[aseipp]

Nix is basically a programming language, a library ecosystem and API for packages, and in the case of NixOS, all of that is used to configure your operating system. So it's not a small endeavor by any means, no. I think explaining it more like this reflects the actual scope and sets expectations much better than "package manager" or whatever does. Nobody expects to have to learn an API to customize a package...

I don't think what Nix does in its most general strokes can really be made much simpler, unless you're willing to throw away a lot of what it does today (be it some of the package set, some extra features it offers, platform support, whatever.) The complex things it handles, that inherent complexity, is where all value really is. And that's where the huge and vibrant community comes from, because it does so much for everyone. It isn't easy, though.

For an on-rails version of Nix, you might enjoy something like Devbox. I can't personally vouch for it (I just use Nix itself, but I'm "an expert" with sunk costs), but I like the idea. One of the cool parts of Nix being "An API" is that you can build things like this on top: https://www.jetpack.io/devbox/

[colordrops]

There's an attempt to wrap NixOS with a GUI configuration tool, SnowflakeOS. Seems really promising, but I believe it's quite new and not well known yet.

https://snowflakeos.org/