diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 9b973d26..e0612e28 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -71,6 +71,19 @@ for a development install::
     source ./env/bin/activate
     pip install -r requirements.txt -e .
 
+install for nixos
+*****************
+for users of `NixOS` we offer a development shell envoirment that can be
+loaded with::
+
+    nix-shell develop.nix
+
+this will setup the required python environment to run piker, make sure to
+run::
+
+    pip install -r requirements.txt -e .
+
+once after loading the shell
 
 install for tinas
 *****************
diff --git a/develop.nix b/develop.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..30ae2f08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/develop.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+with (import <nixpkgs> {});
+with python310Packages;
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "pip-env";
+  buildInputs = [
+    # System requirements.
+    readline
+
+    # Python requirements (enough to get a virtualenv going).
+    python310Full
+    virtualenv
+    setuptools
+    pyqt5
+    pip
+  ];
+  src = null;
+  shellHook = ''
+    # Allow the use of wheels.
+    SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(date +%s)
+
+    # Augment the dynamic linker path
+    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:${R}/lib/R/lib:${readline}/lib
+
+    export QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH="${qt5.qtbase.bin}/lib/qt-${qt5.qtbase.version}/plugins";
+
+    if [ ! -d "venv" ]; then
+        virtualenv venv
+    fi
+
+    source venv/bin/activate
+  '';
+}