For the upcoming tools abstracting nix usage, namely:
a more “lightweight install” could be beneficial. The nix install can feel a bit “intrusive” for some users when the entire nix tool chain is installed. Also avoiding changes to the users environment would be beneficial. Not sure which part’s could possibly be left out.
Examples
Bob uses nix-build only. It’s parsing the output to resolve /nix/store paths and passes them to an internal shell. Something like nix-shell is not required in that case.
Devbox uses nix-shell directly.