diff --git a/.github/workflows/basic-eval.yml b/.github/workflows/basic-eval.yml
index 5a8f20eb711d..b3a85c297925 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/basic-eval.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/basic-eval.yml
@@ -26,5 +26,6 @@ jobs:
         # This cache is for the nixpkgs repo checks and should not be trusted or used elsewhere.
         name: nixpkgs-ci
         signingKey: '${{ secrets.CACHIX_SIGNING_KEY }}'
+    - run: nix --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' flake check --all-systems --no-build
     # explicit list of supportedSystems is needed until aarch64-darwin becomes part of the trunk jobset
     - run: nix-build pkgs/top-level/release.nix -A release-checks --arg supportedSystems '[ "aarch64-darwin" "aarch64-linux" "x86_64-linux" "x86_64-darwin"  ]'
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 950eb2b5c4d1..9873c1c94971 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -80,8 +80,17 @@
 
       checks = forAllSystems (system: {
         tarball = jobs.${system}.tarball;
-        # Exclude power64 due to "libressl is not available on the requested hostPlatform" with hostPlatform being power64
-      } // lib.optionalAttrs (self.legacyPackages.${system}.stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux && !self.legacyPackages.${system}.targetPlatform.isPower64) {
+      } // lib.optionalAttrs
+        (
+          self.legacyPackages.${system}.stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux
+          # Exclude power64 due to "libressl is not available on the requested hostPlatform" with hostPlatform being power64
+          && !self.legacyPackages.${system}.targetPlatform.isPower64
+          # Exclude armv6l-linux due to "cannot bootstrap GHC on this platform ('armv6l-linux' with libc 'defaultLibc')"
+          && system != "armv6l-linux"
+          # Exclude riscv64-linux due to "cannot bootstrap GHC on this platform ('riscv64-linux' with libc 'defaultLibc')"
+          && system != "riscv64-linux"
+        )
+      {
         # Test that ensures that the nixosSystem function can accept a lib argument
         # Note: prefer not to extend or modify `lib`, especially if you want to share reusable modules
         #       alternatives include: `import` a file, or put a custom library in an option or in `_module.args.<libname>`
@@ -111,10 +120,20 @@
         }).nixos.manual;
       };
 
-      devShells = forAllSystems (system: {
-        /** A shell to get tooling for Nixpkgs development. See nixpkgs/shell.nix. */
-        default = import ./shell.nix { inherit system; };
-      });
+      devShells = forAllSystems (system:
+        { } // lib.optionalAttrs
+          (
+            # Exclude armv6l-linux because "Package ‘ghc-9.6.6’ in .../pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/common-hadrian.nix:579 is not available on the requested hostPlatform"
+            system != "armv6l-linux"
+            # Exclude riscv64-linux because "Package ‘ghc-9.6.6’ in .../pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/common-hadrian.nix:579 is not available on the requested hostPlatform"
+            && system != "riscv64-linux"
+            # Exclude FreeBSD because "Package ‘ghc-9.6.6’ in .../pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/common-hadrian.nix:579 is not available on the requested hostPlatform"
+            && !self.legacyPackages.${system}.stdenv.hostPlatform.isFreeBSD
+          )
+        {
+          /** A shell to get tooling for Nixpkgs development. See nixpkgs/shell.nix. */
+          default = import ./shell.nix { inherit system; };
+        });
 
       /**
         A nested structure of [packages](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/latest/glossary#package-attribute-set) and other values.