diff --git a/src/libfetchers/git.cc b/src/libfetchers/git.cc
index af40990e5..2ff27795d 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/git.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/git.cc
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ struct GitInputScheme : InputScheme
                repo. */
             if (input.getRev()) {
                 try {
-                    runProgram("git", true, { "-C", repoDir, "cat-file", "-e", input.getRev()->gitRev() });
+                    runProgram("git", true, { "-C", repoDir, "--git-dir", gitDir, "cat-file", "-e", input.getRev()->gitRev() });
                     doFetch = false;
                 } catch (ExecError & e) {
                     if (WIFEXITED(e.status)) {
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ struct GitInputScheme : InputScheme
                             : ref == "HEAD"
                                 ? *ref
                                 : "refs/heads/" + *ref;
-                    runProgram("git", true, { "-C", repoDir, "fetch", "--quiet", "--force", "--", actualUrl, fmt("%s:%s", fetchRef, fetchRef) });
+                    runProgram("git", true, { "-C", repoDir, "--git-dir", gitDir, "fetch", "--quiet", "--force", "--", actualUrl, fmt("%s:%s", fetchRef, fetchRef) });
                 } catch (Error & e) {
                     if (!pathExists(localRefFile)) throw;
                     warn("could not update local clone of Git repository '%s'; continuing with the most recent version", actualUrl);
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ struct GitInputScheme : InputScheme
 
         auto result = runProgram(RunOptions {
             .program = "git",
-            .args = { "-C", repoDir, "cat-file", "commit", input.getRev()->gitRev() },
+            .args = { "-C", repoDir, "--git-dir", gitDir, "cat-file", "commit", input.getRev()->gitRev() },
             .mergeStderrToStdout = true
         });
         if (WEXITSTATUS(result.first) == 128
@@ -498,7 +498,7 @@ struct GitInputScheme : InputScheme
             auto source = sinkToSource([&](Sink & sink) {
                 runProgram2({
                     .program = "git",
-                    .args = { "-C", repoDir, "archive", input.getRev()->gitRev() },
+                    .args = { "-C", repoDir, "--git-dir", gitDir, "archive", input.getRev()->gitRev() },
                     .standardOut = &sink
                 });
             });
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ struct GitInputScheme : InputScheme
 
         auto storePath = store->addToStore(name, tmpDir, FileIngestionMethod::Recursive, htSHA256, filter);
 
-        auto lastModified = std::stoull(runProgram("git", true, { "-C", repoDir, "log", "-1", "--format=%ct", "--no-show-signature", input.getRev()->gitRev() }));
+        auto lastModified = std::stoull(runProgram("git", true, { "-C", repoDir, "--git-dir", gitDir, "log", "-1", "--format=%ct", "--no-show-signature", input.getRev()->gitRev() }));
 
         Attrs infoAttrs({
             {"rev", input.getRev()->gitRev()},
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@ struct GitInputScheme : InputScheme
 
         if (!shallow)
             infoAttrs.insert_or_assign("revCount",
-                std::stoull(runProgram("git", true, { "-C", repoDir, "rev-list", "--count", input.getRev()->gitRev() })));
+                std::stoull(runProgram("git", true, { "-C", repoDir, "--git-dir", gitDir, "rev-list", "--count", input.getRev()->gitRev() })));
 
         if (!_input.getRev())
             getCache()->add(