diff --git a/tvix/cli/src/lib.rs b/tvix/cli/src/lib.rs
index 2351da13a..060665480 100644
--- a/tvix/cli/src/lib.rs
+++ b/tvix/cli/src/lib.rs
@@ -113,9 +113,9 @@ pub fn evaluate(
             eval_builder = add_derivation_builtins(eval_builder, Rc::clone(&tvix_store_io));
             eval_builder = add_fetcher_builtins(eval_builder, Rc::clone(&tvix_store_io));
             eval_builder = add_import_builtins(eval_builder, tvix_store_io);
-            eval_builder = configure_nix_path(eval_builder, &args.nix_search_path);
         }
     };
+    eval_builder = configure_nix_path(eval_builder, &args.nix_search_path);
 
     if let Some(source_map) = source_map {
         eval_builder = eval_builder.with_source_map(source_map);
diff --git a/tvix/cli/tests/repl.rs b/tvix/cli/tests/repl.rs
index c66443309..7b9b9e345 100644
--- a/tvix/cli/tests/repl.rs
+++ b/tvix/cli/tests/repl.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,11 @@ macro_rules! test_repl {
         #[test]
         fn $name() {
             let tokio_runtime = tokio::runtime::Runtime::new().unwrap();
-            let args = tvix_cli::Args::parse_from(Vec::<OsString>::new());
+            let args = tvix_cli::Args::parse_from(vec![
+              OsString::from("tvix"),
+              OsString::from("--nix-search-path"),
+              OsString::from("nixpkgs=/tmp"),
+            ]);
             let mut repl = tvix_cli::Repl::new(init_io_handle(&tokio_runtime, &args), &args);
             $({
                 let result = repl.send($send.into());
@@ -83,3 +87,12 @@ test_repl!(explain() {
         => a 2-item attribute set
     "#]];
 });
+
+test_repl!(reference_nix_path() {
+    "<nixpkgs>" => expect![[r#"
+        => /tmp :: path
+    "#]];
+    "<nixpkgs>" => expect![[r#"
+        => /tmp :: path
+    "#]];
+});