diff --git a/Foreign/Nix/Shellout.hs b/Foreign/Nix/Shellout.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Foreign/Nix/Shellout.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+{-|
+Module      : Foreign.Nix.Shellout
+Description : Interface to the nix package manager’s CLI
+Copyright   : Profpatsch, 2016–2018
+License     : GPL-3
+Stability   : experimental
+Portability : nix 1.11.x, nix 2.0
+
+Calls to the nix command line to convert
+textual nix expressions to derivations & realized storepaths.
+-}
+module Foreign.Nix.Shellout
+( -- * Calling nix
+  -- ** Parse
+  parseNixExpr, ParseError(..)
+  -- ** Instantiate
+, instantiate, InstantiateError(..)
+, eval
+  -- ** Realize
+, realize, RealizeError(..)
+  -- ** Helpers
+, addToStore
+, parseInstRealize
+, NixError(..)
+  -- * Types
+, StorePath(fromStorePath), Derivation, Realized
+, NixExpr
+, runNixAction, NixAction(..)
+) where
+
+import Protolude hiding (show, isPrefixOf)
+import Control.Error hiding (bool, err)
+import Data.String (String)
+import Data.Text (stripPrefix, lines, isPrefixOf)
+import System.FilePath (isValid)
+import Text.Show (Show(..))
+
+import qualified Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Helpers as Helpers
+import Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Types
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Parsing
+
+-- | A sucessfully parsed nix expression.
+newtype NixExpr = NixExpr Text deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+data ParseError
+  = SyntaxError Text
+    -- ^ the input string was not a syntactically valid nix expression
+  | UnknownParseError
+    -- ^ catch-all error
+  deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+-- | Parse a nix expression and check for syntactic validity.
+parseNixExpr :: Text -> NixAction ParseError NixExpr
+parseNixExpr e =
+  bimap parseParseError NixExpr
+    $ evalNixOutput "nix-instantiate" [ "--parse", "-E", e ]
+
+
+parseParseError :: Text -> ParseError
+parseParseError
+  (stripPrefix "error: syntax error, "
+               -> Just mes) = SyntaxError $ mes
+parseParseError _           = UnknownParseError
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Instantiating
+
+data InstantiateError
+  = NotADerivation
+    -- ^ the given expression does not evaluate to a derivaton
+  | UnknownInstantiateError
+    -- ^ catch-all error
+  deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+-- | Instantiate a parsed expression into a derivation.
+instantiate :: NixExpr -> NixAction InstantiateError (StorePath Derivation)
+instantiate (NixExpr e) =
+  first parseInstantiateError
+    $ evalNixOutput "nix-instantiate" [ "-E", e ]
+      >>= toNixFilePath StorePath
+
+-- | Just tests if the expression can be evaluated.
+-- That doesn’t mean it has to instantiate however.
+eval :: NixExpr -> NixAction InstantiateError ()
+eval (NixExpr e) =
+  void $ first parseInstantiateError
+       $ evalNixOutput "nix-instantiate" [ "--eval", "-E", e ]
+
+parseInstantiateError :: Text -> InstantiateError
+parseInstantiateError
+  (stripPrefix "error: expression does not evaluate to a derivation"
+               -> Just _) = NotADerivation
+parseInstantiateError _   = UnknownInstantiateError
+
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Realizing
+
+data RealizeError = UnknownRealizeError deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+-- | Finally derivations are realized into full store outputs.
+-- This will typically take a while so it should be executed asynchronously.
+realize :: StorePath Derivation -> NixAction RealizeError (StorePath Realized)
+realize (StorePath d) =
+     storeOp [ "-r", toS d ]
+
+-- | Copy the given file or folder to the nix store and return it’s path.
+addToStore :: FilePath -> NixAction RealizeError (StorePath Realized)
+addToStore fp = storeOp [ "--add", toS fp ]
+
+storeOp :: [Text] -> NixAction RealizeError (StorePath Realized)
+storeOp op =
+  first (const UnknownRealizeError)
+    $ evalNixOutput "nix-store" op
+      >>= toNixFilePath StorePath
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Convenience
+
+-- | Combines all error types that could happen.
