diff --git a/default.nix b/default.nix
index 4c71ec49..c7d2d21b 100644
--- a/default.nix
+++ b/default.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ let
       };
     }).run
       {
-        src = ./.;
+        src = builtins.path {
+          path = ./.;
+          name = "root";
+        };
         hooks =
           let
             ## Add a directory here if pre-commit hooks shouldn't apply to it.
diff --git a/deployment/check/basic/flake-part.nix b/deployment/check/basic/flake-part.nix
index 24d23c40..76c4fec7 100644
--- a/deployment/check/basic/flake-part.nix
+++ b/deployment/check/basic/flake-part.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ let
     "cowsay"
   ];
   pathToRoot = /. + (builtins.unsafeDiscardStringContext self);
-  pathFromRoot = ./.;
+  pathFromRoot = builtins.path {
+    path = ./.;
+    name = "basic";
+  };
 
 in
 {
diff --git a/deployment/check/cli/flake-part.nix b/deployment/check/cli/flake-part.nix
index 7d71526b..2c2b5a4c 100644
--- a/deployment/check/cli/flake-part.nix
+++ b/deployment/check/cli/flake-part.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@ let
     "pixelfed"
   ];
   pathToRoot = /. + (builtins.unsafeDiscardStringContext self);
-  pathFromRoot = ./.;
+  pathFromRoot = builtins.path {
+    path = ./.;
+    name = "cli";
+  };
   enableAcme = true;
 
 in
@@ -57,7 +60,12 @@ in
       ## function calls.
       makeTestDeployment =
         args:
-        (import ../..)
+        (import (
+          builtins.path {
+            path = ../..;
+            name = "deployment";
+          }
+        ))
           {
             inherit lib;
             inherit (inputs) nixops4 nixops4-nixos;
diff --git a/panel/env.nix b/panel/env.nix
index 07ce4193..af1f4096 100644
--- a/panel/env.nix
+++ b/panel/env.nix
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@
   pkgs,
   ...
 }:
-let
-  inherit (builtins) toString;
-in
 {
-  REPO_DIR = toString ../.;
+  REPO_DIR = builtins.path {
+    path = ../.;
+    name = "root";
+  };
   # explicitly use nix, as e.g. lix does not have configurable-impure-env
   BIN_PATH = lib.makeBinPath [
     # explicitly use nix, as e.g. lix does not have configurable-impure-env
diff --git a/panel/nix/package.nix b/panel/nix/package.nix
index e13e015a..7b87a4f1 100644
--- a/panel/nix/package.nix
+++ b/panel/nix/package.nix
@@ -12,9 +12,14 @@ let
     with lib.fileset;
     toSource {
       root = ../src;
-      fileset = intersection (gitTracked ../../.) ../src;
+      fileset = intersection (gitTracked (
+        builtins.path {
+          path = ../../.;
+          name = "root";
+        }
+      )) ../src;
     };
-  pyproject = with lib; fromTOML pyproject-toml;
+  pyproject = fromTOML pyproject-toml;
   # TODO: define this globally
   name = "panel";
   # TODO: we may want this in a file so it's easier to read statically
diff --git a/panel/nix/python-packages/default.nix b/panel/nix/python-packages/default.nix
index 40d9dcb0..d3481398 100644
--- a/panel/nix/python-packages/default.nix
+++ b/panel/nix/python-packages/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,10 @@ let
 
   extraPython3Packages =
     let
-      dir = toString ./.;
+      dir = builtins.path {
+        path = ./.;
+        name = "python-packages";
+      };
     in
     with builtins;
     listToAttrs (
diff --git a/panel/shell.nix b/panel/shell.nix
index a6bdf202..85db36d2 100644
--- a/panel/shell.nix
+++ b/panel/shell.nix
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
-(import ./. { }).shell
+(import (builtins.path {
+  path = ./.;
+  name = "panel";
+}) { }).shell
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
index a6bdf202..0cec318c 100644
--- a/shell.nix
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
-(import ./. { }).shell
+(import (builtins.path {
+  path = ./.;
+  name = "root";
+}) { }).shell