diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/search/meilisearch.md b/nixos/modules/services/search/meilisearch.md
index 5f906ae9ed96..4db76aae4d70 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/search/meilisearch.md
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/search/meilisearch.md
@@ -38,4 +38,6 @@ you first need to add documents to an index before you can search for documents.
 
 - `dump_dir` and `snapshot_dir` are set to `/var/lib/meilisearch/dumps` and `/var/lib/meilisearch/snapshots`, respectively. This is equivalent to the upstream defaults.
 
+- `experimental_dumpless_upgrade` is set to true by default in order to allow unattended upgrades.
+
 - All other options inherit their upstream defaults. In particular, the default configuration uses `env = "development"`, which doesn't require a master key, in which case all routes are unprotected.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/search/meilisearch.nix b/nixos/modules/services/search/meilisearch.nix
index fd0dccbb306f..326e89e62fc1 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/search/meilisearch.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/search/meilisearch.nix
@@ -179,6 +179,9 @@ in
 
       # this is intentionally different from upstream's default.
       no_analytics = lib.mkDefault true;
+
+      # allow updating without manual intervention
+      experimental_dumpless_upgrade = lib.mkDefault true;
     };
 
     # used to restore dumps