+data NixError
+  = ParseError ParseError
+  | InstantiateError InstantiateError
+  | RealizeError RealizeError deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+-- | A convenience function to directly realize a nix expression.
+-- Any errors are put into a combined error type.
+parseInstRealize :: Text -> NixAction NixError (StorePath Realized)
+parseInstRealize = first ParseError . parseNixExpr
+               >=> first InstantiateError . instantiate
+               >=> first RealizeError . realize
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Helpers
+
+-- | Take args and return either error message or output path
+evalNixOutput :: Text
+              -- ^ name of executable
+              -> [Text]
+              -- ^ arguments
+              -> NixAction Text Text
+              -- ^ error: (stderr, errormsg), success: path
+evalNixOutput = Helpers.readProcess (\(out, err) -> \case
+  ExitFailure _ -> throwE $
+    case mconcat . intersperse "\n"
+      . dropWhile (not . isPrefixOf "error: ")
+      . lines $ toS err of
+      "" -> "nix didn’t output any error message"
+      s  -> s
+  ExitSuccess -> tryLast
+      "nix didn’t output a store path" (lines $ toS out))
+
+
+-- | Apply filePath p to constructor a if it’s a valid filepath
+toNixFilePath :: (String -> a) -> Text -> NixAction Text a
+toNixFilePath a p@(toS -> ps) = NixAction $
+  if isValid ps then (pure $ a ps)
+  else (throwE $ (nostderr, p <> " is not a filepath!"))
+  where nostderr = mempty
diff --git a/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Helpers.hs b/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Helpers.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Helpers.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+module Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Helpers where
+
+import Protolude hiding (async, wait)
+import Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Types
+import qualified System.Process as P
+import qualified Data.Text.IO as TIO
+import qualified Data.Text as T
+import qualified System.IO as SIO
+
+-- needed for ignoreSigPipe
+import GHC.IO.Exception (IOErrorType(..), IOException(..))
+import Foreign.C.Error (Errno(Errno), ePIPE)
+
+-- | Read the output of a process into a NixAction.
+-- | Keeps stderr if process returns a failure exit code.
+-- | The text is decoded as @UTF-8@.
+readProcess :: ((Text, Text) -> ExitCode -> ExceptT e IO a)
+            -- ^ handle (stdout, stderr) depending on the return value
+            -> Text
+            -- ^ name of executable
+            -> [Text]
+            -- ^ arguments
+            -> NixAction e a
+            -- ^ error: (stderr, errormsg), success: path
+readProcess with exec args = NixAction $ do
+  (exc, out, err) <- liftIO
+    $ readCreateProcessWithExitCodeAndEncoding
+        (P.proc (toS exec) (map toS args)) SIO.utf8 ""
+  withExceptT (err,) $ with (out, err) exc
+
+
+-- Copied & modified from System.Process (process-1.6.4.0)
+
+-- | like @readCreateProcessWithExitCodeAndEncoding, but uses
+-- | Text instead of [Char] and lets the user specify an encoding
+-- | for the handles.
+readCreateProcessWithExitCodeAndEncoding
+    :: P.CreateProcess
+    -> SIO.TextEncoding            -- ^ encoding for handles
+    -> Text                        -- ^ standard input
+    -> IO (ExitCode, Text, Text)   -- ^ exitcode, stdout, stderr
+readCreateProcessWithExitCodeAndEncoding cp encoding input = do
+    let cp_opts = cp
+          { P.std_in  = P.CreatePipe
+          , P.std_out = P.CreatePipe
+          , P.std_err = P.CreatePipe }
+    -- todo: this is not exposed by System.Process
+    -- withCreateProcess_ "readCreateProcessWithExitCode" cp_opts $
+    P.withCreateProcess cp_opts $
+      \(Just inh) (Just outh) (Just errh) ph -> do
+
+        SIO.hSetEncoding outh encoding
+        SIO.hSetEncoding errh encoding
+        SIO.hSetEncoding inh encoding
+
+        out <- TIO.hGetContents outh
+        err <- TIO.hGetContents errh
+
+        -- fork off threads to start consuming stdout & stderr
+        withForkWait  (evaluate $ rnf out) $ \waitOut ->
+         withForkWait (evaluate $ rnf err) $ \waitErr -> do
+
+          -- now write any input
+          unless (T.null input) $
+            ignoreSigPipe $ hPutStr inh input
+          -- hClose performs implicit hFlush, and thus may trigger a SIGPIPE
+          ignoreSigPipe $ SIO.hClose inh
+
+          -- wait on the output
+          waitOut
+          waitErr
+
+          -- TODO: isn’t this done by `withCreateProcess`?
