diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/docker/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/docker/default.nix
index 8a7b362bd5ed..cfd2c8a31f97 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/docker/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/docker/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
   lib,
   pkgs,
   pigz,
+  nixUnstable,
+  perl,
   runCommand,
   rsync,
   shadow,
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@
 rec {
 
   examples = import ./examples.nix {
-    inherit pkgs buildImage pullImage shadowSetup;
+    inherit pkgs buildImage pullImage shadowSetup buildImageWithNixDb;
   };
 
   pullImage =
@@ -239,6 +241,17 @@ rec {
       ${text}
     '';
 
+  nixRegistration = contents: runCommand "nix-registration" {
+    buildInputs = [ nixUnstable perl ];
+    # For obtaining the closure of `contents'.
+    exportReferencesGraph =
+      let contentsList = if builtins.isList contents then contents else [ contents ];
+      in map (x: [("closure-" + baseNameOf x) x]) contentsList;
+    }
+    ''
+      printRegistration=1 perl ${pkgs.pathsFromGraph} closure-* > $out
+    '';
+
   # Create a "layer" (set of files).
   mkPureLayer = {
     # Name of the layer
@@ -544,4 +557,21 @@ rec {
 
     in
     result;
+
+  # Build an image and populate its nix database with the provided
+  # contents. The main purpose is to be able to use nix commands in
+  # the container.
+  # Be careful since this doesn't work well with multilayer.
+  buildImageWithNixDb = args@{ contents ? null, extraCommands ? "", ... }:
+    buildImage (args // {
+      extraCommands = ''
+        echo "Generating the nix database..."
+        echo "Warning: only the database of the deepest Nix layer is loaded."
+        echo "         If you want to use nix commands in the container, it would"
+        echo "         be better to only have one layer that contains a nix store."
+        # This requires Nix 1.12 or higher
+        export NIX_REMOTE=local?root=$PWD
+        ${nixUnstable}/bin/nix-store --load-db < ${nixRegistration contents}
+      '' + extraCommands;
+    });
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/docker/examples.nix b/pkgs/build-support/docker/examples.nix
index aead53f6f7d1..1a8b9c7f8ed4 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/docker/examples.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/docker/examples.nix
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 #  $ nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -A dockerTools.examples.redis
 #  $ docker load < result
 
-{ pkgs, buildImage, pullImage, shadowSetup }:
+{ pkgs, buildImage, pullImage, shadowSetup, buildImageWithNixDb }:
 
 rec {
   # 1. basic example
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ rec {
   };
 
   # 4. example of pulling an image. could be used as a base for other images
-  nix = pullImage {
+  nixFromDockerHub = pullImage {
     imageName = "nixos/nix";
     imageTag = "1.11";
     # this hash will need change if the tag is updated at docker hub
@@ -101,4 +101,17 @@ rec {
       pkgs.nano
     ];
   };
+
+  # 5. nix example to play with the container nix store
+  # docker run -it --rm nix nix-store -qR $(nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -A nix)
+  nix = buildImageWithNixDb {
+    name = "nix";
+    contents = [
+      # nix-store -qR uses the 'more' program which is not included in
+      # the pkgs.nix dependencies. We then have to manually get it
+      # from the 'eject' package:/
+      pkgs.eject
+      pkgs.nix
+    ];
+  };
 }