diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e06695f..cd8285a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,15 @@
 this will be a tree-sitter implementation for `nix-shell` files.
+
+try one of the following:
+- `nix build` => build the parser
+- `nix develop` => manually/interactively generate the parser
+  - `tree-sitter generate`
+
+non-flake equivalents:
+- `nix-build`
+- `nix-shell`
+
+
 99% of this repository is code-gen'd garbage.
 to recreate it or update it, follow this guide:
 <https://tree-sitter.github.io/tree-sitter/creating-parsers>
diff --git a/default.nix b/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f7aaaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> { } }:
+
+pkgs.tree-sitter.buildGrammar {
+  src = ./.;
+  version = "0.1.0";
+  language = "nixshell";
+  generate = true;
+}
diff --git a/flake.lock b/flake.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f0a383
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flake.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+{
+  "nodes": {
+    "flake-utils": {
+      "inputs": {
+        "systems": "systems"
+      },
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1687709756,
+        "narHash": "sha256-Y5wKlQSkgEK2weWdOu4J3riRd+kV/VCgHsqLNTTWQ/0=",
+        "owner": "numtide",
+        "repo": "flake-utils",
+        "rev": "dbabf0ca0c0c4bce6ea5eaf65af5cb694d2082c7",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "owner": "numtide",
+        "repo": "flake-utils",
+        "type": "github"
+      }
+    },
+    "nixpkgs": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1688389917,
+        "narHash": "sha256-RKiK1QeommEsjQ8fLgxt4831x9O6n2gD7wAhVZTrr8M=",
+        "owner": "NixOS",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "aed4b19d312525ae7ca9bceb4e1efe3357d0e2eb",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "id": "nixpkgs",
+        "ref": "nixos-23.05",
+        "type": "indirect"
+      }
+    },
+    "root": {
+      "inputs": {
+        "flake-utils": "flake-utils",
+        "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs"
+      }
+    },
+    "systems": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1681028828,
+        "narHash": "sha256-Vy1rq5AaRuLzOxct8nz4T6wlgyUR7zLU309k9mBC768=",
+        "owner": "nix-systems",
+        "repo": "default",
+        "rev": "da67096a3b9bf56a91d16901293e51ba5b49a27e",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "owner": "nix-systems",
+        "repo": "default",
+        "type": "github"
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "root": "root",
+  "version": 7
+}
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b75377
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{
+  description = "tree-sitter implementation for nix-shell scripts";
+  inputs = {
+    nixpkgs.url = "nixpkgs/nixos-23.05";
+    flake-utils.url = github:numtide/flake-utils;
+  };
+
+  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, flake-utils }:
+    with flake-utils.lib; eachSystem allSystems (system:
+    let
+      pkgs = import nixpkgs {
+        inherit system;
+      };
+    in rec {
+      packages.tree-sitter-nixshell = pkgs.callPackage ./default.nix { };
+      defaultPackage = packages.tree-sitter-nixshell;
+
+      devShells.default = pkgs.callPackage ./shell.nix { };
+    });
+}
diff --git a/grammar.js b/grammar.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7a98ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/grammar.js
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+module.exports = grammar({
+  name: 'nixshell',
+
+  rules: {
+    // TODO: add the actual grammar rules
+    source_file: $ => 'hello'
+  }
+});
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f3411f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> { } }:
+
+let
+  tree-sitter-nixshell = pkgs.callPackage ./. { };
+in
+pkgs.mkShell {
+  inherit (tree-sitter-nixshell) nativeBuildInputs;
+  # to manually build, once in this shell, just run
+  # `tree-sitter generate`
+}
+