diff --git a/dev-packages.nix b/dev-packages.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3747cc9ae2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+{ pkgs ? import ./nix }:
+let
+  staticBinaryInTarball = { pname, version, linuxAmd64Url, linuxAmd64Sha256, darwinAmd64Url, darwinAmd64Sha256, binPath ? pname }:
+    pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      inherit pname version;
+
+      src =
+        if pkgs.stdenv.isDarwin
+        then
+          pkgs.fetchurl
+            {
+              url = darwinAmd64Url;
+              sha256 = darwinAmd64Sha256;
+            }
+        else
+          pkgs.fetchurl {
+            url = linuxAmd64Url;
+            sha256 = linuxAmd64Sha256;
+          };
+
+      installPhase = ''
+        mkdir -p $out/bin
+        cp ${binPath} $out/bin
+      '';
+    };
+
+  staticBinary = { pname, version, linuxAmd64Url, linuxAmd64Sha256, darwinAmd64Url, darwinAmd64Sha256, binPath ? pname }:
+    pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      inherit pname version;
+
+      src =
+        if pkgs.stdenv.isDarwin
+        then
+          pkgs.fetchurl
+            {
+              url = darwinAmd64Url;
+              sha256 = darwinAmd64Sha256;
+            }
+        else
+          pkgs.fetchurl {
+            url = linuxAmd64Url;
+            sha256 = linuxAmd64Sha256;
+          };
+      phases = [ "installPhase" "patchPhase" ];
+
+      installPhase = ''
+        mkdir -p $out/bin
+        cp $src $out/bin/${binPath}
+        chmod +x $out/bin/${binPath}
+      '';
+    };
+
+  pinned = {
+    stack = staticBinaryInTarball {
+      pname = "stack";
+      version = "2.3.1";
+
+      darwinAmd64Url = "https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/releases/download/v2.3.1/stack-2.3.1-osx-x86_64.tar.gz";
+      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "089nrb8mxf76a0r0hdccaxfvx1ly24b5zc0cy05gs4adybjygvkk";
+
+      linuxAmd64Url = "https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/releases/download/v2.3.1/stack-2.3.1-linux-x86_64-static.tar.gz";
+      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "0iqfqcd88rvlwgm2h8avs0rsi9f3pdxilvcacgrxskb1n8q8ibjb";
+    };
+
+    helm = staticBinaryInTarball {
+      pname = "helm";
+      version = "3.6.3";
+
+      darwinAmd64Url = "https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.6.3-darwin-amd64.tar.gz";
+      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "0djjvgla8cw27h8s4y6jby19f74j58byb2vfv590cd03vlbzz8c4";
+
+      linuxAmd64Url = "https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.6.3-linux-amd64.tar.gz";
+      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "0qp28fq137b07haz4vsdbc5biagh60dcs29jj70ksqi5k6201h87";
+    };
+
+    helmfile = staticBinary {
+      pname = "helmfile";
+      version = "0.141.0";
+
+      darwinAmd64Url = "https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/releases/download/v0.141.0/helmfile_darwin_amd64";
+      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "0szfd3vy6fzd5657079hz5vii86f9xkg3bdzp3g4knkcw5x1kpxy";
+
+      linuxAmd64Url = "https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/releases/download/v0.141.0/helmfile_linux_amd64";
+      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "0f5d9w3qjvwip4qn79hsigwp8nbjpj58p289hww503j43wjyxx8r";
+    };
+
+    kubectl = staticBinaryInTarball {
+      pname = "kubectl";
+      version = "1.19.8";
+
+      darwinAmd64Url = "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.19.8/kubernetes-client-darwin-amd64.tar.gz";
+      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "23b847bb8b545c748e9078e7660c654eef74d15ccab8696d294f3d6c619c788e";
+
+      linuxAmd64Url = "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.19.8/kubernetes-client-linux-amd64.tar.gz";
+      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "8388ff8b5c676bdbb8fe07ef7077de937b0bf60154f302df5f248f38f95122aa";
+
+      binPath = "client/bin/kubectl";
+    };
+
+    kind = staticBinary {
+      pname = "kind";
+      version = "0.11.0";
+
+      darwinAmd64Url = "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/releases/download/v0.11.1/kind-darwin-amd64";
+      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "432bef555a70e9360b44661c759658265b9eaaf7f75f1beec4c4d1e6bbf97ce3";
+
+      linuxAmd64Url = "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/releases/download/v0.11.1/kind-linux-amd64";
+      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "949f81b3c30ca03a3d4effdecda04f100fa3edc07a28b19400f72ede7c5f0491";
+    };
+  };
+
+  compile-deps = pkgs.buildEnv {
+    name = "wire-server-compile-deps";
+    paths = [
+      pkgs.bash
+      pkgs.coreutils
+      pkgs.gnused
+      pkgs.gnugrep
+      pkgs.pkgconfig
+      pkgs.gawk
+      pkgs.git
+
+      pkgs.haskell.compiler.ghc884
+      pkgs.protobuf
+
+      pkgs.cryptobox
+      pkgs.geoip
+      pkgs.icu.dev
+      pkgs.icu.out
+      pkgs.libsodium.dev
+      pkgs.libsodium.out
+      pkgs.libxml2.dev
+      pkgs.libxml2.out
+      pkgs.ncurses.dev
+      pkgs.ncurses.out
+      pkgs.openssl.dev
+      pkgs.openssl.out
+      pkgs.pcre.dev
+      pkgs.pcre.out
+      pkgs.snappy.dev
+      pkgs.snappy.out
+      pkgs.zlib.dev
+      pkgs.zlib.out
+      pkgs.lzma.dev
+      pkgs.lzma.out
+    ];
+  };
+
+  # This performs roughly the same setup as direnv's load_prefix function, but
+  # only when invoking cabal. This means that we can set LD_LIBRARY_PATH just
+  # for cabal, as setting it in direnv can interfere with programs in the host
+  # system, especially for non-NixOS users.
