diff --git a/manifest.scm b/manifest.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..662c6a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/manifest.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+;; This is the complete list of Guix packages necessary for building.
+;;
+;; The following shell command will run the tests:
+;;
+;; guix shell -m manifest.scm --pure -- ./build.sh ath79 generic tplink_tl-wdr4300-v1
+;;
+;; TODO ...ideally. some dependencies are not listed, and it fails when using --pure
+
+(specifications->manifest
+ '("coreutils"
+   "bash"
+   "make"
+   "perl"
+   "gcc-toolchain"
+   "git"
+   "git:gui"
+   ;; "man-pages"
+   "less"
+   "time"))