diff --git a/manual/src/release-notes.md b/manual/src/release-notes.md
index 26d4251..debb715 100644
--- a/manual/src/release-notes.md
+++ b/manual/src/release-notes.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 - `--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)).
+- Impure overlays are no longer imported by default if a path is specified in `meta.nixpkgs` ([#39](https://github.com/zhaofengli/colmena/issues/39))
 
 ## [Release 0.3.0](https://github.com/zhaofengli/colmena/releases/tag/v0.3.0) (2022/04/27)
 
diff --git a/manual/src/tutorial/flakes.md b/manual/src/tutorial/flakes.md
index 982be13..5995971 100644
--- a/manual/src/tutorial/flakes.md
+++ b/manual/src/tutorial/flakes.md
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ Here is a short example:
       meta = {
         nixpkgs = import nixpkgs {
           system = "x86_64-linux";
+          overlays = [];
         };
       };
 
diff --git a/src/nix/hive/eval.nix b/src/nix/hive/eval.nix
index ae66017..ac15f8c 100644
--- a/src/nix/hive/eval.nix
+++ b/src/nix/hive/eval.nix
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ let
           colmena = {
             ${configName} = import nixpkgs {
               system = "${currentSystem}";
+              overlays = [];
             };
           };
         };
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ let
       else mkNixpkgs configName (import pkgConf)
     else if typeOf pkgConf == "lambda" then
       if hermetic then throw (uninitializedError "a Nixpkgs lambda")
-      else pkgConf {}
+      else pkgConf { overlays = []; }
     else if typeOf pkgConf == "set" then
       if pkgConf ? outputs then throw (uninitializedError "an uninitialized Nixpkgs input")
       else pkgConf