+  cabal-wrapper = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "cabal" ''
+    export CPATH="${compile-deps}/include"
+    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${compile-deps}/lib"
+    export LIBRARY_PATH="${compile-deps}/lib"
+    export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="${compile-deps}/lib/pkgconfig"
+    export PATH="${compile-deps}/bin"
+    exec "${pkgs.cabal-install}/bin/cabal" "$@"
+  '';
+in
+[
+  pkgs.cfssl
+  pkgs.docker-compose
+  pkgs.gnumake
+  pkgs.haskell-language-server
+  pkgs.jq
+  pkgs.ormolu
+  pkgs.telepresence
+  pkgs.wget
+  pkgs.yq
+  pkgs.rsync
+  pkgs.netcat
+
+  # To actually run buildah on nixos, I had to follow this: https://gist.github.com/alexhrescale/474d55635154e6b2cd6362c3bb403faf
+  pkgs.buildah
+
+  pinned.stack
+  pinned.helm
+  pinned.helmfile
+  pinned.kubectl
+  pinned.kind
+
+  # For cabal-migration
+  pkgs.haskellPackages.cabal-plan
+
+  # We don't use pkgs.cabal-install here, as we invoke it with a wrapper
+  # which sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH and others correctly.
+  cabal-wrapper
+]
diff --git a/direnv.nix b/direnv.nix
index f99ef75982..7c8743db8d 100644
--- a/direnv.nix
+++ b/direnv.nix
@@ -1,192 +1,8 @@
 { pkgs ? import ./nix }:
 let
-  staticBinaryInTarball = { pname, version, linuxAmd64Url, linuxAmd64Sha256, darwinAmd64Url, darwinAmd64Sha256, binPath ? pname }:
-    pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-      inherit pname version;
-
-      src =
-        if pkgs.stdenv.isDarwin
-        then
-          pkgs.fetchurl
-            {
-              url = darwinAmd64Url;
-              sha256 = darwinAmd64Sha256;
-            }
-        else
-          pkgs.fetchurl {
-            url = linuxAmd64Url;
-            sha256 = linuxAmd64Sha256;
-          };
-
-      installPhase = ''
-        mkdir -p $out/bin
-        cp ${binPath} $out/bin
-      '';
-    };
-
-  staticBinary = { pname, version, linuxAmd64Url, linuxAmd64Sha256, darwinAmd64Url, darwinAmd64Sha256, binPath ? pname }:
-    pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-      inherit pname version;
-
-      src =
-        if pkgs.stdenv.isDarwin
-        then
-          pkgs.fetchurl
-            {
-              url = darwinAmd64Url;
-              sha256 = darwinAmd64Sha256;
-            }
-        else
-          pkgs.fetchurl {
-            url = linuxAmd64Url;
-            sha256 = linuxAmd64Sha256;
-          };
-      phases = [ "installPhase" "patchPhase" ];
-
-      installPhase = ''
-        mkdir -p $out/bin
-        cp $src $out/bin/${binPath}
-        chmod +x $out/bin/${binPath}
-      '';
-    };
-
-  pinned = {
-    stack = staticBinaryInTarball {
-      pname = "stack";
-      version = "2.3.1";
-
-      darwinAmd64Url = "https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/releases/download/v2.3.1/stack-2.3.1-osx-x86_64.tar.gz";
-      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "089nrb8mxf76a0r0hdccaxfvx1ly24b5zc0cy05gs4adybjygvkk";
-
-      linuxAmd64Url = "https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/releases/download/v2.3.1/stack-2.3.1-linux-x86_64-static.tar.gz";
-      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "0iqfqcd88rvlwgm2h8avs0rsi9f3pdxilvcacgrxskb1n8q8ibjb";
-    };
-
-    helm = staticBinaryInTarball {
-      pname = "helm";
-      version = "3.6.3";
-
-      darwinAmd64Url = "https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.6.3-darwin-amd64.tar.gz";
-      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "0djjvgla8cw27h8s4y6jby19f74j58byb2vfv590cd03vlbzz8c4";
-
-      linuxAmd64Url = "https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.6.3-linux-amd64.tar.gz";
-      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "0qp28fq137b07haz4vsdbc5biagh60dcs29jj70ksqi5k6201h87";
-    };
-
-    helmfile = staticBinary {
-      pname = "helmfile";
-      version = "0.141.0";
-
-      darwinAmd64Url = "https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/releases/download/v0.141.0/helmfile_darwin_amd64";
-      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "0szfd3vy6fzd5657079hz5vii86f9xkg3bdzp3g4knkcw5x1kpxy";
