diff --git a/maintainers/scripts/pluginupdate.py b/maintainers/scripts/pluginupdate.py
index 2a9a2d4c0a23..2c2cb3b6dd36 100644
--- a/maintainers/scripts/pluginupdate.py
+++ b/maintainers/scripts/pluginupdate.py
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ class CleanEnvironment(object):
 
 def get_current_plugins(editor: Editor) -> List[Plugin]:
     with CleanEnvironment():
-        cmd = ["nix", "eval", "--json", editor.get_plugins]
+        cmd = ["nix", "eval", "--impure", "--json", "--expr", editor.get_plugins]
         log.debug("Running command %s", cmd)
         out = subprocess.check_output(cmd)
     data = json.loads(out)
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/kakoune/plugins/update-shell.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/kakoune/plugins/update-shell.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ca83f09c7154
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/kakoune/plugins/update-shell.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{ pkgs ? import ../../../../.. { } }:
+
+with pkgs;
+let
+  pyEnv = python3.withPackages (ps: [ ps.GitPython ]);
+in
+
+mkShell {
+  packages = [
+    bash
+    pyEnv
+    nix
+    nix-prefetch-scripts
+  ];
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/kakoune/plugins/update.py b/pkgs/applications/editors/kakoune/plugins/update.py
index 40a28d9afe2c..9f5f64f9e5b3 100755
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/kakoune/plugins/update.py
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/kakoune/plugins/update.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env nix-shell
-#!nix-shell -p nix-prefetch-git -p python3 -p python3Packages.GitPython nix -i python3
+#!nix-shell update-shell.nix -i python3
 
 # format:
 # $ nix run nixpkgs.python3Packages.black -c black update.py
diff --git a/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/update-shell.nix b/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/update-shell.nix
index 18b5b1a37c5f..e1b727c49e04 100644
--- a/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/update-shell.nix
+++ b/pkgs/misc/vim-plugins/update-shell.nix
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
-{ nixpkgs ? import ../../.. { } }:
-with nixpkgs;
+{ pkgs ? import ../../.. { } }:
+
+with pkgs;
 let
-  pyEnv = python3.withPackages(ps: [ ps.GitPython ]);
+  pyEnv = python3.withPackages (ps: [ ps.GitPython ]);
 in
+
 mkShell {
   packages = [
     bash
     pyEnv
-    nix_2_3
+    nix
     nix-prefetch-scripts
   ];
 }
-