diff --git a/pkgs/applications/window-managers/tabbed/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/window-managers/tabbed/default.nix
index 68c72a20e673..6fefb2191585 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/window-managers/tabbed/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/window-managers/tabbed/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{stdenv, fetchgit, xproto, libX11, enableXft, libXft}:
+{stdenv, fetchgit, xproto, libX11, enableXft, libXft, customConfig ? null }:
 
 with stdenv.lib;
 
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   patches = optional enableXft ./xft.patch;
 
+  postPatch = stdenv.lib.optionalString (customConfig != null) ''
+    cp ${builtins.toFile "config.h" customConfig} ./config.h
+  '';
+
   buildInputs = [ xproto libX11 ] ++ optional enableXft libXft;
 
   preInstall = ''
@@ -23,7 +27,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     homepage = http://tools.suckless.org/tabbed;
     description = "Simple generic tabbed fronted to xembed aware applications";
     license = licenses.mit;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ viric ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ viric vrthra ];
     platforms = platforms.linux;
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index b2cbe0fd03fc..241ac78976f3 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -14384,6 +14384,9 @@ in
 
   tabbed = callPackage ../applications/window-managers/tabbed {
     enableXft = true;
+    # if you prefer a custom config, write the config.h in tabbed.config.h
+    # and enable
+    # customConfig = builtins.readFile ./tabbed.config.h;
   };
 
   taffybar = callPackage ../applications/window-managers/taffybar {