diff --git a/manual/src/release-notes.md b/manual/src/release-notes.md
index e3c628c..26ddafc 100644
--- a/manual/src/release-notes.md
+++ b/manual/src/release-notes.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 ## Release 0.4.0 (Unreleased)
 
+- Flake evaluation is now actually pure by default. To enable impure expressions, pass `--impure`.
 - `--reboot` is added to trigger a reboot and wait for the node to come back up.
 - The target user is no longer explicitly set when `deployment.targetUser` is null ([#91](https://github.com/zhaofengli/colmena/pull/91)).
 - In `apply-local`, we now only escalate privileges during activation ([#85](https://github.com/zhaofengli/colmena/issues/85)).
diff --git a/src/nix/flake.rs b/src/nix/flake.rs
index 79e7232..adcf23a 100644
--- a/src/nix/flake.rs
+++ b/src/nix/flake.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ use tokio::process::Command;
 use super::{ColmenaError, ColmenaResult, NixCheck};
 
 /// A Nix Flake.
-#[derive(Debug)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct Flake {
     /// The flake metadata.
     metadata: FlakeMetadata,
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ pub struct Flake {
 }
 
 /// A `nix flake metadata --json` invocation.
-#[derive(Deserialize, Debug)]
+#[derive(Deserialize, Debug, Clone)]
 struct FlakeMetadata {
     /// The resolved URL of the flake.
     #[serde(rename = "resolvedUrl")]
@@ -105,3 +105,20 @@ impl FlakeMetadata {
         })
     }
 }
+
+/// Quietly locks the dependencies of a flake.
+pub async fn lock_flake_quiet(uri: &str) -> ColmenaResult<()> {
+    let status = Command::new("nix")
+        .args(&["flake", "lock"])
+        .args(&["--experimental-features", "nix-command flakes"])
+        .arg(uri)
+        .stderr(Stdio::null())
+        .status()
+        .await?;
+
+    if !status.success() {
+        return Err(status.into());
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/src/nix/hive/assets.rs b/src/nix/hive/assets.rs
index 2d4fb52..57ef7c9 100644
--- a/src/nix/hive/assets.rs
+++ b/src/nix/hive/assets.rs
@@ -13,8 +13,9 @@ use tempfile::TempDir;
 
 use super::{Flake, HivePath};
 use crate::error::ColmenaResult;
+use crate::nix::flake::lock_flake_quiet;
 
-const FLAKE_NIX: &[u8] = include_bytes!("flake.nix");
+const FLAKE_NIX: &str = include_str!("flake.nix");
 const EVAL_NIX: &[u8] = include_bytes!("eval.nix");
 const OPTIONS_NIX: &[u8] = include_bytes!("options.nix");
 const MODULES_NIX: &[u8] = include_bytes!("modules.nix");
@@ -22,6 +23,9 @@ const MODULES_NIX: &[u8] = include_bytes!("modules.nix");
 /// Static files required to evaluate a Hive configuration.
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub(super) struct Assets {
+    /// Path to the hive being evaluated.
+    hive_path: HivePath,
+
     /// Temporary directory holding the files.
     temp_dir: TempDir,
 
@@ -30,7 +34,7 @@ pub(super) struct Assets {
 }
 
 impl Assets {
-    pub async fn new(flake: bool) -> ColmenaResult<Self> {
+    pub async fn new(hive_path: HivePath) -> ColmenaResult<Self> {
         let temp_dir = TempDir::new().unwrap();
 
         create_file(&temp_dir, "eval.nix", false, EVAL_NIX)?;
@@ -39,27 +43,30 @@ impl Assets {
 
         let mut assets_flake_uri = None;
 
-        if flake {
+        if let HivePath::Flake(hive_flake) = &hive_path {
             // Emit a temporary flake, then resolve the locked URI
-            create_file(&temp_dir, "flake.nix", false, FLAKE_NIX)?;
+            let flake_nix = FLAKE_NIX.replace("%hive%", hive_flake.locked_uri());
+            create_file(&temp_dir, "flake.nix", false, flake_nix.as_bytes())?;
 
             // We explicitly specify `path:` instead of letting Nix resolve
             // automatically, which would involve checking parent directories
             // for a git repository.
             let uri = format!("path:{}", temp_dir.path().to_str().unwrap());
+            let _ = lock_flake_quiet(&uri).await;
             let assets_flake = Flake::from_uri(uri).await?;
             assets_flake_uri = Some(assets_flake.locked_uri().to_owned());
         }
 
         Ok(Self {
+            hive_path,
             temp_dir,
             assets_flake_uri,
         })
     }
 
