diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index af06eb0..6f94f6c 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1,2 +1 @@
-/Cargo.nix linguist-generated
-/nix/* liguist-generated
+nix/* liguist-generated=true
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 264703f..f1f4fea 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -85,7 +85,9 @@ dependencies = [
  "console",
  "futures",
  "glob",
+ "hostname",
  "indicatif",
+ "libc",
  "log",
  "quit",
  "serde",
@@ -244,6 +246,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "hostname"
+version = "0.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3c731c3e10504cc8ed35cfe2f1db4c9274c3d35fa486e3b31df46f068ef3e867"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+ "match_cfg",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "indicatif"
 version = "0.15.0"
@@ -301,6 +314,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "cfg-if 0.1.10",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "match_cfg"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ffbee8634e0d45d258acb448e7eaab3fce7a0a467395d4d9f228e3c1f01fb2e4"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "memchr"
 version = "2.3.4"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 5adddfa..4ef2546 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ clap = "2.33.3"
 console = "0.13.0"
 futures = "0.3.8"
 glob = "0.3.0"
+hostname = "0.3.1"
 indicatif = "0.15.0"
+libc = "0.2.81"
 log = "0.4.11"
 quit = "1.1.2"
 serde = { version = "1.0.118", features = ["derive"] }
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 62d99a3..660614e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,13 +17,18 @@ Here is a sample `hive.nix` with two nodes, with some common configurations appl
 
 ```nix
 {
-  network = {
+  meta = {
     # Override to pin the Nixpkgs version (recommended). This option
     # accepts one of the following:
     # - A path to a Nixpkgs checkout
     # - The Nixpkgs lambda (e.g., import <nixpkgs>)
     # - An initialized Nixpkgs attribute set
     nixpkgs = <nixpkgs>;
+
+    # You can also override Nixpkgs by node!
+    nodeNixpkgs = {
+      node-b = ./another-nixos-checkout;
+    };
   };
 
   defaults = { pkgs, ... }: {
@@ -83,6 +88,59 @@ Then you can evaluate with:
 colmena introspect your-lambda.nix
 ```
 
+## `colmena apply-local`
+
+For some machines, you may still want to stick with the manual `nixos-rebuild`-type of workflow.
+Colmena allows you to build and activate configurations on the host running Colmena itself, provided that:
+
+1. The node must be running NixOS.
+1. The node must have `deployment.allowLocalDeployment` set to `true`.
+1. The node's _attribute name_ must match the hostname of the machine.
+
+If you invoke `apply-local` with `--sudo`, Colmena will attempt to elevate privileges with `sudo` if it's not run as root.
+You may also find it helpful to set `deployment.targetHost` to `null` if you don't intend to deploy to the host via SSH.
+
+As an example, the following `hive.nix` includes a node (`laptop`) that is meant to be only deployed with `apply-local`:
+
+```nix
+{
+  meta = {
+    nixpkgs = ./deps/nixpkgs-stable;
+
+    # I'd like to use the unstable version of Nixpkgs on
+    # my desktop machines.
+    nodeNixpkgs = {
+      laptop = ./deps/nixpkgs-unstable;
+    };
+  };
+
+  # This attribute name must match the output of `hostname` on your machine
+  laptop = { name, nodes, ... }: {
+    networking.hostName = "laptop";
+
+    deployment = {
+      # Allow local deployment with `colmena apply-local`
+      allowLocalDeployment = true;
+
+      # Disable SSH deployment. This node will be skipped in a
+      # normal`colmena apply`.
+      targetHost = null;
+    };
+
+    # Rest of configuration...
+  };
+
+  server-a = { pkgs, ... }: {
+    # This node will use the default Nixpkgs checkout specified
+    # in `meta.nixpkgs`.
+
+    # Rest of configuration...
+  };
+}
+```
+
+On `laptop`, run `colmena apply-local --sudo` to activate the configuration.
+
 ## Current limitations
 
