diff --git a/doc/manual/rl-next/added-shell-dir-length.md b/doc/manual/rl-next/added-shell-dir-length.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1de244b70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/rl-next/added-shell-dir-length.md
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+synopsis: "Nix shells' $NIX_BUILD_TOP are shorter"
+cls: [4663]
+issues: [fj#1044]
+category: "Fixes"
+credits: [raito]
+---
+
+Following the changes in 2.94.0 to shorten build directory paths, aimed at [resolving UNIX domain socket length issues](https://gerrit.lix.systems/c/lix/+/4168/13) and [improving nix-shell](https://git.lix.systems/lix-project/lix/issues/940), we inadvertently introduced an excessively long path for the `$NIX_BUILD_TOP` environment variable used by Nix shells (their effective temporary `/build` directory).
+
+To fix this, we replaced the `build-top-$HASH` directory name with simply `build-top`, reducing these paths by at least 30 characters.
+
+We also added a test to ensure that Nix shells do not introduce more than 50 extra characters relative to their base directory (e.g., `/tmp` when `$TMPDIR` is not set).
diff --git a/lix/legacy/nix-build.cc b/lix/legacy/nix-build.cc
index e0f0916e8..7554c03a6 100644
--- a/lix/legacy/nix-build.cc
+++ b/lix/legacy/nix-build.cc
@@ -192,7 +192,11 @@ static int main_nix_build(AsyncIoRoot & aio, std::string programName, Strings ar
         throw UsageError("'-p' and '-E' are mutually exclusive");
 
     AutoDelete tmpDir(createTempDir(myName));
-    AutoDelete buildTopTmpDir(createTempSubdir(tmpDir, "build-top"));
+    // NOTE: we assume there's no `build-top` directory created inside of `tmpDir` and we have
+    // ownership of this.
+    auto buildTopTmpDir = tmpDir + "/build-top";
+    createDirs(buildTopTmpDir);
+
     if (outLink.empty())
         outLink = (Path) tmpDir + "/result";
 
diff --git a/tests/functional/nix-shell/basic.sh b/tests/functional/nix-shell/basic.sh
index 54b4752d2..784eb2617 100644
--- a/tests/functional/nix-shell/basic.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/nix-shell/basic.sh
@@ -75,6 +75,44 @@ output=$(NIX_PATH=nixpkgs="$shellDotNix" nix-shell --pure -p foo --argstr fooCon
     test ! -d "$(dirname $IN_SHELL_TEMPDIR)" && echo "nix-shell deleted the parent directory of \$TEMPDIR: clean up successful" || { echo "nix-shell did not delete the parent directory of \$TEMPDIR: clean up failure"; exit 1; }
 )
 
+# Test whether the added length w.r.t. base directories is reasonable enough.
+# This prevents regressions that can affect negatively things like opening UNIX
+# domain sockets in non-isolated builds.
+(
+    unset TMPDIR
+    BASE_DIR="$(realpath /tmp)"
+
+    LENGTH_RESULT=$(
+      NIX_PATH=nixpkgs="$shellDotNix" nix-shell --pure -p foo --run "
+        BASE_DIR_ENV=\"$BASE_DIR\"
+        ADDED_LENGTH=\$(( \${#NIX_BUILD_TOP} - \${#BASE_DIR_ENV} ))
+        echo \"\$ADDED_LENGTH:\$NIX_BUILD_TOP\"
+      "
+    )
+
+    ADDED_LENGTH="${LENGTH_RESULT%%:*}"
+    IN_SHELL_NIX_BUILD_TOP="${LENGTH_RESULT#*:}"
+
+    # The idea of this value is len("nix-shell-$hash/build-top") + ≤5 chars of margin.
+    MAX_ALLOWED=50
+    # The added length must be minimum 2 chars.
+    MIN_ALLOWED=2
+
+    if (( ADDED_LENGTH < MIN_ALLOWED )); then
+        echo "Added length ($ADDED_LENGTH) is impossibly low. The test is not correct."
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    if (( ADDED_LENGTH <= MAX_ALLOWED )); then
+        echo "Added length to \$NIX_BUILD_TOP in shells ($ADDED_LENGTH chars) is within acceptable limit ($MAX_ALLOWED chars)."
+    else
+        echo "ERROR: Added length too large ($ADDED_LENGTH chars > $MAX_ALLOWED chars)."
+        echo "Base: $BASE_DIR"
+        echo "NIX_BUILD_TOP: $IN_SHELL_NIX_BUILD_TOP"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+)
+
 # FIXME: testing that Ctrl-C to a (non-)interactive nix-shell stops it would be appreciated,
 # but it is hard to send accurately the signal to the right process group.