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NixOS 26.05 EOL Checker

NixOS 26.05 "Yarara" End of Life: December 31, 2026

By Scott Bissett  ·  Published: October 24, 2026  ·  Reference guide  ·  Dates read twice on the day of publication from the NixOS 26.05 release announcement on nixos.org, with the release dates from the NixOS manual's release notes, and re-checked at every site build.

NixOS 26.05 "Yarara" receives bugfixes and security updates until December 31, 2026. The NixOS 26.05 release announcement, published with the release on May 30, 2026, says the release will receive bugfixes and security updates for seven months, up until that day. NixOS ships two stable releases a year, numbered for May (YY.05) and November (YY.11), and each is supported for about seven months, so every release overlaps briefly with the next. Live status is on the NixOS 26.05 page; every release is on the NixOS page.

Quick answer: NixOS 26.05 "Yarara" reaches end of life on December 31, 2026, the last day of the seven months of bugfixes and security updates its release announcement promised. After that, the nixos-26.05 channel gets no more security updates; systems should move to the next stable release, numbered 26.11.

Key Dates at a Glance

Running NixOS past end of life?
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Recent NixOS releases

ReleaseCodenameReleasedEnd of life
26.05YararaMay 30, 2026December 31, 2026
25.11XantusiaNovember 30, 2025June 30, 2026
25.05WarblerMay 23, 2025December 31, 2025

The same announcement said 25.11 "Xantusia" was deprecated from the 26.05 release and would stop receiving security updates after June 30, 2026, which is the overlap the NixOS cadence builds in.

What end of life means for a NixOS system

A NixOS system follows a channel or a flake input pinned to a release branch, such as nixos-26.05. While a release is supported, updates to that branch bring package security fixes; after its end of life the branch stops receiving them, so rebuilding the system no longer pulls in fixes for newly disclosed vulnerabilities. Nothing stops working on the day, which is why an unsupported NixOS install is easy to leave running unnoticed.

What to do before the date

  1. Find systems on 26.05: nixos-version prints the release, and nix-channel --list or the flake's nixpkgs input shows the branch.
  2. Read the upgrade instructions in the next release's notes when 26.11 ships, including its backward incompatibilities.
  3. Switch the channel or flake input to the new release branch and rebuild, before December 31, 2026.
  4. Check other systems with the EOL Checker and the NixOS page.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is NixOS 26.05 end of life?

NixOS 26.05 "Yarara" reaches end of life on December 31, 2026. Its release announcement says it receives bugfixes and security updates for seven months, up until that day.

How long is a NixOS release supported?

About seven months. NixOS releases in May and November; a May release is supported until the end of December and a November release until the end of June. 26.05, released May 30, 2026, is supported until December 31, 2026.

Is NixOS 25.11 still supported?

No. The 26.05 announcement said 25.11 "Xantusia" would stop receiving security updates after June 30, 2026.

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