diff --git a/doc/release-notes/rl-2605.section.md b/doc/release-notes/rl-2605.section.md
index c8fe37231dc0..070ecd31851d 100644
--- a/doc/release-notes/rl-2605.section.md
+++ b/doc/release-notes/rl-2605.section.md
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@
 
 - Added `dell-bios-fan-control` package and service.
 
+- `openrgb` was updated to 1.0rc2, which now uses Plugin API version 4.
+  Some existing OpenRGB plugins may be incompatible or require updates.
+
 - We now use the upstream wrapper script for Gradle, supporting both the `JAVA_HOME` and `GRADLE_OPTS` environment variables.
 
 ## Nixpkgs Library {#sec-nixpkgs-release-26.05-lib}
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/package.nix
index b17b02be65b9..a014e40cf1f7 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/package.nix
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@
   lib,
   stdenv,
   fetchFromGitLab,
+  fetchpatch,
   libusb1,
   hidapi,
   pkg-config,
   coreutils,
+  makeBinaryWrapper,
   mbedtls,
   symlinkJoin,
   qt6Packages,
@@ -13,17 +15,22 @@
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   pname = "openrgb";
-  version = "0.9";
+  version = "1.0rc2";
 
   src = fetchFromGitLab {
     owner = "CalcProgrammer1";
     repo = "OpenRGB";
-    rev = "release_${finalAttrs.version}";
-    hash = "sha256-XBLj4EfupyeVHRc0pVI7hrXFoCNJ7ak2yO0QSfhBsGU=";
+    tag = "release_candidate_${finalAttrs.version}";
+    hash = "sha256-vdIA9i1ewcrfX5U7FkcRR+ISdH5uRi9fz9YU5IkPKJQ=";
   };
 
   patches = [
-    ./qlist-include.patch
+    ./system-plugins-env.patch
+    (fetchpatch {
+      name = "Install-systemd-service-under-PREFIX.patch";
+      url = "https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB/-/commit/b58b3c0402131918b3b988631f42617020df9346.patch";
+      hash = "sha256-q5i5BNjaLbsXSYEXKQOR/cMm5ExckmW1n2r9H0j09T0=";
+    })
   ];
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
@@ -48,7 +55,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   postPatch = ''
     patchShebangs scripts/build-udev-rules.sh
     substituteInPlace scripts/build-udev-rules.sh \
-      --replace-fail /bin/chmod "${coreutils}/bin/chmod"
+      --replace-fail '/usr/bin/env chmod' ${lib.getExe' coreutils "chmod"}
+  '';
+
+  postInstall = ''
+    substituteInPlace "$out/lib/systemd/system/openrgb.service" \
+      --replace-fail /usr/bin/openrgb "$out/bin/openrgb"
   '';
 
   doInstallCheck = true;
@@ -71,31 +83,34 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   passthru.withPlugins =
     plugins:
-    let
-      pluginsDir = symlinkJoin {
-        name = "openrgb-plugins";
-        paths = plugins;
-        # Remove all library version symlinks except one,
-        # or they will result in duplicates in the UI.
-        # We leave the one pointing to the actual library, usually the most
-        # qualified one (eg. libOpenRGBHardwareSyncPlugin.so.1.0.0).
-        postBuild = ''
-          for f in $out/lib/*; do
-            if [ "$(dirname $(readlink "$f"))" == "." ]; then
-              rm "$f"
-            fi
-          done
-        '';
-      };
-    in
-    finalAttrs.finalPackage.overrideAttrs (old: {
-      qmakeFlags = old.qmakeFlags or [ ] ++ [
-        # Welcome to Escape Hell, we have backslashes
-        ''DEFINES+=OPENRGB_EXTRA_PLUGIN_DIRECTORY=\\\""${
-          lib.escape [ "\\" "\"" " " ] (toString pluginsDir)
-        }/lib\\\""''
-      ];
-    });
+    symlinkJoin {
+      inherit (finalAttrs) version meta;
+      pname = finalAttrs.pname + "-with-plugins";
+      nativeBuildInputs = [ makeBinaryWrapper ];
+      paths = [ finalAttrs.finalPackage ] ++ plugins;
+      postBuild = ''
+        wrapProgram "$out/bin/openrgb" \
+          --set OPENRGB_SYSTEM_PLUGIN_DIRECTORY "$out/lib/openrgb/plugins"
+
+        # Update systemd service to use wrapped package
+        service_file="$out/lib/systemd/system/openrgb.service"
+        substitute "$service_file" openrgb.service \
+          --replace-fail ${finalAttrs.finalPackage} "$out"
+        mv --force openrgb.service "$service_file"
+
+        # Check for unhandled references to the base package
+        if grep \
+            --dereference-recursive \
+            --binary-files=without-match \
+            --fixed-strings \
+             ${finalAttrs.finalPackage} \
+             "$out"
+        then
+          echo "ERROR: unexpected reference to base package"
+          exit 1
+        fi
+      '';
+    };
 
   meta = {
     description = "Open source RGB lighting control";
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/qlist-include.patch b/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/qlist-include.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 52fb6772cf71..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/qlist-include.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-Commit ID: 2fa7aa0ec87d9878293033db0e86bb62cddc47df
-Change ID: mvrytuwvnokxyvmuworxptmtqpqpppxq
-Author   : Marie Ramlow <me@nycode.dev> (2025-10-11 12:10:21)
-Committer: Marie Ramlow <me@nycode.dev> (2025-10-11 12:17:20)
-
-    OpenRGBFont: add QList include
-
-diff --git a/qt/OpenRGBFont.cpp b/qt/OpenRGBFont.cpp
-index 628bd35281..db1ab5fb76 100644
---- a/qt/OpenRGBFont.cpp
-+++ b/qt/OpenRGBFont.cpp
-@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
-+#include <QStringList>
- #include "OpenRGBFont.h"
- #include <QFontDatabase>
- 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/system-plugins-env.patch b/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/system-plugins-env.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6edbff9eb19d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/op/openrgb/system-plugins-env.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+diff --git a/PluginManager.cpp b/PluginManager.cpp
+index 157b6cd5..42d9b59d 100644
+--- a/PluginManager.cpp
++++ b/PluginManager.cpp
+@@ -59,6 +59,18 @@ void PluginManager::ScanAndLoadPlugins()
+     filesystem::path plugins_dir = ResourceManager::get()->GetConfigurationDirectory() / plugins_path;
+     ScanAndLoadPluginsFrom(plugins_dir, false);
+ 
++    /*---------------------------------------------------------*\
++    | Get the system plugins directory from the environment     |
++    |                                                           |
++    | Allow setting a system plugin directory during runtime,   |
++    | e.g. by Nixpkgs' `withPlugins` wrapper.                   |
++    \*---------------------------------------------------------*/
++    const char* system_plugins_dir = std::getenv("OPENRGB_SYSTEM_PLUGIN_DIRECTORY");
++    if(system_plugins_dir && *system_plugins_dir)
++    {
++        ScanAndLoadPluginsFrom(system_plugins_dir, true);
++    }
++
+ #ifdef OPENRGB_SYSTEM_PLUGIN_DIRECTORY
+     /*---------------------------------------------------------*\
+     | Get the system plugins directory                          |