diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/metals/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/metals/default.nix
index cf9ce2bd265..5f4af626877 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/metals/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/metals/default.nix
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   installPhase = ''
     mkdir -p $out/bin
 
+    # This variant is not targeted at any particular client, clients are
+    # expected to declare their supported features in initialization options.
+    makeWrapper ${jre}/bin/java $out/bin/metals \
+      --prefix PATH : ${lib.makeBinPath [ jdk ]} \
+      --add-flags "${extraJavaOpts} -cp $CLASSPATH scala.meta.metals.Main"
+
+    # Further variants targeted at clients with featuresets pre-set.
     makeWrapper ${jre}/bin/java $out/bin/metals-emacs \
       --prefix PATH : ${lib.makeBinPath [ jdk ]} \
       --add-flags "${extraJavaOpts} -Dmetals.client=emacs -cp $CLASSPATH scala.meta.metals.Main"