diff --git a/docs/build.rst b/docs/build.rst
index 6dc196555..a3a16ce32 100644
--- a/docs/build.rst
+++ b/docs/build.rst
@@ -78,6 +78,17 @@ you might have to rebuild the app.
    a self signed certificate, see for example, `here
    <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27474751/how-can-i-codesign-an-app-without-being-in-the-mac-developer-program/27474942>`_.
 
+Build and run from source with Nix
+-------------------------------------------
+
+On NixOS or any other Linux or macOS system with the Nix package manager installed,
+execute ``./nix-shell`` to create the correct environment to build kitty or use
+``./nix-shell --pure`` instead to eliminate most of the influence of the outside system,
+e.g. globally installed packages. ``nix-shell`` will automatically fetch all required
+dependencies and make them available in the newly spawned shell.
+
+Then proceed with ``make`` or ``make app`` according to the platform specific instructions above.
+
 
 Note for Linux/macOS packagers
 ----------------------------------
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d09cad07f..5ef44cb4c 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -63,11 +63,11 @@ class Options(argparse.Namespace):
     for_freeze: bool = False
     libdir_name: str = 'lib'
     extra_logging: List[str] = []
-    link_time_optimization: bool = True
+    link_time_optimization: bool = 'KITTY_NO_LTO' not in os.environ
     update_check_interval: float = 24
-    egl_library: Optional[str] = None
-    startup_notification_library: Optional[str] = None
-    canberra_library: Optional[str] = None
+    egl_library: Optional[str] = os.getenv('KITTY_EGL_LIBRARY')
+    startup_notification_library: Optional[str] = os.getenv('KITTY_STARTUP_NOTIFICATION_LIBRARY')
+    canberra_library: Optional[str] = os.getenv('KITTY_CANBERRA_LIBRARY')
 
 
 class CompileKey(NamedTuple):
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe02bca02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> { } }:
+with pkgs;
+
+let
+  inherit (lib) optional optionals;
+  inherit (xorg) libX11 libXrandr libXinerama libXcursor libXi libXext;
+  inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) Cocoa CoreGraphics Foundation IOKit Kernel OpenGL;
+  harfbuzzWithCoreText = harfbuzz.override { withCoreText = stdenv.isDarwin; };
+in
+mkShell rec {
+  buildInputs = [
+    harfbuzzWithCoreText
+    ncurses
+    lcms2
+  ] ++ optionals stdenv.isDarwin [
+    Cocoa
+    CoreGraphics
+    Foundation
+    IOKit
+    Kernel
+    OpenGL
+    libpng
+    python3
+    zlib
+  ] ++ optionals stdenv.isLinux [
+    fontconfig libunistring libcanberra libX11
+    libXrandr libXinerama libXcursor libxkbcommon libXi libXext
+    wayland-protocols wayland dbus
+  ] ++ checkInputs;
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    pkgconfig python3Packages.sphinx ncurses
+  ] ++ optionals stdenv.isDarwin [
+    imagemagick
+    libicns  # For the png2icns tool.
+    installShellFiles
+  ];
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = optional stdenv.isLinux libGL;
+
+  checkInputs = [
+    python3Packages.pillow
+  ];
+
+  # Causes build failure due to warning when using Clang
+  hardeningDisable = [ "strictoverflow" ];
+
+  shellHook = if stdenv.isDarwin then ''
+    export KITTY_NO_LTO=
+  '' else ''
+    export KITTY_EGL_LIBRARY='${stdenv.lib.getLib libGL}/lib/libEGL.so.1'
+    export KITTY_STARTUP_NOTIFICATION_LIBRARY='${libstartup_notification}/lib/libstartup-notification-1.so'
+    export KITTY_CANBERRA_LIBRARY='${libcanberra}/lib/libcanberra.so'
+  '';
+}