diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/package.nix
index ff4638e104d5..4cad77577500 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/package.nix
@@ -14,17 +14,23 @@
   stdenv,
   xdg-utils,
   versionCheckHook,
+
+  version ? "1.6.1",
+  srcHash ? "sha256-7kwtWuYdYG3MDHThCkY5OZmx4pWaQXMYoOlJszmV2rM=",
+  cargoHash ? "sha256-59RyfSUJNoQ7EtQK3OSYOIO/YVEjeeM9ovbojHFX4pI=",
+  updateScript ? ./update.sh,
 }:
 
 rustPlatform.buildRustPackage (finalAttrs: {
+  inherit version cargoHash;
+
   pname = "radicle-node";
-  version = "1.6.1";
 
   src = fetchFromRadicle {
     seed = "seed.radicle.xyz";
     repo = "z3gqcJUoA1n9HaHKufZs5FCSGazv5";
     tag = "releases/${finalAttrs.version}";
-    hash = "sha256-7kwtWuYdYG3MDHThCkY5OZmx4pWaQXMYoOlJszmV2rM=";
+    hash = srcHash;
     leaveDotGit = true;
     postFetch = ''
       git -C $out rev-parse HEAD > $out/.git_head
@@ -33,8 +39,6 @@ rustPlatform.buildRustPackage (finalAttrs: {
     '';
   };
 
-  cargoHash = "sha256-59RyfSUJNoQ7EtQK3OSYOIO/YVEjeeM9ovbojHFX4pI=";
-
   env.RADICLE_VERSION = finalAttrs.version;
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
@@ -112,34 +116,40 @@ rustPlatform.buildRustPackage (finalAttrs: {
     done
   '';
 
-  passthru.updateScript = ./update.sh;
-  passthru.tests = {
-    basic =
-      runCommand "radicle-node-basic-test"
-        {
-          nativeBuildInputs = [
-            jq
-            openssh
-            finalAttrs.finalPackage
-          ];
-        }
-        ''
-          set -e
-          export RAD_HOME="$PWD/.radicle"
-          mkdir -p "$RAD_HOME/keys"
-          ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N "" -f "$RAD_HOME/keys/radicle" > /dev/null
-          jq -n '.node.alias |= "nix"' > "$RAD_HOME/config.json"
+  passthru = {
+    inherit updateScript;
+    tests = {
+      basic =
+        runCommand "radicle-node-basic-test"
+          {
+            nativeBuildInputs = [
+              jq
+              openssh
+              finalAttrs.finalPackage
+            ];
+          }
+          ''
+            set -e
+            export RAD_HOME="$PWD/.radicle"
+            mkdir -p "$RAD_HOME/keys"
+            ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N "" -f "$RAD_HOME/keys/radicle" > /dev/null
+            jq -n '.node.alias |= "nix"' > "$RAD_HOME/config.json"
 
-          rad config > /dev/null
-          rad debug | jq -e '
-              (.sshVersion | contains("${openssh.version}"))
-            and
-              (.gitVersion | contains("${gitMinimal.version}"))
-          '
+            rad config > /dev/null
+            rad debug | jq -e '
+                (.sshVersion | contains("${openssh.version}"))
+              and
+                (.gitVersion | contains("${gitMinimal.version}"))
+            '
 
-          touch $out
-        '';
-    nixos-run = nixosTests.radicle;
+            touch $out
+          '';
+      nixos-run = nixosTests.radicle.extendNixOS {
+        module = {
+          services.radicle.package = finalAttrs.finalPackage;
+        };
+      };
+    };
   };
 
   meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/unstable.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/unstable.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2f2fd8f30a34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/unstable.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{ radicle-node }:
+
+radicle-node.override {
+  version = "1.7.0-rc.1";
+  srcHash = "sha256-eq7rUzTbmPb0pRfcFnWP4vrbCTbXW9N4BleDCMUnLH8=";
+  cargoHash = "sha256-OkgWdu+7FY1tq0bjMbhjqjlJT9ZUgR8i12LhqyFJi+A=";
+  updateScript = ./update-unstable.sh;
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/update-unstable.sh b/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/update-unstable.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..217b0c1d0677
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/update-unstable.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env nix-shell
+#!nix-shell -i bash -p coreutils gnugrep common-updater-scripts nix-update
+
+version=$(list-git-tags | grep -oP '^releases/\K\d+\.\d+\.\d+.*' | sort -rV | head -1)
+nix-update --version="$version" radicle-node-unstable --override-filename pkgs/by-name/ra/radicle-node/unstable.nix
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 4513c42b61ac..f31cf6131caa 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -12524,6 +12524,8 @@ with pkgs;
 
   xp-pen-deco-01-v2-driver = libsForQt5.xp-pen-deco-01-v2-driver;
 
+  radicle-node-unstable = callPackage ../by-name/ra/radicle-node/unstable.nix { };
+
   newlib-nano = newlib.override {
     nanoizeNewlib = true;
   };