diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/plyvel/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/plyvel/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..21561fab035
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/plyvel/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+{ stdenv
+, buildPythonPackage
+, fetchPypi
+, pkgs
+, pytest
+, isPy3k
+}:
+
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  pname = "plyvel";
+  version = "0.9";
+
+  src = fetchPypi {
+    inherit pname version;
+    sha256 = "1scq75qyks9vmjd19bx57f2y60mkdr44ajvb12p3cjg439l96zaq";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [ pkgs.leveldb ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional isPy3k pytest;
+
+  # no tests for python2
+  doCheck = isPy3k;
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    description = "Fast and feature-rich Python interface to LevelDB";
+    homepage = https://github.com/wbolster/plyvel;
+    license = licenses.bsd3;
+  };
+
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index ee2f0043978..dc6d8732f10 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -3006,26 +3006,7 @@ in {
 
   ply = callPackage ../development/python-modules/ply { };
 
-  plyvel = buildPythonPackage (rec {
-    name = "plyvel-0.9";
-
-    src = pkgs.fetchurl {
-      url = "mirror://pypi/p/plyvel/${name}.tar.gz";
-      sha256 = "1scq75qyks9vmjd19bx57f2y60mkdr44ajvb12p3cjg439l96zaq";
-    };
-
-    buildInputs = with self; [ pkgs.leveldb ]
-                            ++ optional isPy3k pytest;
-
-    # no tests for python2
-    doCheck = isPy3k;
-
-    meta = {
-      description = "Fast and feature-rich Python interface to LevelDB";
-      homepage = https://github.com/wbolster/plyvel;
-      license = licenses.bsd3;
-    };
-  });
+  plyvel = callPackage ../development/python-modules/plyvel { };
 
   osc = buildPythonPackage {
     name = "osc-0.162.0-55-gb730f88";