diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ho/howdy/dont-install-config.patch b/pkgs/by-name/ho/howdy/dont-install-config.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..15932cca38f5e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ho/howdy/dont-install-config.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+diff --git a/howdy/src/meson.build b/howdy/src/meson.build
+index 6533951..ef60e0a 100644
+--- a/howdy/src/meson.build
++++ b/howdy/src/meson.build
+@@ -101,11 +101,6 @@ install_data(
+     rename: 'howdy',
+ )
+ 
+-fs = import('fs')
+-if not fs.exists(config_path)
+-    install_data('config.ini', install_dir: confdir, install_mode: 'rwxr--r--', install_tag: 'config')
+-endif
+-
+ install_data('dlib-data/install.sh', 'dlib-data/Readme.md', install_dir: dlibdatadir, install_mode: 'rwxr--r--')
+ 
+ install_man('../howdy.1')
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ho/howdy/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ho/howdy/package.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..4b0ef3f9b22ddc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ho/howdy/package.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+{
+  stdenv,
+  lib,
+  fetchFromGitHub,
+  fetchurl,
+  bzip2,
+  gobject-introspection,
+  meson,
+  ninja,
+  pkg-config,
+  wrapGAppsHook3,
+  makeDesktopItem,
+  makeWrapper,
+  fmt,
+  gettext,
+  gtk3,
+  inih,
+  libevdev,
+  pam,
+  python3,
+}:
+
+let
+  data =
+    let
+      baseurl = "https://github.com/davisking/dlib-models/raw/daf943f7819a3dda8aec4276754ef918dc26491f";
+    in
+    {
+      "dlib_face_recognition_resnet_model_v1.dat" = fetchurl {
+        url = "${baseurl}/dlib_face_recognition_resnet_model_v1.dat.bz2";
+        sha256 = "0fjm265l1fz5zdzx5n5yphl0v0vfajyw50ffamc4cd74848gdcdb";
+      };
+      "mmod_human_face_detector.dat" = fetchurl {
+        url = "${baseurl}/mmod_human_face_detector.dat.bz2";
+        sha256 = "117wv582nsn585am2n9mg5q830qnn8skjr1yxgaiihcjy109x7nv";
+      };
+      "shape_predictor_5_face_landmarks.dat" = fetchurl {
+        url = "${baseurl}/shape_predictor_5_face_landmarks.dat.bz2";
+        sha256 = "0wm4bbwnja7ik7r28pv00qrl3i1h6811zkgnjfvzv7jwpyz7ny3f";
+      };
+    };
+
+  # wrap howdy and howdy-gtk
+  py = python3.withPackages (p: [
+    p.elevate
+    # TODO: remove overrides when https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/273665 is merged
+    (p.face-recognition.override {
+      dlib = p.dlib.overrideAttrs (_: {
+        doCheck = false;
+        doInstallCheck = false;
+      });
+    })
+    p.keyboard
+    (p.opencv4.override { enableGtk3 = true; })
+    p.pycairo
+    p.pygobject3
+  ]);
+
+  desktopItem = makeDesktopItem {
+    name = "howdy";
+    exec = "howdy-gtk";
+    icon = "howdy";
+    comment = "Howdy facial authentication";
+    desktopName = "Howdy";
+    genericName = "Facial authentication";
+    categories = [
+      "System"
+      "Security"
+    ];
+  };
+in
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  pname = "howdy";
+  version = "2.6.1-unstable-2024-05-04";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "boltgolt";
+    repo = "howdy";
+    rev = "aa75c7666c040c6a7c83cd92b9b81a6fea4ce97c";
+    hash = "sha256-oYw2xoqLdERy51fYk6zLUZ5Agkr6OKFcvUnFgvHH5rU=";
+  };
+
+  patches = [
+    # Don't install the config file. We handle it in the module.
+    ./dont-install-config.patch
+  ];
+
+  mesonFlags = [
+    "-Dconfig_dir=/etc/howdy"
+    "-Duser_models_dir=/var/lib/howdy/models"
+  ];
+
+  postPatch = ''
+    substituteInPlace howdy/src/cli/config.py \
+      --replace '/bin/nano' 'nano'
+
+    # wrap howdy and howdy-gtk
+    substituteInPlace howdy/src/pam/main.cc \
+      --replace "python3" "${py}/bin/python"
+  '';
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [
+    bzip2
+    gobject-introspection
+    meson
+    ninja
+    pkg-config
+    wrapGAppsHook3
+    makeWrapper
+  ];
+
+  buildInputs = [
+    fmt
+    gettext
+    gtk3
+    inih
+    libevdev
+    pam
+    py
+  ];
+
+  postInstall =
+    let
+      inherit (lib) mapAttrsToList concatStrings;
+    in
+    ''
+      # install dlib data
+      rm -rf $out/share/dlib-data/*
+      ${concatStrings (
+        mapAttrsToList (n: v: ''
+          bzip2 -dc ${v} > $out/share/dlib-data/${n}
+        '') data
+      )}
+
+      # install desktop item & image
+      mkdir -p $out/share/applications
+      mkdir -p $out/share/icons/hicolor/{48x48,128x128,256x256}/apps
+      cp "${desktopItem}"/share/applications/* "$out/share/applications/"
+      ln -s "$out/share/howdy-gtk/logo.png" $out/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/howdy.png
+      ln -s "$out/share/howdy-gtk/logo.png" $out/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/howdy.png
+      ln -s "$out/share/howdy-gtk/logo.png" $out/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/howdy.png
+    '';
+
+  dontWrapGApps = true;
+  dontInstallCheck = true;
+
+  preFixup = ''
+    wrapProgramShell $out/bin/howdy \
+      "''${gappsWrapperArgs[@]}" \
+      --prefix PATH : ${lib.makeBinPath [ py ]}
+
+    wrapProgramShell $out/bin/howdy-gtk \
+      "''${gappsWrapperArgs[@]}" \
+      --prefix PATH : ${lib.makeBinPath [ py ]}
+  '';
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "Windows Hello™ style facial authentication for Linux";
+    homepage = "https://github.com/boltgolt/howdy";
+    license = lib.licenses.mit;
+    mainProgram = "howdy";
+    platforms = lib.platforms.linux;
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ fufexan ];
+  };
+}