 - It's required to use SSH keys to log into the remote hosts, and interactive authentication will not work.
diff --git a/default.nix b/default.nix
index 10454d4..fe63ef7 100644
--- a/default.nix
+++ b/default.nix
@@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ in rustPlatform.buildRustPackage {
   version = "0.1.0";
 
   src = ./.;
-  cargoSha256 = "06qw50wd8w9b6j7hayx75c9hvff9kxa0cllaqg8x854b1ww9pk8j";
+  cargoSha256 = "1ayfw41kaa5wcqym4sz1l44gldi0qz1pfhfsqd53hgaim4nqiwrn";
 }
diff --git a/src/command/apply.rs b/src/command/apply.rs
index 77ceeec..0529bc1 100644
--- a/src/command/apply.rs
+++ b/src/command/apply.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ use crate::util;
 
 pub fn subcommand() -> App<'static, 'static> {
     let command = SubCommand::with_name("apply")
-        .about("Apply the configuration")
+        .about("Apply configurations on remote machines")
         .arg(Arg::with_name("goal")
             .help("Deployment goal")
             .long_help("Same as the targets for switch-to-configuration.\n\"push\" means only copying the closures to remote nodes.")
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ pub async fn run(_global_args: &ArgMatches<'_>, local_args: &ArgMatches<'_>) {
     }
 
     // Some ugly argument mangling :/
-    let profiles = hive.build_selected(selected_nodes).await.unwrap();
+    let mut profiles = hive.build_selected(selected_nodes).await.unwrap();
     let goal = DeploymentGoal::from_str(local_args.value_of("goal").unwrap()).unwrap();
     let verbose = local_args.is_present("verbose");
 
@@ -72,17 +72,26 @@ pub async fn run(_global_args: &ArgMatches<'_>, local_args: &ArgMatches<'_>) {
     };
 
     let mut task_list: Vec<DeploymentTask> = Vec::new();
-    for (name, profile) in profiles.iter() {
-        let task = DeploymentTask::new(
-            name.clone(),
-            all_nodes.get(name).unwrap().to_host(),
-            profile.clone(),
-            goal,
-        );
-        task_list.push(task);
+    let mut skip_list: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
+    for (name, profile) in profiles.drain() {
+        let target = all_nodes.get(&name).unwrap().to_ssh_host();
+
+        match target {
+            Some(target) => {
+                let task = DeploymentTask::new(name, target, profile, goal);
+                task_list.push(task);
+            }
+            None => {
+                skip_list.push(name);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
-    println!("Applying configurations...");
+    if skip_list.len() != 0 {
+        println!("Applying configurations ({} skipped)...", skip_list.len());
+    } else {
+        println!("Applying configurations...");
+    }
 
