bug: Unable to build flake without `home.homeDirectory` error

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[X] My Nixpkgs and Home Manager versions are in sync

Is there an existing issue for this?

[X] I have searched the existing issues

Issue description

Short Version: I'm trying to setup nix/nix-darwin/home-manager/flakes for the first time. Every time I try to build my config for the first time, I get the error:

      error: A definition for option `home-manager.users.jclark.home.homeDirectory' is not of type `path'. Definition values:
       - In `/nix/store/1gkcml61pcjwxsmlkchr2wpivl0n4mhh-source/nixos/common.nix': null

Based on the specific error referencing home-manager.users... I assume this is a home-manager issue, but please let me know if this should be a nix-darwin issue instead.

Details

In a fresh Mac OS Sonoma 10.7 install, I installed Nix: sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install)
I have created a minimal flake (shown below) in ~/dev/system-config.
Per the nix-darwin README, I tried to "install nix-darwin" via flake: nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" run nix-darwin -- switch --flake ~/dev/system-config.

This results in the following error:

building the system configuration...
warning: Git tree '/Users/jclark/dev/system-config' is dirty
error:
       … while evaluating the attribute 'value'
         at /nix/store/0z5aw6jjbjq9sqcd03gfa7zkk25nzwgc-source/lib/modules.nix:816:9:
          815|     in warnDeprecation opt //
          816|       { value = addErrorContext "while evaluating the option `${showOption loc}':" value;
             |         ^
          817|         inherit (res.defsFinal') highestPrio;

       … while evaluating the option `system.build':

       … while evaluating the attribute 'mergedValue'
         at /nix/store/0z5aw6jjbjq9sqcd03gfa7zkk25nzwgc-source/lib/modules.nix:851:5:
          850|     # Type-check the remaining definitions, and merge them. Or throw if no definitions.
          851|     mergedValue =
             |     ^
          852|       if isDefined then

       … while evaluating definitions from `/nix/store/95qf9prv27r48w7by4zlp38y1zkf8q3k-source/modules/system':

       … while evaluating the option `home-manager.users.jclark.home.homeDirectory':

       (stack trace truncated; use '--show-trace' to show the full, detailed trace)

       error: A definition for option `home-manager.users.jclark.home.homeDirectory' is not of type `path'. Definition values:
       - In `/nix/store/1gkcml61pcjwxsmlkchr2wpivl0n4mhh-source/nixos/common.nix': null

My current ~/dev/system-config/flake.nix appears below. A few notes:

The machine name charybdis and user name jclark are correct for the machine.
I have removed a lot of my initial content to reduce the chance I had made a mistake with optional packages/settings
I chose the stateVersions listed based on a tutorial video I used to learn nix

None of the examples or tutorials I have looked at actually use home.homeDirectory, so I didn't have it my flake. Once I got the error, I tried setting it two different ways; see the two commented lines near the end of the file. Uncommenting either line makes no difference to the error message I receive.

{
description = "First Flake";
inputs = {
nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-unstable";

home-manager.url = "github:nix-community/home-manager/master";
home-manager.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";

darwin.url = "github:lnl7/nix-darwin";
darwin.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
};
outputs = inputs: {
darwinConfigurations.charybdis = inputs.darwin.lib.darwinSystem {
  system = "aarch64-darwin";
  pkgs = import inputs.nixpkgs {system = "aarch64-darwin";};
  modules = [
    ({pkgs, ...}: {
      system = {
        stateVersion = 4;
        activationScripts.postUserActivation.text = ''
          # Following line should allow us to avoid a logout/login cycle
          /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/SystemAdministration.framework/Resources/activateSettings -u
        '';

        defaults.finder = {
          AppleShowAllExtensions = true;
          ShowPathbar = true;
          ShowStatusBar = true;
          _FXShowPosixPathInTitle = true;
          _FXSortFoldersFirst = true;
          FXEnableExtensionChangeWarning = false;
          FXPreferredViewStyle = "Nlsv";
        };
      };
      environment = {
        shells = [pkgs.bash pkgs.zsh];
        loginShell = [pkgs.zsh];
        systemPackages = [
          pkgs.coreutils
          pkgs._1password-gui
        ];
      };
      programs.zsh.enable = true;
      programs.zsh.enableCompletion = true;
      nix.extraOptions = ''
        experimental-features = nix-command flakes
      '';
      fonts.fontDir.enable = false; # nix will install new fonts but won't uninstall fonts; allows manually installed fonts
      fonts.fonts = [(pkgs.nerdfonts.override {fonts = ["Meslo"];})];
      services.nix-daemon.enable = true;

    })
    inputs.home-manager.darwinModules.home-manager
    {
      home-manager = {
        useGlobalPkgs = true;
        useUserPackages = true;
        users.jclark.imports = [
          ({pkgs, ...}: {
            home = {
              stateVersion = "22.11";
              # homeDirectory = "/Users/jclark";
              # homeDirectory = /Users/jclark;
              packages = with pkgs; [
                less
                colorls
              ];
              sessionVariables = {
                PAGER = "less";
              };
            };
            programs = {
              git.enable = true;
            };
          })
        ];
      };
    }
  ];
};
};
}

Maintainer CC

No response

System information

- system: `"aarch64-darwin"`
 - host os: `Darwin 23.6.0, macOS 14.7`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `no`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.24.10`
 - channels(root): `"nixpkgs"`
 - nixpkgs: `/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixpkgs`

nix-community / home-manager