depot/nixos/doc/manual/development/freeform-modules.section.md

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# Freeform modules {#sec-freeform-modules}
Freeform modules allow you to define values for option paths that have
not been declared explicitly. This can be used to add attribute-specific
types to what would otherwise have to be `attrsOf` options in order to
accept all attribute names.
This feature can be enabled by using the attribute `freeformType` to
define a freeform type. By doing this, all assignments without an
associated option will be merged using the freeform type and combined
into the resulting `config` set. Since this feature nullifies name
checking for entire option trees, it is only recommended for use in
submodules.
::: {#ex-freeform-module .example}
### Freeform submodule
The following shows a submodule assigning a freeform type that allows
arbitrary attributes with `str` values below `settings`, but also
declares an option for the `settings.port` attribute to have it
type-checked and assign a default value. See
[Example: Declaring a type-checked `settings` attribute](#ex-settings-typed-attrs)
for a more complete example.
```nix
{ lib, config, ... }: {
options.settings = lib.mkOption {
type = lib.types.submodule {
freeformType = with lib.types; attrsOf str;
# We want this attribute to be checked for the correct type
options.port = lib.mkOption {
type = lib.types.port;
# Declaring the option also allows defining a default value
default = 8080;
};
};
};
}
```
And the following shows what such a module then allows
```nix
{
# Not a declared option, but the freeform type allows this
settings.logLevel = "debug";
# Not allowed because the the freeform type only allows strings
# settings.enable = true;
# Allowed because there is a port option declared
settings.port = 80;
# Not allowed because the port option doesn't allow strings
# settings.port = "443";
}
```
:::
::: {.note}
Freeform attributes cannot depend on other attributes of the same set
without infinite recursion:
```nix
{
# This throws infinite recursion encountered
settings.logLevel = lib.mkIf (config.settings.port == 80) "debug";
}
```
To prevent this, declare options for all attributes that need to depend
on others. For above example this means to declare `logLevel` to be an
option.
:::