diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/writers/scripts.nix b/pkgs/build-support/writers/scripts.nix
index 560681e4c4ae..bb649db24575 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/writers/scripts.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/writers/scripts.nix
@@ -1095,6 +1095,14 @@ rec {
   */
   writeJSBin = name: writeJS "/bin/${name}";
 
+  awkFormatNginx = builtins.toFile "awkFormat-nginx.awk" ''
+    awk -f
+    {sub(/^[ \t]+/,"");idx=0}
+    /\{/{ctx++;idx=1}
+    /\}/{ctx--}
+    {id="";for(i=idx;i<ctx;i++)id=sprintf("%s%s", id, "\t");printf "%s%s\n", id, $0}
+  '';
+
   writeNginxConfig =
     name: text:
     pkgs.runCommandLocal name
@@ -1104,9 +1112,8 @@ rec {
         nativeBuildInputs = [ gixy ];
       } # sh
       ''
-        cp "$textPath" $out
-        ${lib.getExe pkgs.nginx-config-formatter} --max-empty-lines 0 $out
-        ${lib.getExe pkgs.gnused} -i 's/ ;/;/g' $out
+        # nginx-config-formatter has an error - https://github.com/1connect/nginx-config-formatter/issues/16
+        awk -f ${awkFormatNginx} "$textPath" | sed '/^\s*$/d' > $out
         gixy $out || (echo "\n\nThis can be caused by combining multiple incompatible services on the same hostname.\n\nFull merged config:\n\n"; cat $out; exit 1)
       '';