diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/sphinx-prompt/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/sphinx-prompt/default.nix
index 25f1ef9c4b0d..ab71f1e4733e 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/sphinx-prompt/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/sphinx-prompt/default.nix
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
 
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace pyproject.toml --replace-fail 'version = "0.0.0"' 'version = "${version}"'
+    # create the old sphinx-prompt directory for compatibility
+    # https://github.com/sbrunner/sphinx-prompt/issues/612
+    cp -r sphinx{_,-}prompt
   '';
 
   build-system = [