+          SIO.hClose outh
+          SIO.hClose errh
+
+        -- wait on the process
+        ex <- P.waitForProcess ph
+
+        return (ex, out, err)
+
+
+-- Copied from System.Process (process-1.6.4.0)
+
+-- | Fork a thread while doing something else, but kill it if there's an
+-- exception.
+--
+-- This is important in the cases above because we want to kill the thread
+-- that is holding the Handle lock, because when we clean up the process we
+-- try to close that handle, which could otherwise deadlock.
+--
+withForkWait :: IO () -> (IO () ->  IO a) -> IO a
+withForkWait async body = do
+  waitVar <- newEmptyMVar :: IO (MVar (Either SomeException ()))
+  mask $ \restore -> do
+    tid <- forkIO $ try (restore async) >>= putMVar waitVar
+    let wait = takeMVar waitVar >>= either throwIO return
+    restore (body wait) `onException` killThread tid
+
+ignoreSigPipe :: IO () -> IO ()
+ignoreSigPipe = handle $ \e -> case e of
+  IOError { ioe_type  = ResourceVanished
+          , ioe_errno = Just ioe }
+    | Errno ioe == ePIPE -> return ()
+  _ -> throwIO e
diff --git a/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Prefetch.hs b/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Prefetch.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Prefetch.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,176 @@
+{-|
+Description : Wrapper for the @nix-prefetch@ CLI utilities
+Copyright   : Profpatsch, 2018
+License     : GPL-3
+Stability   : experimental
+Portability : nix-prefetch-scripts 2018 (no version number)
+
+Calls to the @nix-prefetch-X@ utilities, to parse their output
+into nice reusable data types.
+-}
+{-# LANGUAGE RecordWildCards, GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving, ApplicativeDo #-}
+module Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Prefetch
+( -- * nix-prefetch-url
+  url, UrlOptions(..), defaultUrlOptions
+  -- * nix-prefetch-git
+, git, GitOptions(..), defaultGitOptions, GitOutput(..)
+  -- * Types
+, PrefetchError(..)
+, Url(..), Sha256(..)
+  -- * Reexports
+, runNixAction, NixAction(..)
+) where
+
+import Protolude
+import Control.Error hiding (bool, err)
+import qualified Data.Text as T
+
+import qualified Data.Aeson as Aeson
+import qualified Data.Aeson.Types as AesonT
+
+import Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Types
+import qualified Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Helpers as Helpers
+
+data PrefetchError
+  = PrefetchOutputMalformed Text
+    -- ^ the tool’s output could not be parsed as expected
+  | ExpectedHashError
+    -- ^ an expected hash was given and not valid
+  | UnknownPrefetchError
+    -- ^ catch-all error
+  deriving (Eq, Show)
+
+-- | A descriptive type for URLs.
+newtype Url = Url { unUrl :: Text } deriving (Show, Eq, IsString)
+-- | A @sha-256@ hash.
+newtype Sha256 = Sha256 { unSha256 :: Text } deriving (Show, Eq, IsString)
+
+data UrlOptions = UrlOptions
+  { urlUrl :: Url
+    -- ^ the URL
+  , urlUnpack :: Bool
+    -- ^ whether to unpack before hashing (useful for prefetching @fetchTarball@)
+  , urlName :: Maybe Text
+    -- ^ name of the store path
+  , urlExpectedHash :: Maybe Sha256
+    -- ^ the hash we are expecting
+  }
+
+-- | Takes the URL, doesn’t unpack and uses the default name.
+defaultUrlOptions :: Url -> UrlOptions
+defaultUrlOptions u = UrlOptions
+  { urlUrl = u
+  , urlUnpack = False
+  , urlName = Nothing
+  , urlExpectedHash = Nothing }
+
+-- | Runs @nix-prefetch-url@.
