diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index 29022a7e7..edfdd43b7 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -4,6 +4,21 @@
   lixSrc ? builtins.fetchGit ./.,
 }:
 
+let
+  nixpkgs' =
+    if builtins.isAttrs nixpkgs then
+      nixpkgs
+    else
+      {
+        outPath = nixpkgs;
+        rev = "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000";
+        shortRev = "0000000";
+        lastModifiedDate = "19700101000000";
+      };
+in
+let
+  nixpkgs = nixpkgs';
+in
 let
   flakeLock = builtins.fromJSON (builtins.readFile (lixSrc + "/flake.lock"));