diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 41acae098..5ef132ba8 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ The following log levels are used to track code behaviour:
 
 # Developing and contributing
 
-## Development set up
+## Manual development set up
 
 ### 1. Install [**sbt**(>=1.4.7)](https://www.scala-sbt.org/download.html).
 
@@ -214,6 +214,60 @@ sbt publishM2
 
 <br/>
 
+## Automatic development set up (Nix)
+### 1. Install Nix
+For installing Nix, you can follow the instructions in the [Nix website](https://nixos.org/download/). It consist on running only one command in your terminal. If you are using Linux with SELinux enabled the installation method for `single-user` would be simpler.
+```bash
+### 2. Activate the Nix shell
+
+For installing all the dependencies and setting up the environment, you can use the Nix shell.  It will have spark, sbt and JAVA 8 installed.
+
+```bash
+$ nix-shell #by default it will use bash
+$ nix-shell --command zsh # in case you want to use zsh
+```
+
+### 3. Project packaging:
+Navigate to the repository folder and package the project using **sbt**.
+
+``` bash
+cd qbeast-spark
+
+sbt assembly
+```
+This code generates a fat jar with all required dependencies (or most of them) shaded.
+
+The jar does not include scala nor spark nor delta, and it is supposed to be used inside spark. 
+
+For example: 
+```bash
+sbt assembly
+
+$SPARK_HOME/bin/spark-shell \
+--jars ./target/scala-2.12/qbeast-spark-assembly-0.8.0-SNAPSHOT.jar \
+--packages io.delta:delta-spark_2.12:3.1.0 \
+--conf spark.sql.extensions=io.qbeast.sql.QbeastSparkSessionExtension \
+--conf spark.sql.catalog.spark_catalog=io.qbeast.catalog.QbeastCatalog
+```
+
+### 4. Publishing artefacts in the local repository
+Sometimes it is convenient to have custom versions of the library to be
+published in the local repository like IVy or Maven. For local Ivy (`~/.ivy2`)
+use
+
+```bash
+sbt publishLocal
+```
+
+For local Maven (~/.m2) use
+
+```bash
+sbt publishM2
+```
+
+<br/>
+
+
 ## Developer documentation
 You can find the developer documentation (Scala docs) in the [https://docs.qbeast.io/](https://docs.qbeast.io/).
 
@@ -379,4 +433,4 @@ The scale of the Qbeast Spark project can only be achieved through highly reliab
 
 As Pablo Picasso once said:
 
-> **"Action is the foundational key to all success."**
\ No newline at end of file
+> **"Action is the foundational key to all success."**
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..40d80b3a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }:
+
+let
+  # Version, URL and hash of the Spark binary
+  sparkVersion = "3.5.0";
+  sparkUrl = "https://archive.apache.org/dist/spark/spark-${sparkVersion}/spark-${sparkVersion}-bin-hadoop3.tgz";
+  # The hash must match the official one at https://archive.apache.org/dist/spark/spark-3.5.0/spark-3.5.0-bin-hadoop3.tgz.sha512
+  sparkHash = "8883c67e0a138069e597f3e7d4edbbd5c3a565d50b28644aad02856a1ec1da7cb92b8f80454ca427118f69459ea326eaa073cf7b1a860c3b796f4b07c2101319";
+
+  # Derivation for preparing the Spark binary
+  # Warning: It does not include the JAVA runtime, it must be installed separately
+  spark = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
+    pname = "spark";
+    version = sparkVersion;
+
+    # Fetch the tarball
+    src = pkgs.fetchurl {
+      url = sparkUrl;
+      sha512 = sparkHash;
+    };
+    # Install the tarball on the system, it will be located /nix/store/...
+    installPhase = ''
+      mkdir -p $out
+      tar -xzf $src --strip-components=1 -C $out
+    '';
+    # Define the metadata of the derivation, not relevant for the build
+    meta = {
+      description = "Apache Spark ${sparkVersion} with prebuilt Hadoop3 binaries";
+      licenses= pkgs.licenses.apache2;
+      homepage = "https://spark.apache.org";
+    };
+  };
+
+  # Override the sbt package to set the Java home to zulu8
+  # By default the package uses OpenJDK 21
+  # Check https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/nixos-24.11/pkgs/development/compilers/zulu/common.nix
+  sbt = pkgs.sbt.overrideAttrs (oldAttrs: {
+      postPatch = ''
+        echo -java-home ${pkgs.zulu8.jre} >> conf/sbtopts
+      '';
+    });
+in
+
+# Define the development shell that includes Spark, sbt and Zulu8 JDK
+pkgs.mkShell {
+  packages = [
+    # Install the Zulu8 JDK required for Spark and sbt
+    # Packages from nixpkgs (https://search.nixos.org/packages)
+    # JAVA_HOME will be set to /nix/store/.../zulu8 automatically
+    pkgs.zulu8
+    # sbt with a custom overlay to set the Java home
+    sbt
+    # Spark binary fetched from the official Apache archive
+    spark
+  ]; 
+
+  # Configure the environment variables
+  SPARK_HOME = "${spark.out}";
+  
+
+  # Script to be executed when the shell is started
+  shellHook = ''
+    echo "Your development environment for qbeast is ready, happy coding!"
+    echo "Try 'spark-shell' or 'sbt test' to start."
+  '';
+}
+