapped flake toplevel outputs