diff --git a/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md b/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md
index efd893662..096499bc3 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md
@@ -24,3 +24,8 @@
 
   Selecting derivation outputs using the attribute selection syntax
   (e.g. `nixpkgs#glibc.dev`) no longer works.
+
+* `nix repl` now takes installables on the command line, unifying the usage
+  with other commands that use `--file` and `--expr`. Primary breaking change
+  is for the common usage of `nix repl '<nixpkgs>'` which can be recovered with
+  `nix repl nixpkgs` or `nix repl --expr 'import <nixpkgs>{}'`
diff --git a/src/nix/repl.cc b/src/nix/repl.cc
index b5ecc8ad0..ac0f1f4d7 100644
--- a/src/nix/repl.cc
+++ b/src/nix/repl.cc
@@ -73,7 +73,6 @@ struct NixRepl
     StorePath getDerivationPath(Value & v);
     bool processLine(std::string line);
 
-    void loadInstallable(Installable & installable);
     void loadFile(const Path & path);
     void loadFlake(const std::string & flakeRef);
     void initEnv();
@@ -634,12 +633,6 @@ bool NixRepl::processLine(std::string line)
     return true;
 }
 
-void NixRepl::loadInstallable(Installable & installable)
-{
-    auto [val, pos] = installable.toValue(*state);
-    addAttrsToScope(*val);
-}
-
 void NixRepl::loadFile(const Path & path)
 {
     loadedFiles.remove(path);
@@ -899,6 +892,9 @@ std::ostream & NixRepl::printValue(std::ostream & str, Value & v, unsigned int m
 
 struct CmdRepl : InstallablesCommand
 {
+    CmdRepl(){
+        evalSettings.pureEval = false;
+    }
     std::vector<std::string> files;
     Strings getDefaultFlakeAttrPaths()
     override {
@@ -908,10 +904,6 @@ struct CmdRepl : InstallablesCommand
         return file.has_value() or expr.has_value();
     }
 
-    CmdRepl()
-    {
-    }
-
     std::string description() override
     {
         return "start an interactive environment for evaluating Nix expressions";
@@ -926,8 +918,6 @@ struct CmdRepl : InstallablesCommand
 
     void run(ref<Store> store) override
     {
-
-        evalSettings.pureEval = false;
         auto state = getEvalState();
         auto repl = std::make_unique<NixRepl>(searchPath, openStore(),state
                 ,[&]()->NixRepl::AnnotatedValues{
diff --git a/src/nix/repl.md b/src/nix/repl.md
index be1498e5b..6a526f7d0 100644
--- a/src/nix/repl.md
+++ b/src/nix/repl.md
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ R""(
 
   nix-repl> :q
 
-  # nix repl --expr 'import <nixpkgs>{}' --impure
+  # nix repl --expr 'import <nixpkgs>{}'
 
   Loading Installable ''...
   Added 12439 variables.