diff --git a/doc/functions/library/attrsets.xml b/doc/functions/library/attrsets.xml
index b1ea05a2381..3c5823c2589 100644
--- a/doc/functions/library/attrsets.xml
+++ b/doc/functions/library/attrsets.xml
@@ -1667,4 +1667,48 @@ recursiveUpdate
 ]]></programlisting>
   </example>
  </section>
+
+ <section xml:id="function-library-lib.attrsets.recurseIntoAttrs">
+  <title><function>lib.attrsets.recurseIntoAttrs</function></title>
+
+  <subtitle><literal>recurseIntoAttrs :: AttrSet -> AttrSet</literal>
+  </subtitle>
+
+  <xi:include href="./locations.xml" xpointer="lib.attrsets.recurseIntoAttrs" />
+
+  <para>
+   Make various Nix tools consider the contents of the resulting
+   attribute set when looking for what to build, find, etc.
+  </para>
+
+  <para>
+   This function only affects a single attribute set; it does not apply itself recursively for nested attribute sets.
+  </para>
+
+  <variablelist>
+   <varlistentry>
+    <term>
+     <varname>attrs</varname>
+    </term>
+    <listitem>
+     <para>
+      An attribute set to scan for derivations.
+     </para>
+    </listitem>
+   </varlistentry>
+  </variablelist>
+
+  <example xml:id="function-library-lib.attrsets.recurseIntoAttrs-example">
+   <title>Making Nix look inside an attribute set</title>
+<programlisting><![CDATA[
+{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }:
+{
+  myTools = pkgs.lib.recurseIntoAttrs {
+    inherit (pkgs) hello figlet;
+  };
+}
+]]></programlisting>
+  </example>
+ </section>
+
 </section>
diff --git a/lib/attrsets.nix b/lib/attrsets.nix
index 32994432d53..72430522f7d 100644
--- a/lib/attrsets.nix
+++ b/lib/attrsets.nix
@@ -473,6 +473,20 @@ rec {
   /* Pick the outputs of packages to place in buildInputs */
   chooseDevOutputs = drvs: builtins.map getDev drvs;
 
+  /* Make various Nix tools consider the contents of the resulting
+     attribute set when looking for what to build, find, etc.
+
+     This function only affects a single attribute set; it does not
+     apply itself recursively for nested attribute sets.
+   */
+  recurseIntoAttrs =
+    attrs: attrs // { recurseForDerivations = true; };
+
+  /* Undo the effect of recurseIntoAttrs.
+   */
+  dontRecurseIntoAttrs =
+    attrs: attrs // { recurseForDerivations = false; };
+
   /*** deprecated stuff ***/
 
   zipWithNames = zipAttrsWithNames;
diff --git a/lib/default.nix b/lib/default.nix
index d2fe018aa6a..f8cc5c4d816 100644
--- a/lib/default.nix
+++ b/lib/default.nix
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@ let
       genAttrs isDerivation toDerivation optionalAttrs
       zipAttrsWithNames zipAttrsWith zipAttrs recursiveUpdateUntil
       recursiveUpdate matchAttrs overrideExisting getOutput getBin
-      getLib getDev chooseDevOutputs zipWithNames zip;
+      getLib getDev chooseDevOutputs zipWithNames zip
+      recurseIntoAttrs dontRecurseIntoAttrs;
     inherit (lists) singleton forEach foldr fold foldl foldl' imap0 imap1
       concatMap flatten remove findSingle findFirst any all count
       optional optionals toList range partition zipListsWith zipLists
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index c7bfb8a7acf..839ca5a4d40 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -62,9 +62,7 @@ in
 
   inherit (lib) lowPrio hiPrio appendToName makeOverridable;
 
-  # Applying this to an attribute set will cause nix-env to look
-  # inside the set for derivations.
-  recurseIntoAttrs = attrs: attrs // { recurseForDerivations = true; };
+  inherit (lib) recurseIntoAttrs;
 
   # This is intended to be the reverse of recurseIntoAttrs, as it is
   # defined now it exists mainly for documentation purposes, but you
@@ -72,7 +70,7 @@ in
   # the Attrs which is useful for testing massive changes. Ideally,
   # every package subset not marked with recurseIntoAttrs should be
   # marked with this.
-  dontRecurseIntoAttrs = x: x;
+  inherit (lib) dontRecurseIntoAttrs;
 
   stringsWithDeps = lib.stringsWithDeps;