NX AppHub and AppBoxes
NX AppHub is not a “store” in the traditional sense; it is a software manufacturing system for the user. It forms the foundation of Nitrux’s user-level software management, employing a reproducible, declarative, and rootless model tailored to the distribution’s immutable architecture. We refer to these reproducible, sandboxed bundles as AppBoxes (Nitrux-native application bundles).
How it Works
Local, Deterministic Builds: The NX AppHub CLI builds AppBoxes locally on your machine using curated YAML recipes. It does not download pre-compiled AppImages. Instead, it pulls verifiable .deb packages from trusted upstream repositories (Debian, Ubuntu, Devuan, Neon, and Nitrux). It assembles them into a self-contained binary, which ensures a verifiable chain of trust: you know exactly what is inside the box because your system built it.
Declarative Management: We define applications by code (YAML) in the NX AppHub Apps repository. The system state is predictable because the recipe dictates the result.
FUSE 3 and Sandboxing: All AppBoxes are built for modern FUSE 3 runtimes and enforce sandboxing by default. They leverage Firejail, AppArmor, or Bubblewrap to isolate the application from the host system, ensuring that user-space software cannot compromise the immutable core.
System Integration: The NX AppHub Daemon watches the applications directory. When a new AppBox is built or installed, the daemon automatically integrates it into the desktop environment (menus, icons, mimetype associations) without requiring root access or manual configuration.
Lifecycle Management: AppBoxes intentionally do not support internal self-updates (e.g., AppImageUpdate). Instead, updates are handled centrally by the CLI, which “re-bakes” the AppBox using the latest upstream packages defined in the YAML recipe.
Commands
Commands Description install Install one or more applications remove Remove one or more installed applications update Update one or more installed applications downgrade Downgrade one or more installed applications search Search for specific applications show Show installed applications build Build an AppBox from a local YAML file generate Generate YAML template from package metadata
Options
Options Description -h, --help show this help message and exit
Documentation
NX Apphub Wiki: https://github.com/Nitrux/nx-apphub/wiki
NX AppHub Apps Wiki: https://github.com/Nitrux/nx-apphub-apps/wiki
NX Apphub Daemon Wiki: https://github.com/Nitrux/nx-apphubd/wiki