diff --git a/doc/languages-frameworks/dart.section.md b/doc/languages-frameworks/dart.section.md
index 9af02ef143b6..97817c5dcccc 100644
--- a/doc/languages-frameworks/dart.section.md
+++ b/doc/languages-frameworks/dart.section.md
@@ -11,6 +11,18 @@ If you are packaging a Flutter desktop application, use [`buildFlutterApplicatio
 `pubspecLock` is the parsed pubspec.lock file. pub2nix uses this to download required packages.
 This can be converted to JSON from YAML with something like `yq . pubspec.lock`, and then read by Nix.
 
+Alternatively, `autoPubspecLock` can be used instead, and set to a path to a regular `pubspec.lock` file. This relies on import-from-derivation, and is not permitted in Nixpkgs, but can be useful at other times.
+
+::: {.warning}
+When using `autoPubspecLock` with a local source directory, make sure to use a
+concatenation operator (e.g. `autoPubspecLock = ${src} + "/pubspec.lock";`), and
+not string interpolation.
+
+String interpolation will copy your entire source directory to the Nix store and
+use its store path, meaning that unrelated changes to your source tree will
+cause the generated `pubspec.lock` derivation to rebuild!
+:::
+
 If the package has Git package dependencies, the hashes must be provided in the `gitHashes` set. If a hash is missing, an error message prompting you to add it will be shown.
 
 The `dart` commands run can be overridden through `pubGetScript` and `dartCompileCommand`, you can also add flags using `dartCompileFlags` or `dartJitFlags`.
@@ -101,8 +113,8 @@ flutter.buildFlutterApplication {
 
   pubspecLock = lib.importJSON ./pubspec.lock.json;
 }
+```
 
 ### Usage with nix-shell {#ssec-dart-flutter-nix-shell}
 
-See the [Dart documentation](#ssec-dart-applications-nix-shell) nix-shell instructions.
-```
+See the [Dart documentation](#ssec-dart-applications-nix-shell) for nix-shell instructions.
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/dart/build-dart-application/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/dart/build-dart-application/default.nix
index e8e6bd16b168..f9a49fec3a2d 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/dart/build-dart-application/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/dart/build-dart-application/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 { lib
 , stdenv
 , callPackage
+, runCommand
 , writeText
 , pub2nix
 , dartHooks
@@ -9,6 +10,7 @@
 , nodejs
 , darwin
 , jq
+, yq
 }:
 
 { src
@@ -44,7 +46,13 @@
 
 , runtimeDependencies ? [ ]
 , extraWrapProgramArgs ? ""
-, pubspecLock
+
+, autoPubspecLock ? null
+, pubspecLock ? if autoPubspecLock == null then
+    throw "The pubspecLock argument is required. If import-from-derivation is allowed (it isn't in Nixpkgs), you can set autoPubspecLock to the path to a pubspec.lock instead."
+  else
+    assert lib.assertMsg (builtins.pathExists autoPubspecLock) "The pubspec.lock file could not be found!";
+    lib.importJSON (runCommand "${lib.getName args}-pubspec-lock-json" { nativeBuildInputs = [ yq ]; } ''yq . '${autoPubspecLock}' > "$out"'')
 , ...
 }@args: