Blocksense Dev Shells

Blocksense Dev Shells is a collection of ready-to-use development shell environments powered by Nix. It helps you quickly set up a consistent development environment for projects that use Rust and Node.js (JavaScript/TypeScript) – all with a single command. This means you spend less time installing compilers and libraries and more time coding, with the added benefit that everyone on your team gets the same environment (no more "works on my machine" issues).

Quick Reference

• Default dev shell: nix develop github:blocksense-network/dev-shells (Rust + Node.js combined)
• Rust dev shell: nix develop github:blocksense-network/dev-shells#rust
• Node.js dev shell: nix develop github:blocksense-network/dev-shells#nodejs

Features

• One-Command Setup: Launch a fully equipped dev environment in one step, without manually installing multiple tools.
• Rust and Node.js Support: Includes the latest Rust toolchain (with Cargo) and Node.js (with npm and Yarn) out of the box. Use both together or each separately.
• Reproducible & Consistent: Uses Nix to ensure the environment is identical across different machines.
• Cross-Platform: Works on Linux and macOS (Intel or Apple Silicon). (Nix can also be used on Windows via WSL2 if needed.)
• Common Dev Tools Included: Besides Rust and Node, the shells come with common build tools and libraries (like pkg-config, OpenSSL, zlib, libusb, etc.) so that compiling projects just works. Python 3 is also included in the Node.js environment to support building native Node addons.

Getting Started

1. Install Nix (the package manager) – If you don’t have Nix installed, we recommend using the Determinate Nix Installer for a quick and reliable setup. You can find it here: Determinate Nix Installer. This installer works on Linux and macOS, and enables Nix’s flake feature by default (which is needed for using dev shells).
2. Launch a dev shell – Open a terminal in your project directory (or wherever you want to work) and run one of the following commands:
   • Combined Rust + Node.js shell (default): Includes Rust (compiler, Cargo) plus Node.js (npm) with Yarn and Python3. Use this if your project involves both Rust and Node (for example, a Rust backend and a Node.js frontend or tooling).

     nix develop github:blocksense-network/dev-shells

   • Rust-only shell: Includes Rust (the latest stable compiler and Cargo) and common C libraries for building Rust projects (openssl, libssl, zstd, etc.). Use this for pure Rust projects.

     nix develop github:blocksense-network/dev-shells#rust

   • Node.js-only shell: Includes Node.js (JavaScript runtime), npm, Yarn (modern Yarn v3 berry), and Python3 (often needed for building native Node modules). Use this for Node.js projects (including those using TypeScript or bundlers).

     nix develop github:blocksense-network/dev-shells#nodejs

3. You're ready to code! – After running the above command, your shell prompt will change (indicating you are now “inside” the Nix development shell). In this environment, you can run commands like cargo build for Rust or yarn install / npm run for Node projects, and all the necessary tools and libraries are already available. Feel free to edit code, compile, and run tests as you normally would. When you’re done, just type exit to leave the dev shell.

Applying to Your Own Projects

• No clone needed: You don’t have to add anything to your project repository to use these dev shells. Simply run the nix develop ... command (as shown above) while in your project directory, and Nix will fetch the dev-shells environment from GitHub on the fly.

• Using in a Flake project: If your project is itself a Nix flake, you can use this repo as a flake input to provide a devShell. (This is an advanced use-case – beginners can skip this.) For example, you could reference github:blocksense-network/dev-shells in your flake.nix and use devShells.default or others in your outputs.

• Customizing: The provided shells cover common needs for Rust and Node.js. If you need additional tools or different versions, you can copy the approach from this repository’s flake.nix into your own project and adjust the list of packages. Essentially, Blocksense Dev Shells can serve as a template – a starting point for creating your own personalized dev shell.

• Direnv Integration: To automatically load a development shell in another repository using direnv, add a file named .envrc to your project with the following content:

  # shellcheck shell=bash
  
  if ! has nix_direnv_version || ! nix_direnv_version 3.0.4; then
    source_url "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nix-community/nix-direnv/3.0.4/direnvrc" "sha256-DzlYZ33mWF/Gs8DDeyjr8mnVmQGx7ASYqA5WlxwvBG4="
  fi
  
  dotenv_if_exists
  
  use flake github:blocksense-network/dev-shells

  This snippet ensures that whenever you enter your project directory, direnv loads the Blocksense Dev Shell automatically.

With Blocksense Dev Shells, setting up a development environment is as simple as copy-pasting a command. This allows you to onboard new developers quickly and ensures that every build runs in a predictable environment. Enjoy coding without worrying about installing dependencies!