     deploy(task_list, max_parallelism, !verbose).await;
 }
diff --git a/src/command/apply_local.rs b/src/command/apply_local.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6a456b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/command/apply_local.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+use std::env;
+
+use clap::{Arg, App, SubCommand, ArgMatches};
+use tokio::fs;
+use tokio::process::Command;
+
+use crate::nix::{Hive, DeploymentTask, DeploymentGoal, Host};
+use crate::nix::host;
+
+pub fn subcommand() -> App<'static, 'static> {
+    SubCommand::with_name("apply-local")
+        .about("Apply configurations on the local machine")
+        .arg(Arg::with_name("goal")
+            .help("Deployment goal")
+            .long_help("Same as the targets for switch-to-configuration.\n\"push\" is noop in apply-local.")
+            .default_value("switch")
+            .index(1)
+            .possible_values(&["push", "switch", "boot", "test", "dry-activate"]))
+        .arg(Arg::with_name("config")
+            .short("f")
+            .long("config")
+            .help("Path to a Hive expression")
+            .default_value("hive.nix")
+            .required(true))
+        .arg(Arg::with_name("sudo")
+            .long("sudo")
+            .help("Attempt to escalate privileges if not run as root")
+            .takes_value(false))
+        .arg(Arg::with_name("we-are-launched-by-sudo")
+            .long("we-are-launched-by-sudo")
+            .hidden(true)
+            .takes_value(false))
+}
+
+pub async fn run(_global_args: &ArgMatches<'_>, local_args: &ArgMatches<'_>) {
+    // Sanity check: Are we running NixOS?
+    if let Ok(os_release) = fs::read_to_string("/etc/os-release").await {
+        if !os_release.contains("ID=nixos\n") {
+            eprintln!("\"apply-local\" only works on NixOS machines.");
+            quit::with_code(5);
+        }
+    } else {
+        eprintln!("Coult not detect the OS version from /etc/os-release.");
+        quit::with_code(5);
+    }
+
+    // Escalate privileges?
+    {
+        let euid: u32 = unsafe { libc::geteuid() };
+        if euid != 0 {
+            if local_args.is_present("we-are-launched-by-sudo") {
+                eprintln!("Failed to escalate privileges. We are still not root despite a successful sudo invocation.");
+                quit::with_code(3);
+            }
+
+            if local_args.is_present("sudo") {
+                escalate().await;
+            } else {
+                eprintln!("Colmena was not started by root. This is probably not going to work.");
+                eprintln!("Hint: Add the --sudo flag.");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    let mut hive = Hive::from_config_arg(local_args).unwrap();
+    let hostname = hostname::get().expect("Could not get hostname")
+        .to_string_lossy().into_owned();
+    let goal = DeploymentGoal::from_str(local_args.value_of("goal").unwrap()).unwrap();
+
+    println!("Enumerating nodes...");
+    let all_nodes = hive.deployment_info().await.unwrap();
+
+    let target: Box<dyn Host> = {
+        if let Some(info) = all_nodes.get(&hostname) {
+            if !info.allows_local_deployment() {
+                eprintln!("Local deployment is not enabled for host {}.", hostname);
+                eprintln!("Hint: Set deployment.allowLocalDeployment to true.");
+                quit::with_code(2);
+            }
+            host::local()
+        } else {
+            eprintln!("Host {} is not present in the Hive configuration.", hostname);
+            quit::with_code(2);
+        }
+    };
+
+    println!("Building local node configuration...");
+    let profile = {
+        let selected_nodes: Vec<String> = vec![hostname.clone()];
+        let mut profiles = hive.build_selected(selected_nodes).await
+            .expect("Failed to build local configurations");
+        profiles.remove(&hostname).unwrap()
+    };
+
+    let mut task = DeploymentTask::new(hostname, target, profile, goal);
+    task.execute().await.unwrap();
+}
+
+async fn escalate() -> ! {
+    // Restart ourselves with sudo
+    let argv: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();
+
+    let exit = Command::new("sudo")
+        .arg("--")
+        .args(argv)
+        .arg("--no-sudo")
+        .spawn()
+        .expect("Failed to run sudo to escalate privileges")
+        .wait()
+        .await
+        .expect("Failed to wait on child");
+
+    // Exit with the same exit code
+    quit::with_code(exit.code().unwrap());
+}
diff --git a/src/command/mod.rs b/src/command/mod.rs
index 4704f26..4fc0b64 100644
--- a/src/command/mod.rs
+++ b/src/command/mod.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 pub mod build;
 pub mod apply;
 pub mod introspect;
+pub mod apply_local;
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 5ace10a..e99d91b 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -7,18 +7,24 @@ mod deployment;
 mod util;
 
 macro_rules! command {
-    ($name:ident, $matches:ident) => {
-        if let Some(sub_matches) = $matches.subcommand_matches(stringify!($name)) {
-            command::$name::run(&$matches, &sub_matches).await;
+    ($module:ident, $matches:ident) => {
+        if let Some(sub_matches) = $matches.subcommand_matches(stringify!($module)) {
+            command::$module::run(&$matches, &sub_matches).await;
             return;
         }
-    }
+    };
+    ($name:expr, $module:ident, $matches:ident) => {
+        if let Some(sub_matches) = $matches.subcommand_matches($name) {
+            command::$module::run(&$matches, &sub_matches).await;
+            return;
+        }
+    };
 }
 
 macro_rules! bind_command {
-    ($name:ident, $app:ident) => {
-        $app = $app.subcommand(command::$name::subcommand());
-    }
+    ($module:ident, $app:ident) => {
+        $app = $app.subcommand(command::$module::subcommand());
+    };
 }
 
