diff --git a/panel/src/panel/views.py b/panel/src/panel/views.py
index c89f5ab3..b3670cfd 100644
--- a/panel/src/panel/views.py
+++ b/panel/src/panel/views.py
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ class ConfigurationForm(LoginRequiredMixin, FormView):
             env = {
                 # pass in form info to our deployment
                 "DEPLOYMENT": deployment,
+                # as we trigger nixops thru nix, specify a cache directory for nix
+                "XDG_CACHE_HOME": "/tmp",
             }
             cmd = [
                 settings.nix_bin,