diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index baaaf9ff3..1843a5f08 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -22,3 +22,6 @@
 [submodule "subprojects/libsni"]
 	path = subprojects/libsni
 	url = https://github.com/urbit/sniproxy
+[submodule "nixpkgs"]
+	path = nixpkgs
+	url = https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs.git
diff --git a/nixpkgs b/nixpkgs
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..865cbd380
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixpkgs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 865cbd380d2568806c6e46c9a4bc746af7ec13c9
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
index 4b00a889f..559a73108 100644
--- a/shell.nix
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-with (import <nixpkgs> {});
+with (import ./nixpkgs {});
 
 let