 #[tokio::main(flavor = "multi_thread")]
@@ -31,12 +37,14 @@ async fn main() {
         .setting(AppSettings::ArgRequiredElseHelp);
 
     bind_command!(apply, app);
+    bind_command!(apply_local, app);
     bind_command!(build, app);
     bind_command!(introspect, app);
 
     let matches = app.get_matches();
 
     command!(apply, matches);
+    command!("apply-local", apply_local, matches);
     command!(build, matches);
     command!(introspect, matches);
 }
diff --git a/src/nix/eval.nix b/src/nix/eval.nix
index c6cf133..f7076eb 100644
--- a/src/nix/eval.nix
+++ b/src/nix/eval.nix
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ with builtins;
 let
   defaultHive = {
     # Will be set in defaultHiveMeta
-    network = {};
+    meta = {};
 
     # Like in NixOps, there is a special host named `defaults`
     # containing configurations that will be applied to all
@@ -11,12 +11,16 @@ let
     defaults = {};
   };
 
-  defaultHiveMeta = {
+  defaultMeta = {
     name = "hive";
     description = "A Colmena Hive";
 
     # Can be a path, a lambda, or an initialized Nixpkgs attrset
     nixpkgs = <nixpkgs>;
+
+    # Per-node Nixpkgs overrides
+    # Keys are hostnames.
+    nodeNixpkgs = {};
   };
 
   # Colmena-specific options
@@ -32,9 +36,10 @@ let
           description = ''
             The target SSH node for deployment.
 
-            If not specified, the node's attribute name will be used.
+            By default, the node's attribute name will be used.
+            If set to null, only local deployment will be supported.
           '';
-          type = types.str;
+          type = types.nullOr types.str;
           default = name;
         };
         targetUser = lib.mkOption {
@@ -44,6 +49,23 @@ let
           type = types.str;
           default = "root";
         };
+        allowLocalDeployment = lib.mkOption {
+          description = ''
+            Allow the configuration to be applied locally on the host running
+            Colmena.
+
+            For local deployment to work, all of the following must be true:
+            - The node must be running NixOS.
+            - The node must have deployment.allowLocalDeployment set to true.
+            - The node's networking.hostName must match the hostname.
+
+            To apply the configurations locally, run `colmena apply-local`.
+            You can also set deployment.targetHost to null if the nost is not
+            accessible over SSH (only local deployment will be possible).
+          '';
+          type = types.bool;
+          default = false;
+        };
         tags = lib.mkOption {
           description = ''
             A list of tags for the node.
@@ -57,42 +79,53 @@ let
     };
   };
 
-  hiveMeta = {
-    network = defaultHiveMeta // (if rawHive ? network then rawHive.network else {});
-  };
-  hive = defaultHive // rawHive // hiveMeta;
+  userMeta = if rawHive ? meta then rawHive.meta
+    else if rawHive ? network then rawHive.network
+    else {};
 
-  pkgs = let
-    pkgConf = hive.network.nixpkgs;
-  in if typeOf pkgConf == "path" then
-    import pkgConf {}
-  else if typeOf pkgConf == "lambda" then
-    pkgConf {}
-  else if typeOf pkgConf == "set" then
-    pkgConf
-  else throw ''
-    network.nixpkgs must be one of:
+  # The final hive will always have the meta key instead of network.
+  hive = let 
+    mergedHive = removeAttrs (defaultHive // rawHive) [ "meta" "network" ];
+    meta = {
+      meta = lib.recursiveUpdate defaultMeta userMeta;
+    };
+  in mergedHive // meta;
 
-    - A path to Nixpkgs (e.g., <nixpkgs>)
-    - A Nixpkgs lambda (e.g., import <nixpkgs>)
-    - A Nixpkgs attribute set
-  '';
+  mkNixpkgs = configName: pkgConf:
+    if typeOf pkgConf == "path" then
+      import pkgConf {}
+    else if typeOf pkgConf == "lambda" then
+      pkgConf {}
+    else if typeOf pkgConf == "set" then
+      pkgConf
+    else throw ''
+      ${configName} must be one of:
 
