diff --git a/maintainers/maintainer-list.nix b/maintainers/maintainer-list.nix
index 194494249268..098c69bf975b 100644
--- a/maintainers/maintainer-list.nix
+++ b/maintainers/maintainer-list.nix
@@ -19693,6 +19693,12 @@
     githubId = 821972;
     name = "Parth Mehrotra";
   };
+  parthiv-krishna = {
+    email = "nixpkgs@parthiv.cc";
+    github = "parthiv-krishna";
+    githubId = 20658472;
+    name = "Parthiv Krishna";
+  };
   pascalj = {
     email = "nix@pascalj.de";
     github = "pascalj";
diff --git a/nixos/tests/homepage-dashboard.nix b/nixos/tests/homepage-dashboard.nix
index 35165f650e9d..d72ebc215295 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/homepage-dashboard.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/homepage-dashboard.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 { lib, ... }:
 {
   name = "homepage-dashboard";
-  meta.maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ ];
+  meta.maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ parthiv-krishna ];
 
   nodes.machine = _: {
     services.homepage-dashboard = {
@@ -21,10 +21,23 @@
           ];
         }
       ];
+      services = [
+        {
+          Machines = [
+            {
+              Localhost = {
+                ping = "127.0.0.1";
+              };
+            }
+          ];
+        }
+      ];
     };
   };
 
   testScript = ''
+    import json
+
     # Ensure the services are started on managed machine
     machine.wait_for_unit("homepage-dashboard.service")
     machine.wait_for_open_port(8082)
@@ -40,5 +53,9 @@
     # Ensure that we see the custom bookmarks on the page
     page = machine.succeed("curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:8082/api/bookmarks")
     assert "nixpkgs" in page, "Custom bookmarks not found"
+
+    # Ensure that the ping command works
+    response = machine.succeed("curl --fail \"http://localhost:8082/api/ping?groupName=Machines&serviceName=Localhost\"")
+    assert json.loads(response)["alive"] is True, "Ping to localhost failed"
   '';
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ho/homepage-dashboard/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ho/homepage-dashboard/package.nix
index 6428c52261d6..b5f753af768d 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ho/homepage-dashboard/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ho/homepage-dashboard/package.nix
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
   pnpm_10,
   python3,
   stdenv,
+  unixtools,
   cctools,
   lib,
   nixosTests,
@@ -89,7 +90,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
       --set-default PORT 3000 \
       --set-default HOMEPAGE_CONFIG_DIR /var/lib/homepage-dashboard \
       --set-default NIXPKGS_HOMEPAGE_CACHE_DIR /var/cache/homepage-dashboard \
-      --add-flags "$out/share/homepage/server.js"
+      --add-flags "$out/share/homepage/server.js" \
+      --set PATH "${lib.makeBinPath [ unixtools.ping ]}"
 
     ${if enableLocalIcons then installLocalIcons else ""}
 
@@ -111,7 +113,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     mainProgram = "homepage";
     homepage = "https://gethomepage.dev";
     license = lib.licenses.gpl3;
-    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ ];
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ parthiv-krishna ];
     platforms = lib.platforms.all;
   };
 })