diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/activation/bootspec.nix b/nixos/modules/system/activation/bootspec.nix
index 99cc6f537497..da76bf9084af 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/activation/bootspec.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/activation/bootspec.nix
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ let
               .v1.init = $init
             ''
             "--sort-keys"
-            "--arg" "toplevel" "$out"
-            "--arg" "init" "$out/init"
+            "--arg" "toplevel" "${placeholder "out"}"
+            "--arg" "init" "${placeholder "out"}/init"
           ] + " < ${json}";
 
           # We slurp all specialisations and inject them as values, such that