diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/terra/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/terra/default.nix
index c4e697f2f1e..371009af5ff 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/terra/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/terra/default.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   outputs = [ "bin" "dev" "out" "static" ];
 
+  patches = [ ./nix-cflags.patch ];
+
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace Makefile --replace \
       '-lcurses' '-lncurses'
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/terra/nix-cflags.patch b/pkgs/development/compilers/terra/nix-cflags.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..be9b6a61088
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/terra/nix-cflags.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+diff --git a/src/terralib.lua b/src/terralib.lua
+index 351238d..f26591b 100644
+--- a/src/terralib.lua
++++ b/src/terralib.lua
+@@ -3395,6 +3395,14 @@ function terra.includecstring(code,cargs,target)
+     	args:insert("-internal-isystem")
+     	args:insert(path)
+     end
++
++    -- NOTE(aseipp): include relevant Nix header files
++    local nix_cflags = os.getenv('NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE')
++    if nix_cflags ~= nil then
++        for w in nix_cflags:gmatch("%S+") do
++          args:insert(w)
++        end
++    end
+     
+     if cargs then
+         args:insertall(cargs)