diff --git a/src/nix/prefetch.cc b/src/nix/prefetch.cc
index b67d381ca..9f2d6cc57 100644
--- a/src/nix/prefetch.cc
+++ b/src/nix/prefetch.cc
@@ -257,6 +257,7 @@ struct CmdStorePrefetchFile : StoreCommand, MixJSON
 {
     std::string url;
     bool executable = false;
+    bool unpack = false;
     std::optional<std::string> name;
     HashType hashType = htSHA256;
     std::optional<Hash> expectedHash;
@@ -289,6 +290,14 @@ struct CmdStorePrefetchFile : StoreCommand, MixJSON
             .handler = {&executable, true},
         });
 
+        addFlag({
+            .longName = "unpack",
+            .description =
+                "Unpack the archive (which must be a tarball or zip file) and add "
+                "the result to the Nix store.",
+            .handler = {&unpack, true},
+        });
+
         expectArg("url", &url);
     }
 
@@ -305,7 +314,7 @@ struct CmdStorePrefetchFile : StoreCommand, MixJSON
     }
     void run(ref<Store> store) override
     {
-        auto [storePath, hash] = prefetchFile(store, url, name, hashType, expectedHash, false, executable);
+        auto [storePath, hash] = prefetchFile(store, url, name, hashType, expectedHash, unpack, executable);
 
         if (json) {
             auto res = nlohmann::json::object();