diff --git a/.envrc b/.envrc
index 3550a30f2..38764da7a 100644
--- a/.envrc
+++ b/.envrc
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
-use flake
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+source_env_if_exists .envrc.local
+use flake ".#${LIX_SHELL_VARIANT:-default}" "${LIX_SHELL_EXTRA_ARGS[@]}"
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4b4fdbbf6..02c577c76 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ result-*
 
 .vscode/
 .direnv/
+.envrc.local
 
 # clangd and possibly more
 .cache/