diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-update-source/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-update-source/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a156c4f8a722
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix-update-source/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+{ lib, pkgs, fetchFromGitHub, python3Packages, nix-prefetch-scripts }:
+python3Packages.buildPythonApplication rec {
+  version = "0.4.0";
+  name = "nix-update-source-${version}";
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "timbertson";
+    repo = "nix-update-source";
+    rev = "version-0.4.0";
+    sha256 = "0gz0f7nx1q697s16ya7q84q1cj020n547k2ffb99ds2r40nckr2g";
+  };
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ nix-prefetch-scripts ];
+  passthru = {
+    # NOTE: `fetch` should not be used within nixpkgs because it
+    # uses a non-idiomatic structure. It is provided for use by
+    # out-of-tree nix derivations.
+    fetch = path:
+      let
+        fetchers = {
+          # whitelist of allowed fetchers
+          inherit (pkgs) fetchgit fetchurl fetchFromGitHub;
+        };
+        json = lib.importJSON path;
+        fetchFn = builtins.getAttr json.fetch.fn fetchers;
+        src = fetchFn json.fetch.args;
+      in
+      json // json.fetch // { inherit src; };
+    updateScript = ''
+      set -e
+      echo
+      cd ${toString ./.}
+      ${pkgs.nix-update-source}/bin/nix-update-source \
+        --prompt version \
+        --replace-attr version \
+        --set owner timbertson \
+        --set repo nix-update-source \
+        --set type fetchFromGitHub \
+        --set rev 'version-{version}' \
+        --modify-nix default.nix
+    '';
+  };
+  meta = {
+    description = "Utility to automate updating of nix derivation sources";
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ timbertson ];
+    license = lib.licenses.mit;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index c181edb6ed18..e613c2f3e75d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -18117,6 +18117,8 @@ with pkgs;
     nix-prefetch-svn
     nix-prefetch-scripts;
 
+  nix-update-source = callPackage ../tools/package-management/nix-update-source {};
+
   nix-template-rpm = callPackage ../build-support/templaterpm { inherit (pythonPackages) python toposort; };
 
   nix-repl = callPackage ../tools/package-management/nix-repl { };