diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/rambox/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/rambox/default.nix
index 2e574fae8fa..1523d16be56 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/rambox/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/rambox/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, newScope, makeWrapper, electron, xdg_utils }:
+{ stdenv, newScope, makeWrapper, electron, xdg_utils, makeDesktopItem }:
 
 let
   callPackage = newScope self;
@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ let
     rambox-bare = callPackage ./bare.nix {};
     sencha = callPackage ./sencha {};
   };
+  desktopItem = makeDesktopItem rec {
+    name = "Rambox";
+    exec = "rambox";
+    icon = "${self.rambox-bare}/resources/Icon.png";
+    desktopName = name;
+    genericName = "Rambox messenger";
+    categories = "Network;";
+  };
 in
 
 with self;
@@ -22,5 +30,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     makeWrapper ${electron}/bin/electron $out/bin/rambox \
       --add-flags "${rambox-bare} --without-update" \
       --prefix PATH : ${xdg_utils}/bin
+    mkdir -p $out/share/applications
+    ln -s ${desktopItem}/share/applications/* $out/share/applications
   '';
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/rambox/sencha/bare.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/rambox/sencha/bare.nix
index 9b4a718ed23..5f68e6d8629 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/rambox/sencha/bare.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/instant-messengers/rambox/sencha/bare.nix
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   installPhase = ''
     ./SenchaCmd*.sh -q -dir $out -varfile response.varfile
+    # disallow sencha writing into /nix/store/repo
+    echo "repo.local.dir=$TMP/repo" >> $out/sencha.cfg
     rm $out/shell-wrapper.sh $out/Uninstaller
   '';