     /// Returns the base expression from which the evaluated Hive can be used.
-    pub fn get_base_expression(&self, hive_path: &HivePath) -> String {
-        match hive_path {
+    pub fn get_base_expression(&self) -> String {
+        match &self.hive_path {
             HivePath::Legacy(path) => {
                 format!(
                     "with builtins; let eval = import {eval_nix}; hive = eval {{ rawHive = import {path}; colmenaOptions = import {options_nix}; colmenaModules = import {modules_nix}; }}; in ",
@@ -69,11 +76,10 @@ impl Assets {
                     modules_nix = self.get_path("modules.nix"),
                 )
             }
-            HivePath::Flake(flake) => {
+            HivePath::Flake(_) => {
                 format!(
-                    "with builtins; let assets = getFlake \"{assets_flake_uri}\"; hive = assets.lib.colmenaEval {{ flakeUri = \"{flake_uri}\"; }}; in ",
+                    "with builtins; let assets = getFlake \"{assets_flake_uri}\"; hive = assets.colmenaEval; in ",
                     assets_flake_uri = self.assets_flake_uri.as_ref().expect("The assets flake must have been initialized"),
-                    flake_uri = flake.locked_uri(),
                 )
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/nix/hive/eval.nix b/src/nix/hive/eval.nix
index 408b5c9..e1621fb 100644
--- a/src/nix/hive/eval.nix
+++ b/src/nix/hive/eval.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 { rawHive ? null               # Colmena Hive attrset
-, flakeUri ? null              # Nix Flake URI with `outputs.colmena`
-, hermetic ? flakeUri != null  # Whether we are allowed to use <nixpkgs>
+, rawFlake ? null              # Nix Flake attrset with `outputs.colmena`
+, hermetic ? rawFlake != null  # Whether we are allowed to use <nixpkgs>
 , colmenaOptions
 , colmenaModules
 }:
@@ -19,10 +19,8 @@ let
 
 
   uncheckedHive = let
-    flakeToHive = flakeUri: let
-      flake = builtins.getFlake flakeUri;
-      hive = if flake.outputs ? colmena then flake.outputs.colmena else throw "Flake must define outputs.colmena.";
-    in hive;
+    flakeToHive = rawFlake:
+      if rawFlake.outputs ? colmena then rawFlake.outputs.colmena else throw "Flake must define outputs.colmena.";
 
     rawToHive = rawHive:
       if typeOf rawHive == "lambda" || rawHive ? __functor then rawHive {}
@@ -30,8 +28,8 @@ let
       else throw "The config must evaluate to an attribute set.";
   in
     if rawHive != null then rawToHive rawHive
-    else if flakeUri != null then flakeToHive flakeUri
-    else throw "Either an attribute set or a flake URI must be specified.";
+    else if rawFlake != null then flakeToHive rawFlake
+    else throw "Either a plain Hive attribute set or a Nix Flake attribute set must be specified.";
 
   uncheckedUserMeta =
     if uncheckedHive ? meta && uncheckedHive ? network then
diff --git a/src/nix/hive/flake.nix b/src/nix/hive/flake.nix
index f56f37e..4acb727 100644
--- a/src/nix/hive/flake.nix
+++ b/src/nix/hive/flake.nix
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 {
   description = "Internal Colmena expressions";
 
-  outputs = { ... }: {
-    lib.colmenaEval = {
-      rawHive ? null,
-      flakeUri ? null,
-      hermetic ? flakeUri != null,
-    }: import ./eval.nix {
-      inherit rawHive flakeUri hermetic;
+  inputs = {
+    hive.url = "%hive%";
+  };
+
+  outputs = { self, hive }: {
+    colmenaEval = import ./eval.nix {
+      rawFlake = hive;
       colmenaOptions = import ./options.nix;
       colmenaModules = import ./modules.nix;
     };
diff --git a/src/nix/hive/mod.rs b/src/nix/hive/mod.rs
index 2f8e85f..b8141b2 100644
--- a/src/nix/hive/mod.rs
+++ b/src/nix/hive/mod.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ use crate::job::JobHandle;
 use crate::util::{CommandExecution, CommandExt};
 use assets::Assets;
 
-#[derive(Debug)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub enum HivePath {
     /// A Nix Flake.
     ///
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ impl HivePath {
 impl Hive {
     pub async fn new(path: HivePath) -> ColmenaResult<Self> {
         let context_dir = path.context_dir();
-        let assets = Assets::new(path.is_flake()).await?;
+        let assets = Assets::new(path.clone()).await?;
 
         Ok(Self {
             path,
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ impl Hive {
     pub fn nix_options(&self) -> NixOptions {
         let mut options = NixOptions::default();
         options.set_show_trace(self.show_trace);
+        options.set_pure_eval(self.path.is_flake());
         options
     }
 
@@ -361,7 +362,7 @@ impl Hive {
 
     /// Returns the base expression from which the evaluated Hive can be used.
     fn get_base_expression(&self) -> String {
-        self.assets.get_base_expression(self.path())
+        self.assets.get_base_expression()
     }
 
     /// Returns whether this Hive is a flake.
diff --git a/src/nix/mod.rs b/src/nix/mod.rs
index 6f6018c..284ab87 100644
--- a/src/nix/mod.rs
+++ b/src/nix/mod.rs
@@ -97,6 +97,12 @@ pub struct NixOptions {
     /// Whether to pass --show-trace.
     show_trace: bool,
 
+    /// Whether to pass --pure-eval.
+    pure_eval: bool,
+
+    /// Whether to pass --impure.
+    impure: bool,
+
     /// Designated builders.
     ///
     /// See <https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/advanced-topics/distributed-builds.html>.
@@ -187,6 +193,10 @@ impl NixOptions {
         self.show_trace = show_trace;
     }
 
+    pub fn set_pure_eval(&mut self, pure_eval: bool) {
+        self.pure_eval = pure_eval;
+    }
+
     pub fn set_builders(&mut self, builders: Option<String>) {
         self.builders = builders;
     }
@@ -206,6 +216,14 @@ impl NixOptions {
             options.push("--show-trace".to_string());
         }
 
+        if self.pure_eval {
+            options.push("--pure-eval".to_string());
+        }
+
+        if self.impure {
+            options.push("--impure".to_string());
+        }
+
         options
     }
 }