+url :: UrlOptions -> NixAction PrefetchError (Sha256, StorePath Realized)
+url UrlOptions{..} = Helpers.readProcess handler exec args
+  where
+    exec = "nix-prefetch-url"
+    args =  bool [] ["--unpack"] urlUnpack
+         <> maybe [] (\n -> ["--name", n]) urlName
+         <> [ "--type", "sha256"
+            , "--print-path"
+            , unUrl urlUrl ]
+         <> maybe [] (pure.unSha256) urlExpectedHash
+
+    handler (out, err) = \case
+      ExitSuccess -> withExceptT PrefetchOutputMalformed $ do
+        let ls = T.lines $ T.stripEnd out
+        path <- tryLast (exec <> " didn’t output a store path") ls
+        sha  <- let errS = (exec <> " didn’t output a hash")
+                in tryInit errS ls >>= tryLast errS
+        pure (Sha256 sha, StorePath $ toS path)
+      ExitFailure _ -> throwE $
+        if "error: hash mismatch" `T.isPrefixOf` err
+        then ExpectedHashError
+        else UnknownPrefetchError
+
+
+data GitOptions = GitOptions
+  { gitUrl :: Url
+    -- ^ the URL
+  , gitRev :: Maybe Text
+    -- ^ a git revision (hash, branch name, tag, ref, …)
+  , gitExpectedHash :: Maybe Sha256
+    -- ^ the hash we are expecting
+  , gitDeepClone :: Bool
+    -- ^ whether to do a deep instead of a shallow (@--depth=1@) git clone
+  , gitLeaveDotGit :: Bool
+    -- ^ whether to keep @.git@ directories
+  , gitFetchSubmodules :: Bool
+    -- ^ whether to fetch submodules
+  }
+
+-- | Takes the url, mirrors the default `fetchgit` options in nixpkgs:
+-- no deep clone, no @.git@, fetches submodules by default.
+-- By default, the latest default @rev@ is used.
+defaultGitOptions :: Url -> GitOptions
+defaultGitOptions u = GitOptions
+  { gitUrl = u
+  , gitRev = Nothing
+  , gitExpectedHash = Nothing
+  , gitDeepClone = False
+  , gitLeaveDotGit = False
+  , gitFetchSubmodules = True }
+
+data GitOutput = GitOutput
+  { gitOutputRev :: Text
+    -- ^ The actual revision that is used (useful if no 'gitRev' was given)
+  , gitOutputSha256 :: Sha256
+    -- ^ the hash
+  , gitOuputPath :: StorePath Realized
+    -- ^ the store path of the result
+  } deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+-- | Runs @nix-prefetch-git@.
+git :: GitOptions -> NixAction PrefetchError GitOutput
+git GitOptions{..} = Helpers.readProcess handler exec args
+  where
+    exec = "nix-prefetch-git"
+    args =  bool ["--no-deepClone"] ["--deepClone"] gitDeepClone
+         <> bool [] ["--leave-dotGit"] gitLeaveDotGit
+         <> bool [] ["--fetch-submodules"] gitFetchSubmodules
+         <> [ "--hash", "sha256" -- --hash is the type, not the thing
+            -- we need @url [rev [hash]]@,
+            -- otherwise we can’t expect a hash
+            , unUrl gitUrl
+            , maybe "" identity gitRev ]
+            -- hash comes last
+         <> maybe [] (\(Sha256 h) -> [h]) gitExpectedHash
+
+    handler (out, err) = \case
+      ExitSuccess -> withExceptT PrefetchOutputMalformed $ do
+        let error msg = exec <> " " <> msg
+            jsonError :: [Char] -> Text
+            jsonError = \msg -> error (T.intercalate "\n"
+                      [ "parsing json output failed:"
+                      , toS msg
+                      , "The output was:"
+                      , out ])
+
+        (gitOutputRev, gitOutputSha256)
+          <- ExceptT . pure . first jsonError $ do
+            val <- Aeson.eitherDecode' (toS out)
+            flip AesonT.parseEither val
+              $ Aeson.withObject "GitPrefetchOutput" $ \obj -> do
+                    (,) <$> obj Aeson..: "rev"
+                        <*> fmap Sha256 (obj Aeson..: "sha256")
+
+        -- The path isn’t output in the json, but on stderr. :(
+        -- So this is a bit more hacky than necessary.