+      - A path to Nixpkgs (e.g., <nixpkgs>)
+      - A Nixpkgs lambda (e.g., import <nixpkgs>)
+      - A Nixpkgs attribute set
+    '';
+
+  pkgs = mkNixpkgs "meta.nixpkgs" (defaultMeta // userMeta).nixpkgs;
   lib = pkgs.lib;
   reservedNames = [ "defaults" "network" "meta" ];
 
   evalNode = name: config: let
-    evalConfig = import (pkgs.path + "/nixos/lib/eval-config.nix");
+    npkgs =
+      if hasAttr name hive.meta.nodeNixpkgs
+      then mkNixpkgs "meta.nodeNixpkgs.${name}" hive.meta.nodeNixpkgs.${name}
+      else pkgs;
+    evalConfig = import (npkgs.path + "/nixos/lib/eval-config.nix");
   in evalConfig {
     system = currentSystem;
     modules = [
       deploymentOptions
       hive.defaults
       config
-    ] ++ (import (pkgs.path + "/nixos/modules/module-list.nix"));
+    ] ++ (import (npkgs.path + "/nixos/modules/module-list.nix"));
     specialArgs = {
       inherit name nodes;
-      modulesPath = pkgs.path + "/nixos/modules";
+      modulesPath = npkgs.path + "/nixos/modules";
     };
   };
 
@@ -118,7 +151,7 @@ let
     # Change in the order of the names should not cause a derivation to be created
     selected = lib.attrsets.filterAttrs (name: _: elem name names) toplevel;
   in derivation rec {
-    name = "colmena-${hive.network.name}";
+    name = "colmena-${hive.meta.name}";
     system = currentSystem;
     json = toJSON (lib.attrsets.mapAttrs (k: v: toString v) selected);
     builder = pkgs.writeScript "${name}.sh" ''
diff --git a/src/nix/host.rs b/src/nix/host.rs
index 9bbabac..b799d78 100644
--- a/src/nix/host.rs
+++ b/src/nix/host.rs
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ impl Host for Local {
                 paths.lines().map(|p| p.to_string().into()).collect()
             })
     }
+    async fn activate(&mut self, profile: &StorePath, goal: DeploymentGoal) -> NixResult<()> {
+        let activation_command = format!("{}/bin/switch-to-configuration", profile.as_path().to_str().unwrap());
+        Command::new(activation_command)
+            .arg(goal.as_str().unwrap())
+            .passthrough()
+            .await
+    }
 }
 
 /// A remote machine connected over SSH.
diff --git a/src/nix/mod.rs b/src/nix/mod.rs
index 1fcf075..9b66cc2 100644
--- a/src/nix/mod.rs
+++ b/src/nix/mod.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ use tempfile::{NamedTempFile, TempPath};
 use tokio::process::Command;
 use tokio::sync::Mutex;
 
-mod host;
+pub mod host;
 pub use host::{Host, CopyDirection};
 use host::SSH;
 
@@ -131,18 +131,26 @@ impl Hive {
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Deserialize)]
 pub struct DeploymentConfig {
     #[serde(rename = "targetHost")]
-    target_host: String,
+    target_host: Option<String>,
 
     #[serde(rename = "targetUser")]
     target_user: String,
+
+    #[serde(rename = "allowLocalDeployment")]
+    allow_local_deployment: bool,
     tags: Vec<String>,
 }
 
 impl DeploymentConfig {
     pub fn tags(&self) -> &[String] { &self.tags }
-    pub fn to_host(&self) -> Box<dyn Host> {
-        let host = SSH::new(self.target_user.clone(), self.target_host.clone());
-        Box::new(host)
+    pub fn allows_local_deployment(&self) -> bool { self.allow_local_deployment }
+
+    pub fn to_ssh_host(&self) -> Option<Box<dyn Host>> {
+        self.target_host.as_ref().map(|target_host| {
+            let host = SSH::new(self.target_user.clone(), target_host.clone());
+            let host: Box<dyn Host> = Box::new(host);
+            host
+        })
     }
 }