diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 653cacded00d..f634dbfd0495 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -326,7 +326,12 @@
 
               substitute ${./scripts/install.in} $out/install \
                 ${pkgs.lib.concatMapStrings
-                  (system: "--replace '@binaryTarball_${system}@' $(nix --experimental-features nix-command hash-file --base16 --type sha256 ${self.hydraJobs.binaryTarball.${system}}/*.tar.xz) ")
+                  (system:
+                    '' \
+                    --replace '@tarballHash_${system}@' $(nix --experimental-features nix-command hash-file --base16 --type sha256 ${self.hydraJobs.binaryTarball.${system}}/*.tar.xz) \
+                    --replace '@tarballPath_${system}@' ${self.hydraJobs.binaryTarball.${system}}/*.tar.xz \
+                    ''
+                  )
                   [ "x86_64-linux" "i686-linux" "x86_64-darwin" "aarch64-linux" ]
                 } \
                 --replace '@nixVersion@' ${version}
diff --git a/scripts/install.in b/scripts/install.in
index 9a281d776384..008aa9f49570 100644
--- a/scripts/install.in
+++ b/scripts/install.in
@@ -25,18 +25,44 @@ require_util() {
 }
 
 case "$(uname -s).$(uname -m)" in
-    Linux.x86_64) system=x86_64-linux; hash=@binaryTarball_x86_64-linux@;;
-    Linux.i?86) system=i686-linux; hash=@binaryTarball_i686-linux@;;
-    Linux.aarch64) system=aarch64-linux; hash=@binaryTarball_aarch64-linux@;;
-    Darwin.x86_64) system=x86_64-darwin; hash=@binaryTarball_x86_64-darwin@;;
-    # eventually maybe: system=arm64-darwin; hash=@binaryTarball_arm64-darwin@;;
-    Darwin.arm64) system=x86_64-darwin; hash=@binaryTarball_x86_64-darwin@;;
+    Linux.x86_64)
+        hash=@tarballHash_x86_64-linux@
+        store_path=@tarballPath_x86_64-linux@
+        system=x86_64-linux
+        ;;
+    Linux.i?86)
+        hash=@tarballHash_i686-linux@
+        store_path=@tarballPath_i686-linux@
+        system=i686-linux
+        ;;
+    Linux.aarch64)
+        hash=@tarballHash_aarch64-linux@
+        store_path=@tarballPath_aarch64-linux@
+        system=aarch64-linux
+        ;;
+    Darwin.x86_64)
+        hash=@tarballHash_x86_64-darwin@
+        store_path=@tarballPath_x86_64-darwin@
+        system=x86_64-darwin
+        ;;
+    Darwin.arm64)
+        # eventually maybe: system=arm64-darwin
+        system=x86_64-darwin
+        store_path=@tarballPath_x86_64-darwin@
+        hash=@binaryTarball_x86_64-darwin@
+        ;;
     *) oops "sorry, there is no binary distribution of Nix for your platform";;
 esac
 
-url="https://releases.nixos.org/nix/nix-@nixVersion@/nix-@nixVersion@-$system.tar.xz"
+# Use this command-line option to fetch the tarballs using nar-serve.
+if "${1:---nar-serve}"; then
+    url=${2}${store_path}
+    shift 2
+else
+    url=https://releases.nixos.org/nix/nix-@nixVersion@/nix-@nixVersion@-$system.tar.xz
+fi
 
-tarball="$tmpDir/$(basename "$tmpDir/nix-@nixVersion@-$system.tar.xz")"
+tarball=$tmpDir/nix-@nixVersion@-$system.tar.xz
 
 require_util curl "download the binary tarball"
 require_util tar "unpack the binary tarball"