diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/nix-serve.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/nix-serve.nix
index 3e865e3b76a..8499e7c0f7c 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/nix-serve.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/nix-serve.nix
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ in
       environment.NIX_SECRET_KEY_FILE = cfg.secretKeyFile;
 
       serviceConfig = {
+        Restart = "always";
+        RestartSec = "5s";
         ExecStart = "${pkgs.nix-serve}/bin/nix-serve " +
           "--listen ${cfg.bindAddress}:${toString cfg.port} ${cfg.extraParams}";
         User = "nix-serve";
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-serve/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-serve/default.nix
index 1e3579b197e..dadcab1ea4f 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-serve/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-serve/default.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     inherit rev sha256;
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ bzip2 perl nix ]
+  buildInputs = [ bzip2 perl nix nix.perl-bindings ]
     ++ (with perlPackages; [ DBI DBDSQLite Plack Starman ]);
 
   dontBuild = true;