+        gitOuputPath <- case
+          find ("path is /nix/store" `T.isPrefixOf`) (T.lines err)
+          >>= T.stripPrefix "path is " of
+          Nothing -> throwE
+            $ error "could not find nix store output path on stderr"
+          Just path -> pure $ StorePath $ toS path
+
+        pure GitOutput{..}
+
+      ExitFailure _ -> throwE $
+        if ("hash mismatch for URL" `T.isInfixOf` err)
+        then ExpectedHashError
+        else UnknownPrefetchError
diff --git a/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Types.hs b/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Types.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Foreign/Nix/Shellout/Types.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+{-|
+Description : Common Types
+Copyright   : Profpatsch, 2018
+License     : GPL-3
+Stability   : experimental
+-}
+{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
+module Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Types where
+
+import Protolude
+import Control.Error
+
+-- | Calls a command that returns an error and the whole stderr on failure.
+newtype NixAction e a = NixAction
+  { unNixAction :: ExceptT (Text, e) IO a }
+  deriving (Functor, Applicative, Monad, MonadIO)
+
+-- | Run a 'NixAction' without having to go through 'ExceptT' first.
+runNixAction :: NixAction e a -> IO (Either (Text, e) a)
+runNixAction = runExceptT . unNixAction
+
+instance Bifunctor NixAction where
+  bimap f g = NixAction . bimapExceptT (fmap f) g . unNixAction
+
+-- | A path in the nix store. It carries a phantom @a@ to differentiate
+-- between 'Derivation' files and 'Realized' paths.
+newtype StorePath a = StorePath
+  { fromStorePath :: FilePath }
+  deriving (Eq, Show)
+
+-- | A nix derivation is a complete build instruction that can be realized.
+data Derivation
+-- | Once a derivation is realized, the finished output can be used.
+data Realized
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,674 @@
+              GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
+                Version 3, 29 June 2007
+
+ Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
+ Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
+ of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
+
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+
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+software and other kinds of works.
+
+  The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed
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diff --git a/Setup.hs b/Setup.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Setup.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+import Distribution.Simple
+main = defaultMain
diff --git a/libnix.cabal b/libnix.cabal
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libnix.cabal
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+-- Initial libnix.cabal generated by cabal init.  For further 
+-- documentation, see http://haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/
+
+name:                libnix
+version:             0.2.0.0
+synopsis:            Bindings to the nix package manager
+-- description:       
+license:             GPL-3
+license-file:        LICENSE
+author:              Profpatsch
+maintainer:          mail@profpatsch.de
+-- copyright:           
+category:            Foreign, Nix
+build-type:          Simple
+-- extra-source-files:  
+cabal-version:       >=1.10
+
+library
+  exposed-modules:     Foreign.Nix.Shellout
+                     , Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Prefetch
+                     , Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Types
+  other-modules:       Foreign.Nix.Shellout.Helpers
+  build-depends:       base >=4.9 && <5
+                     , aeson >=1.0.0.0 && <1.5.0.0
+                     , errors >=2.2.0 && <2.4.0
+                     , filepath
+                     , protolude ==0.2.*
+                     , process
+                     , text
+  -- hs-source-dirs:      
+  ghc-options:        -Wall
+  default-extensions:  NoImplicitPrelude
+                     , OverloadedStrings
+                     , LambdaCase
+                     , TupleSections
+                     , ViewPatterns
+  default-language:    Haskell2010
+
+test-suite tests
+  type:                exitcode-stdio-1.0
+  main-is:             Main.hs
