nix-shell.3

nix-shell [options] [path]

nix-shell starts an interactive shell in which the environment is set up based on a Nix expression. It provides all build dependencies of the specified derivation without actually building it, making it ideal for development environments.
When used with --packages/-p, it creates ad-hoc environments with specific packages available. When used with --pure, the host environment is cleared to closely match a real Nix build environment.
nix-shell can also be used as a script interpreter via shebang lines (`#!/usr/bin/env nix-shell`) to create reproducible scripts with declared dependencies.

PATH

Nix expression file (default: shell.nix or default.nix).

Set up an environment with the specified packages from Nixpkgs.

Clear the environment before starting the shell, retaining only HOME, USER, and DISPLAY.

Run a command in a non-interactive shell, then exit.

Run a command in an interactive shell, then exit.

Select an attribute from the Nix expression.

Keep an environment variable when using --pure.

Do not build dependencies whose store path matches the regexp.

Specify the interpreter for nix-shell shebang scripts.

Verbose output.

Without --pure, the host environment leaks into the shell, which may cause builds to succeed locally but fail in a clean Nix build. The --packages flag uses Nixpkgs attribute names, not package names.

nix(1), nix-build(1)