i went this same route and was actually looking at flakes wondering "Why is everyone using something that's not stable"

it took a ton of time before I finally switched to flakes. They really need better messaging about this because the environments are incredibly complicated.. the possible choices are cumbersome.

The problems are a matrix of - root daemon or non-root daemon - nixos or non-nixos - home-manager or non-home-manager - what OS are you on? - flakes or non-flakes - stable or unstable

i'm happy with nix and love it but i definitely stumbled on al lof the mentioned