+  hs-source-dirs:      tests
+  other-modules:       TestShellout
+  build-depends:       base
+                     , directory
+                     , errors
+                     , text
+                     , libnix
+                     , protolude
+                     , tasty
+                     , tasty-hunit
+  ghc-options:        -threaded -rtsopts -with-rtsopts=-N -Wall
+  default-extensions:  NoImplicitPrelude
+                     , OverloadedStrings
+                     , LambdaCase
+                     , TupleSections
+  default-language:    Haskell2010
diff --git a/tests/Main.hs b/tests/Main.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Main.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+module Main where
+
+import Prelude
+import TestShellout
+import Test.Tasty
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = defaultMain shelloutTests
diff --git a/tests/TestShellout.hs b/tests/TestShellout.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/TestShellout.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+module TestShellout where
+
+import Protolude hiding (check)
+import qualified Data.Text as T
+import System.IO (openTempFile, hClose)
+import System.Directory (getTemporaryDirectory)
+
+import Test.Tasty
+import Test.Tasty.HUnit
+
+import Foreign.Nix.Shellout
+
+
+shelloutTests :: TestTree
+shelloutTests = testGroup "shellout tests"
+  [ testGroup "parsing"
+    [ syntaxError ]
+  , testGroup "evaluating"
+    [ infiniteRecursion
+    , notADerivation
+    , someDerivation ]
+  , testGroup "realizing"
+    [ nixpkgsExists
+    , multilineErrors
+    , helloWorld
+    , copyTempfileToStore ]
+  ]
+
+syntaxError, infiniteRecursion, notADerivation, someDerivation :: TestTree
+nixpkgsExists, multilineErrors, helloWorld, copyTempfileToStore :: TestTree
+
+syntaxError = testCase "syntax error"
+  $ parseNixExpr ";"
+  `isE` (Left ("", SyntaxError "unexpected ';', at (string):1:1"))
+
+infiniteRecursion = testCase "infinite recursion"
+  $ parseInst "let a = a; in a"
+  `isE` (Left ( "error: infinite recursion encountered, at (string):1:10"
+              , UnknownInstantiateError))
+
+notADerivation = testCase "not a derivation"
+  $ parseInst "42"
+  `isE` (Left ("", NotADerivation))
+
+someDerivation = testCase "a basic derivation"
+  $ assertNoFailure $ parseInst
+      "derivation { name = \"foo\"; builder = \" \"; system = \" \"; }"
+
+nixpkgsExists = testCase "nixpkgs is accessible"
+  $ assertNoFailure $ parseEval "import <nixpkgs> {}"
+
+multilineErrors = testCase "nixpkgs multiline stderr it parsed"
+  $ parseEval "builtins.abort ''wow\nsuch error''"
+  `isE` (Left
+           ( "error: evaluation aborted with the following error \
+             \message: 'wow\nsuch error'"
+           , UnknownInstantiateError))
+
+helloWorld = testCase "build the GNU hello package"
+  $ assertNoFailure $ parseInstRealize "with import <nixpkgs> {}; hello"
+
+copyTempfileToStore = testCase "copy a temporary file to store"
+  $ assertNoFailure $ do
+    (fp, h) <- liftIO $
+      getTemporaryDirectory >>= flip openTempFile "store-test"
+    liftIO $ hClose h
+    addToStore fp
+
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Helpers
+
+parseInst :: Text -> NixAction InstantiateError (StorePath Derivation)
+parseInst = parseInstLike instantiate
+
+parseEval :: Text -> NixAction InstantiateError ()
+parseEval = parseInstLike eval
+
+parseInstLike :: (NixExpr -> NixAction InstantiateError a)
+              -> Text
+              -> NixAction InstantiateError a
+parseInstLike like =
+  first (\_ -> UnknownInstantiateError)
+              . parseNixExpr >=> like
+
+isE :: (Eq e, Eq a, Show a, Show e)
+    => NixAction e a
+    -> Either (Text, e) a
+       -- ^ Left (subset of stdout, error)
+    -> Assertion
+isE na match = runExceptT (unNixAction na) >>= check match
+  where
+    check (Left (outMatch, err)) (Left (out, err')) = do
+      assertBool "stderr not matched" (outMatch `T.isInfixOf` out)
+      err @=? err'
+    check (Right _) (Left _) =
+      assertFailure "output should have succeeded, but is failed"
+    check a b = a @=? b
+
+assertNoFailure :: Show e => NixAction e a -> Assertion
+assertNoFailure na = do
+  ei <- runExceptT (unNixAction na)
+  case ei of
+    (Left (_, e)) -> assertFailure $ show e
+    (Right _) -> pure ()
