diff --git a/lib/tests/modules.sh b/lib/tests/modules.sh
index 75b316c972120..03f13f3073d30 100755
--- a/lib/tests/modules.sh
+++ b/lib/tests/modules.sh
@@ -94,6 +94,23 @@ checkConfigOutput '^42$' config.value ./declare-oneOf.nix ./define-value-int-pos
 checkConfigOutput '^\[ \]$' config.value ./declare-oneOf.nix ./define-value-list.nix
 checkConfigOutput '^"24"$' config.value ./declare-oneOf.nix ./define-value-string.nix
 
+test_flake_type() {
+    # A flake must be returned without any pre or post-processing.
+    checkConfigOutput "^true$" config.result ./declare-flake.nix ./define-flake.nix
+
+    # Even an identical flake can not be merged. In the "best" case it's the same flake,
+    # but we'd have to check that is. Perhaps some attributes could be merged, but
+    # many can't, so this would effectively create two _usage_ types:
+    #  - full access, allowing access to `sourceInfo` and `packages.default`
+    #  - only access to attributes that can be expected to be merged, such as
+    #    `packages.foo`
+    # However, the latter would still break the rule that an addition somewhere "unrelated"
+    # doesn't break anything. So merging would be a bad idea.
+    checkConfigError "The option .flake. is defined multiple times" config.result ./declare-flake.nix ./define-flake.nix ./define-flake-again.nix
+    checkConfigError "However, flakes can not be merged" config.result ./declare-flake.nix ./define-flake.nix ./define-flake-again.nix
+}
+test_flake_type
+
 # Check mkForce without submodules.
 set -- config.enable ./declare-enable.nix ./define-enable.nix
 checkConfigOutput '^true$' "$@"
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/declare-flake.nix b/lib/tests/modules/declare-flake.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d34fef3e47a00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/declare-flake.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{ lib, ... }: {
+  options.flake = lib.mkOption { type = lib.types.flake; };
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-flake-again.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-flake-again.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..bab2fc063dcb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-flake-again.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{ config, lib, ... }:
+let example = {
+      _type = "flake";
+      sourceInfo = {};
+      inputs = {};
+      outputs = {};
+      foo = lib.mkForce {}; # must be copied verbatim
+      packages = throw "Validating the flake is not the responsibility of this type, and evaluating any significant part of it would be too costly.";
+    };
+in
+{
+  config = {
+    flake = example;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/lib/tests/modules/define-flake.nix b/lib/tests/modules/define-flake.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..08722ad8971f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tests/modules/define-flake.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{ config, lib, ... }:
+let example = {
+      _type = "flake";
+      sourceInfo = {};
+      inputs = {};
+      outputs = {};
+      foo = lib.mkForce {}; # must be copied verbatim
+      packages = throw "Validating the flake is not the responsibility of this type, and evaluating any significant part of it would be too costly.";
+    };
+in
+{
+  options.result = lib.mkOption {};
+  config = {
+    flake = example;
+    result = config.flake // { packages = null; } == example // { packages = null; };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/lib/types.nix b/lib/types.nix
index 270ac1748c796..b40b4acb7e2a0 100644
--- a/lib/types.nix
+++ b/lib/types.nix
@@ -483,6 +483,18 @@ rec {
       merge = mergeEqualOption;
     };
 
+    flake = mkOptionType {
+      name = "flake";
+      descriptionClass = "noun";
+      check =
+        if builtins.compareVersions builtins.nixVersion "2.12.0" >= 0
+        then
+          x: x._type or null == "flake"
+        else
+          x: x?inputs && x?sourceInfo && x?outputs;
+      merge = mergeUniqueOption { message = "However, flakes can not be merged."; };
+    };
+
     listOf = elemType: mkOptionType rec {
       name = "listOf";
       description = "list of ${optionDescriptionPhrase (class: class == "noun" || class == "composite") elemType}";