-
-      linuxAmd64Url = "https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/releases/download/v0.141.0/helmfile_linux_amd64";
-      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "0f5d9w3qjvwip4qn79hsigwp8nbjpj58p289hww503j43wjyxx8r";
-    };
-
-    kubectl = staticBinaryInTarball {
-      pname = "kubectl";
-      version = "1.19.8";
-
-      darwinAmd64Url = "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.19.8/kubernetes-client-darwin-amd64.tar.gz";
-      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "23b847bb8b545c748e9078e7660c654eef74d15ccab8696d294f3d6c619c788e";
-
-      linuxAmd64Url = "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.19.8/kubernetes-client-linux-amd64.tar.gz";
-      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "8388ff8b5c676bdbb8fe07ef7077de937b0bf60154f302df5f248f38f95122aa";
-
-      binPath = "client/bin/kubectl";
-    };
-
-    kind = staticBinary {
-      pname = "kind";
-      version = "0.11.0";
-
-      darwinAmd64Url = "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/releases/download/v0.11.1/kind-darwin-amd64";
-      darwinAmd64Sha256 = "432bef555a70e9360b44661c759658265b9eaaf7f75f1beec4c4d1e6bbf97ce3";
-
-      linuxAmd64Url = "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/releases/download/v0.11.1/kind-linux-amd64";
-      linuxAmd64Sha256 = "949f81b3c30ca03a3d4effdecda04f100fa3edc07a28b19400f72ede7c5f0491";
-    };
-  };
-
-  compile-deps = pkgs.buildEnv {
-    name = "wire-server-compile-deps";
-    paths = [
-      pkgs.bash
-      pkgs.coreutils
-      pkgs.gnused
-      pkgs.gnugrep
-      pkgs.pkgconfig
-      pkgs.gawk
-      pkgs.git
-
-      pkgs.haskell.compiler.ghc884
-      pkgs.protobuf
-
-      pkgs.cryptobox
-      pkgs.geoip
-      pkgs.icu.dev
-      pkgs.icu.out
-      pkgs.libsodium.dev
-      pkgs.libsodium.out
-      pkgs.libxml2.dev
-      pkgs.libxml2.out
-      pkgs.ncurses.dev
-      pkgs.ncurses.out
-      pkgs.openssl.dev
-      pkgs.openssl.out
-      pkgs.pcre.dev
-      pkgs.pcre.out
-      pkgs.snappy.dev
-      pkgs.snappy.out
-      pkgs.zlib.dev
-      pkgs.zlib.out
-      pkgs.lzma.dev
-      pkgs.lzma.out
-    ];
-  };
-
-  # This performs roughly the same setup as direnv's load_prefix function, but
-  # only when invoking cabal. This means that we can set LD_LIBRARY_PATH just
-  # for cabal, as setting it in direnv can interfere with programs in the host
-  # system, especially for non-NixOS users.
-  cabal-wrapper = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "cabal" ''
-    export CPATH="${compile-deps}/include"
-    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${compile-deps}/lib"
-    export LIBRARY_PATH="${compile-deps}/lib"
-    export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="${compile-deps}/lib/pkgconfig"
-    export PATH="${compile-deps}/bin"
-    exec "${pkgs.cabal-install}/bin/cabal" "$@"
-  '';
-in pkgs.buildEnv {
+  packages = import ./dev-packages.nix { pkgs = pkgs; };
+in
+pkgs.buildEnv {
   name = "wire-server-direnv";
-  paths = [
-    pkgs.cfssl
-    pkgs.docker-compose
-    pkgs.gnumake
-    pkgs.haskell-language-server
-    pkgs.jq
-    pkgs.ormolu
-    pkgs.telepresence
-    pkgs.wget
-    pkgs.yq
-    pkgs.rsync
-    pkgs.netcat
-
-    # To actually run buildah on nixos, I had to follow this: https://gist.github.com/alexhrescale/474d55635154e6b2cd6362c3bb403faf
-    pkgs.buildah
-
-    pinned.stack
-    pinned.helm
-    pinned.helmfile
-    pinned.kubectl
-    pinned.kind
-
-    # For cabal-migration
-    pkgs.haskellPackages.cabal-plan
-
-    # We don't use pkgs.cabal-install here, as we invoke it with a wrapper
-    # which sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH and others correctly.
-    cabal-wrapper
-  ];
+  paths = packages;
 }
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e647c26402
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+let
+  pkgs = import ./nix;
+  packages = import ./dev-packages.nix { pkgs = pkgs; };
+in
+pkgs.mkShell {
+  name = "wire-server-direnv";
+  buildInputs = packages; 
+}