diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/finance/odoo.nix b/nixos/modules/services/finance/odoo.nix
index 45fb9c7c2397..074617d35e3d 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/finance/odoo.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/finance/odoo.nix
@@ -20,6 +20,17 @@ in
         description = "Odoo addons.";
       };
 
+      autoInit = mkEnableOption "automatically initialize the DB";
+
+      autoInitExtraFlags = mkOption {
+        type = with types; listOf str;
+        default = [ ];
+        example = literalExpression /*nix*/ ''
+          [ "--without-demo=all" ]
+        '';
+        description = "Extra flags passed to odoo when run for the first time by autoInit";
+      };
+
       settings = mkOption {
         type = format.type;
         default = {};
@@ -84,8 +95,11 @@ in
     };
 
     services.odoo.settings.options = {
+      data_dir = "/var/lib/private/odoo/data";
       proxy_mode = cfg.domain != null;
-    };
+    } // (lib.optionalAttrs (cfg.addons != []) {
+      addons_path = concatMapStringsSep "," escapeShellArg cfg.addons;
+    });
 
     users.users.odoo = {
       isSystemUser = true;
@@ -101,12 +115,40 @@ in
       path = [ config.services.postgresql.package ];
 
       requires = [ "postgresql.service" ];
-      script = "HOME=$STATE_DIRECTORY ${cfg.package}/bin/odoo ${optionalString (cfg.addons != []) "--addons-path=${concatMapStringsSep "," escapeShellArg cfg.addons}"} -c ${cfgFile}";
 
       serviceConfig = {
+        ExecStart = "${cfg.package}/bin/odoo";
+        ExecStartPre = pkgs.writeShellScript "odoo-start-pre.sh" (
+          ''
+          set -euo pipefail
+
+          cd "$STATE_DIRECTORY"
+
+          # Auto-migrate old deployments
+          if [[ -d .local/share/Odoo ]]; then
+            echo "pre-start: migrating state directory from $STATE_DIRECTORY/.local/share/Odoo to $STATE_DIRECTORY/data"
+            mv .local/share/Odoo ./data
+            rmdir .local/share
+            rmdir .local
+          fi
+          ''
+          + (lib.optionalString cfg.autoInit
+          ''
+          echo "pre-start: auto-init"
+          INITIALIZED="${cfg.settings.options.data_dir}/.odoo.initialized"
+          if [ ! -e "$INITIALIZED" ]; then
+            ${cfg.package}/bin/odoo  --init=INIT --database=odoo --db_user=odoo --stop-after-init ${concatStringsSep " " cfg.autoInitExtraFlags}
+            touch "$INITIALIZED"
+          fi
+          '')
+          + "echo pre-start: OK"
+        );
         DynamicUser = true;
         User = "odoo";
         StateDirectory = "odoo";
+        Environment = [
+          "ODOO_RC=${cfgFile}"
+        ];
       };
     };
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/odoo.nix b/nixos/tests/odoo.nix
index 45ec7b7d7a6b..d3764cbc9f0b 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/odoo.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/odoo.nix
@@ -12,20 +12,10 @@ import ./make-test-python.nix ({ pkgs, lib, package ? pkgs.odoo, ...} : {
       services.odoo = {
         enable = true;
         package = package;
+        autoInit = true;
+        autoInitExtraFlags = [ "--without-demo=all" ];
         domain = "localhost";
       };
-
-      # odoo does not automatically initialize its database,
-      # even if passing what _should_ be the equivalent of these options:
-      #  settings = {
-      #    options = {
-      #      database = "odoo";
-      #      init = "base";
-      #    };
-      #  };
-      systemd.services.odoo.preStart = ''
-        HOME=$STATE_DIRECTORY ${package}/bin/odoo -d odoo -i base --stop-after-init --without-demo all
-      '';
     };
   };
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/od/odoo/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/od/odoo/package.nix
index bf86f819290e..fe3a7aed3681 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/od/odoo/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/od/odoo/package.nix
@@ -52,12 +52,14 @@ in python.pkgs.buildPythonApplication rec {
     docutils-0_17  # sphinx has a docutils requirement >= 18
     ebaysdk
     freezegun
+    geoip2
     gevent
     greenlet
     idna
     jinja2
     libsass
     lxml
+    lxml-html-clean
     markupsafe
     num2words
     ofxparse