<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" xml:id="sec-pkgs-mkShell"> <title>pkgs.mkShell</title> <para> <function>pkgs.mkShell</function> is a special kind of derivation that is only useful when using it combined with <command>nix-shell</command>. It will in fact fail to instantiate when invoked with <command>nix-build</command>. </para> <section xml:id="sec-pkgs-mkShell-usage"> <title>Usage</title> <programlisting><![CDATA[ { pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }: pkgs.mkShell { # this will make all the build inputs from hello and gnutar # available to the shell environment inputsFrom = with pkgs; [ hello gnutar ]; buildInputs = [ pkgs.gnumake ]; } ]]></programlisting> </section> </section>