diff --git a/nix/localstack-down.nix b/nix/localstack-down.nix
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/localstack-down.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{ lib
+, writeShellApplication
+}:
+
+# 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 = "localstack-down";
+  text = ''
+    # Since docker is installed outside of nix, need to ensure that it was
+    # installed impurely
+    if ! command -v docker > /dev/null; then
+      echo "Please install docker" >&2
+      exit 1
+    fi
+
+    # The 'localstack status' command will poll foever if you have a newer
+    # docker cli, so instead use docker ps + grep to determine running container
+    if docker ps | grep localstack &> /dev/null; then
+      echo "Stopping locakstack..." >&2
+      docker stop localstack_main > /dev/null
+    else
+      echo "no localstack instance found, skipping..."
+    fi
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/nix/overlay.nix b/nix/overlay.nix
--- a/nix/overlay.nix
+++ b/nix/overlay.nix
@@ -54,7 +54,10 @@
   devShells.default = final.callPackage ./dev-shell.nix { };
   devShell = final.devShells.default;
 
+  localstack-down = prev.callPackage ./localstack-down.nix { };
+
   localstack-up = prev.callPackage ./localstack-up.nix { };
+
   # Make our version of mariadb the default everywhere
   mariadb = prev.mariadb_108;