diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
       localOverlay = import ./nix/overlay.nix;
       overlays = [
         localOverlay
+        (_: _: { commSrc = toString self; } )
       ];
 
       # Since we build for many systems (e.g. aarch64, x86_64-linux), we
diff --git a/nix/dev-shell.nix b/nix/dev-shell.nix
--- a/nix/dev-shell.nix
+++ b/nix/dev-shell.nix
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 , pkg-config
 , protobuf_3_15_cmake
 , python3
+, rabbitmq-server
 , redis
 , redis-up
 , rustup
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@
     pkg-config
     protobuf_3_15_cmake
     grpc
+    rabbitmq-server # runtime service
   ] ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [
     cocoapods # needed for ios
     bundler
diff --git a/nix/overlay.nix b/nix/overlay.nix
--- a/nix/overlay.nix
+++ b/nix/overlay.nix
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@
     ];
   });
 
+  rabbitmq-up = prev.callPackage ./rabbitmq-up-mac.nix { };
+
   # Ensure that yarn is using the pinned version
   yarn = prev.yarn.override (_: {
     nodejs = final.nodejs-16_x-openssl_1_1;
diff --git a/nix/rabbitmq-up-mac.nix b/nix/rabbitmq-up-mac.nix
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/rabbitmq-up-mac.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{ lib
+, rabbitmq-server
+, writeShellApplication
+, commSrc
+}:
+
+# writeShellApplication is a "writer helper" which
+# will create a shellchecked executable shell script located in $out/bin/<name>
+# This shell script will be used to allow for impure+stateful actions
+writeShellApplication {
+  name = "rabbitmq-up";
+  runtimeInputs = [ rabbitmq-server ];
+  text = ''
+    RABBITMQ_HOME=''${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/RabbitMQ
+    RABBITMQ_PIDFILE=''${RABBITMQ_HOME}/rabbitmq.pid
+
+    "${commSrc}/scripts/start_comm_daemon.sh" \
+      beam.smp \
+      RabbitMQ \
+      "${commSrc}/scripts/start_rabbitmq.sh" \
+      "$RABBITMQ_PIDFILE"
+
+    # Explicitly exit this script so the parent shell can determine
+    # when it's safe to return control of terminal to user
+    exit 0
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/scripts/source_development_defaults.sh b/scripts/source_development_defaults.sh
--- a/scripts/source_development_defaults.sh
+++ b/scripts/source_development_defaults.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,18 @@
   export ANDROID_HOME="${ANDROID_HOME:-$HOME/Library/Android/sdk}"
 fi
 
+# User defaults of
+# https://www.rabbitmq.com/configure.html#supported-environment-variables
+export RABBITMQ_NODENAME=comm
+export RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS=comm
+export RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER=comm
+export RABBITMQ_HOME=${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/RabbitMQ
+export RABBITMQ_MNESIA_BASE=${RABBITMQ_HOME}/mnesia
+export RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE=${RABBITMQ_HOME}/logs
+export RABBITMQ_LOGS=${RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE}/comm.log
+export RABBITMQ_PLUGINS_EXPAND_DIR=${RABBITMQ_HOME}/plugins_expand
+export RABBITMQ_PID_FILE=${RABBITMQ_HOME}/rabbitmq.pid
+
 export PATH="$PATH":"$ANDROID_HOME"/emulator:"$ANDROID_HOME"/tools
 export PATH="$PATH":"$ANDROID_HOME"/tools/bin:"$ANDROID_HOME"/platform-tools
 
diff --git a/scripts/start_rabbitmq.sh b/scripts/start_rabbitmq.sh
new file mode 100755
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/start_rabbitmq.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -eou pipefail
+
+if ! command -v rabbitmq-server > /dev/null; then
+  echo "Please install rabbitmq-server or run 'nix develop'" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")"; pwd -P)
+
+# shellcheck source=/dev/null
+source "${SCRIPT_DIR}/source_development_defaults.sh"
+
+# RabbitMQ is mostly configured through environment variables
+# located in scripts/source_development_defaults.sh
+mkdir -p "$RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE"
+
+echo "View RabbitMQ logs: tail -f $RABBITMQ_LOGS" >&2
+echo "Kill RabbitMQ server: pkill rabbitmq-server beam.smp" >&2
+
+# 'exec' allows for us to replace bash process with RabbitMQ
+exec rabbitmq-server > "$RABBITMQ_LOG_BASE/startup.log"