diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/hnswlib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/hnswlib/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c3a543972e06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/hnswlib/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+{ lib
+, stdenv
+, fetchFromGitHub
+, cmake
+, python3
+}:
+let
+  python = python3.withPackages(ps: with ps; [
+    numpy
+  ]);
+in
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
+  pname = "hnswlib";
+  version = "0.7.0";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "nmslib";
+    repo = "hnswlib";
+    rev = "refs/tags/v${finalAttrs.version}";
+    hash = "sha256-XXz0NIQ5dCGwcX2HtbK5NFTalP0TjLO6ll6TmH3oflI=";
+  };
+
+  # this is a header-only library, so we don't need to build it
+  # we need `cmake` only to run tests
+  nativeBuildInputs = lib.optionals finalAttrs.doCheck [
+    cmake
+    python
+  ];
+
+  # we only want to run buildPhase when we run tests
+  dontBuild = !finalAttrs.doCheck;
+
+  installPhase = ''
+    runHook preInstall
+
+    install -Dm644 $src/hnswlib/*.h -t $out/include/hnswlib
+
+    runHook postInstall
+  '';
+
+  doCheck = true;
+
+  preCheck = ''
+    pushd ../tests/cpp
+    ${python.interpreter} update_gen_data.py
+    popd
+  '';
+
+  checkPhase = ''
+    runHook preCheck
+
+    ./test_updates
+
+    runHook postCheck
+  '';
+
+  meta = with lib; {
+    description = "Header-only C++/python library for fast approximate nearest neighbors";
+    homepage = "https://github.com/nmslib/hnswlib";
+    changelog = "https://github.com/nmslib/hnswlib/releases/tag/${finalAttrs.src.rev}";
+    license = licenses.asl20;
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ natsukium ];
+    platforms = platforms.unix;
+  };
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index d19a2ca33e57..4c48b73f18c0 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -21273,6 +21273,8 @@ with pkgs;
 
   graphinder = callPackage ../tools/security/graphinder { };
 
+  hnswlib = callPackage ../development/libraries/hnswlib { };
+
   httplib = callPackage ../development/libraries/httplib { };
 
   icon-lang = callPackage ../development/interpreters/icon-lang { };