diff --git a/.github/workflows/release_nightly.yml b/.github/workflows/release_nightly.yml
index c8a8cebfcf..8cd415e0c7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release_nightly.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release_nightly.yml
@@ -170,6 +170,58 @@ jobs:
       - name: Upload Zed Nightly
         run: script/upload-nightly linux-targz
 
+  bundle-nix:
+    timeout-minutes: 60
+    name: (${{ matrix.system.os }}) Nix Build
+    continue-on-error: true
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        system:
+          - os: x86 Linux
+            runner: buildjet-16vcpu-ubuntu-2204
+            install_nix: true
+          - os: arm Mac
+            # TODO: once other macs are provisioned for nix, remove that constraint from the runner
+            runner: [macOS, ARM64, nix]
+            install_nix: false
+          - os: arm Linux
+            runner: buildjet-16vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm
+            install_nix: true
+    if: github.repository_owner == 'zed-industries'
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.system.runner }}
+    needs: tests
+    env:
+      ZED_CLIENT_CHECKSUM_SEED: ${{ secrets.ZED_CLIENT_CHECKSUM_SEED }}
+      ZED_CLOUD_PROVIDER_ADDITIONAL_MODELS_JSON: ${{ secrets.ZED_CLOUD_PROVIDER_ADDITIONAL_MODELS_JSON }}
+      GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE: 1 # breaks the livekit rust sdk examples which we don't actually depend on
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4
+        with:
+          clean: false
+
+      # on our macs we manually install nix. for some reason the cachix action is running
+      # under a non-login /bin/bash shell which doesn't source the proper script to add the
+      # nix profile to PATH, so we manually add them here
+      - name: Set path
+        if: ${{ ! matrix.system.install_nix }}
+        run: |
+          echo "/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+          echo "/Users/administrator/.nix-profile/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+
+      - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@02a151ada4993995686f9ed4f1be7cfbb229e56f # v31
+        if: ${{ matrix.system.install_nix }}
+        with:
+          github_access_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - uses: cachix/cachix-action@0fc020193b5a1fa3ac4575aa3a7d3aa6a35435ad # v16
+        with:
+          name: zed-industries
+          authToken: "${{ secrets.CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN }}"
+      - run: nix build
+      - run: nix-collect-garbage -d
+
   update-nightly-tag:
     name: Update nightly tag
     if: github.repository_owner == 'zed-industries'
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 6906066260..f3c832b536 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -63,4 +63,13 @@
         default = nixpkgs.lib.composeManyExtensions (builtins.attrValues overlays);
       };
     };
+
+  nixConfig = {
+    extra-substituters = [
+      "https://zed-industries.cachix.org"
+    ];
+    extra-trusted-public-keys = [
+      "zed-industries.cachix.org-1:QW3RoXK0Lm4ycmU5/3bmYRd3MLf4RbTGPqRulGlX5W0="
+    ];
+  };
 }
diff --git a/nix/build.nix b/nix/build.nix
index 422f12b4c2..d6714a2dfe 100644
--- a/nix/build.nix
+++ b/nix/build.nix
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
   nodejs_22,
 
   withGLES ? false,
+  profile ? "release",
 }:
 
 assert withGLES -> stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux;
@@ -153,6 +154,9 @@ let
           ]
         }";
         LK_CUSTOM_WEBRTC = livekit-libwebrtc;
+        CARGO_PROFILE = profile;
+        # need to handle some profiles specially https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/issues/11053
+        TARGET_DIR = "target/" + (if profile == "dev" then "debug" else profile);
       };
 
       # prevent nix from removing the "unused" wayland/gpu-lib rpaths
@@ -228,13 +232,13 @@ craneLib.buildPackage (
           pushd crates/zed
           sed -i "s/package.metadata.bundle-nightly/package.metadata.bundle/" Cargo.toml
           export CARGO_BUNDLE_SKIP_BUILD=true
-          app_path="$(cargo bundle --release | xargs)"
+          app_path="$(cargo bundle --profile $CARGO_PROFILE | xargs)"
           popd
 
           mkdir -p $out/Applications $out/bin
           # Zed expects git next to its own binary
           ln -s ${git}/bin/git "$app_path/Contents/MacOS/git"
-          mv target/release/cli "$app_path/Contents/MacOS/cli"
+          mv $TARGET_DIR/cli "$app_path/Contents/MacOS/cli"
           mv "$app_path" $out/Applications/
 
           # Physical location of the CLI must be inside the app bundle as this is used
@@ -244,21 +248,19 @@ craneLib.buildPackage (
           runHook postInstall
         ''
       else
-        # TODO: icons should probably be named "zed-nightly". fix bundle-linux first
         ''
           runHook preInstall
 
           mkdir -p $out/bin $out/libexec
-          cp target/release/zed $out/libexec/zed-editor
-          cp target/release/cli $out/bin/zed
+          cp $TARGET_DIR/zed $out/libexec/zed-editor
+          cp $TARGET_DIR/cli $out/bin/zed
 
           install -D "crates/zed/resources/app-icon-nightly@2x.png" \
             "$out/share/icons/hicolor/1024x1024@2x/apps/zed.png"
           install -D crates/zed/resources/app-icon-nightly.png \
             $out/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/zed.png
 
-          # extracted from ../script/bundle-linux (envsubst) and
-          # ../script/install.sh (final desktop file name)
+          # TODO: icons should probably be named "zed-nightly"
           (
             export DO_STARTUP_NOTIFY="true"
             export APP_CLI="zed"
diff --git a/nix/shell.nix b/nix/shell.nix
index 9d880065d6..eba288d67a 100644
--- a/nix/shell.nix
+++ b/nix/shell.nix
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ mkShell' {
     (removeAttrs baseEnvs [
       "LK_CUSTOM_WEBRTC" # download the staticlib during the build as usual
       "ZED_UPDATE_EXPLANATION" # allow auto-updates
+      "CARGO_PROFILE" # let you specify the profile
+      "TARGET_DIR"
     ])
     // {
       # note: different than `$FONTCONFIG_FILE` in `build.nix` – this refers to relative paths