diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index d12327c809..d2d75cb4b8 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -27,33 +27,10 @@ Adapted from the [Contributor Covenant] and [The Carpentries Code of Conduct]:
 With the current setup, the Nix manual hosted on nix.dev does not get updated automatically with new releases.
 The following manual steps are required:
 
-- Regularly update the inputs to use the latest versions of the Nix release branches with `nix shell --run "niv update"`
-
-  To avoid long build times, make sure Nix can be fetched from the cache.
-  If it doesn't, find the latest commit that is [built by Hydra](https://hydra.nixos.org/project/nix). For example, to pin Nix 2.18:
-
-  ```bash
-  niv update nix_2-18 -r f5f4de6a550327b4b1a06123c2e450f1b92c73b6
-  ```
-
-- On each new Nix release:
-
-  1. Add the latest version in [`default.nix`](./default.nix).
-     For example, to add Nix 2.19:
-
-     ```bash
-     niv add nixos/nix -n nix_2-19 -b 2.19-maintenance
-     ```
-
-  2. Reference the latest version in [`source/reference/nix-manual.md`](./source/reference/nix-manual.md).
-
-- If an unstable or stable release of Nixpkgs adopt a new version of Nix, update the corresponding references here.
-
-  Also update URLs to the the Nix manual to the version used by Nixpkgs unstable.
-  For example, if one wants to move from 2.18 to 2.19:
-  ```bash
-  sed -i 's#https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.18/#https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.19/#g' $(ls **/*.md)
-  ```
+```shell-session
+nix-shell --run update-nixpkgs-releases
+nix-shell --run update-nix-releases
+```
 
 ## Contributor guides
 
diff --git a/default.nix b/default.nix
index 1cb0ec9401..314f4e5031 100644
--- a/default.nix
+++ b/default.nix
@@ -1,67 +1,68 @@
-{ inputs ? import ./nix/sources.nix
+{ inputs ? import ./nix/inputs.nix
 , system ? builtins.currentSystem
 ,
 }:
 let
-  pkgs = import inputs.nixpkgs {
+  pkgs = import inputs.nixpkgs."23.05" {
     config = { };
-    overlays = [ (import ./overlay.nix) ];
+    overlays = [ (import ./nix/overlay.nix) ];
     inherit system;
   };
 
-  nix-dev = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
-    name = "nix-dev";
-    src = ./.;
-    nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs.python310.pkgs; [
-      linkify-it-py
-      myst-parser
-      sphinx
-      sphinx-book-theme
-      sphinx-copybutton
-      sphinx-design
-      sphinx-notfound-page
-      sphinx-sitemap
-    ];
-    buildPhase = ''
-      make html
-    '';
-    installPhase =
-      let
-        # Various versions of the Nix manuals, grep for (nix-manual)= to find where they are displayed
-        # FIXME: This requires human interaction to update! See ./CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
-        releases = {
-          latest = "2.19";
-          rolling = "2.18";
-          stable = "2.18";
-          prev-stable = "2.13";
-        };
-        inputName = version: pkgs.lib.strings.replaceStrings [ "." ] [ "-" ] version;
-        src = version: inputs."nix_${inputName version}";
-        manual = version: (import (src version)).default.doc;
-        copy = version: ''
-          cp -Rf ${manual version}/share/doc/nix/manual/* $out/manual/nix/${version}
-        '';
-        # add upstream page redirects of the form `<from> <to> <status>`, excluding comment lines and empty
-        redirects = version: ''
-          sed '/^#/d;/^$/d;s#^\(.*\) \(.*\) #/manual/nix/${version}\1 /manual/nix/${version}\2 #g' ${src version}/doc/manual/_redirects >> $out/_redirects
+  lib = pkgs.lib;
+  releases = import ./nix/releases.nix { inherit lib inputs system; };
+
+  nix-dev =
+    pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      name = "nix-dev";
+      src = ./.;
+      nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs.python310.pkgs; [
+        linkify-it-py
+        myst-parser
+        sphinx
+        sphinx-book-theme
+        sphinx-copybutton
+        sphinx-design
+        sphinx-notfound-page
+        sphinx-sitemap
+        pkgs.perl
+      ];
+      buildPhase =
+        let
+          substitutedNixManualReference = pkgs.substitute {
+            src = ./source/reference/nix-manual.md;
+            replacements = lib.concatLists (lib.mapAttrsToList (from: to: [ "--subst-var-by" from to ]) releases.substitutions);
+          };
+        in
+        ''
+          cp -f ${substitutedNixManualReference} source/reference/nix-manual.md
+          make html
         '';
-        shortlink = release: version: ''
-          echo /manual/nix/${release} /manual/nix/${version}/ 302 >> $out/_redirects
+      installPhase =
+        let
+          # Various versions of the Nix manuals, grep for (nix-manual)= to find where they are displayed.
+          # FIXME: This requires human interaction to update! See ./CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
+          release = version: nix: ''
+            cp -R --no-preserve=mode ${nix.doc}/share/doc/nix/manual $out/manual/nix/${version}
+
+            # add upstream page redirects of the form `<from> <to> <status>`, excluding comments and empty lines
+            # not all releases have that though
+            if [[ -f ${nix.doc}/share/doc/nix/manual/_redirects ]]; then
+              sed '/^#/d;/^$/d;s#^\(.*\) \(.*\) #/manual/nix/${version}\1 /manual/nix/${version}\2 #g' ${nix.doc}/share/doc/nix/manual/_redirects >> $out/_redirects
+            fi
+          '';
+          # Redirects from mutable URLs like /manual/nix/latest/... to /manual/nix/2.21/...
+          mutableRedirect = mutable: immutable: ''
+            echo "/manual/nix/${mutable}/* /manual/nix/${immutable}/:splat 302" >> $out/_redirects
+          '';
+        in
+        ''
+          mkdir -p $out/manual/nix
+          cp -R build/html/* $out/
+          ${lib.concatStringsSep "\n" (lib.mapAttrsToList release releases.nixReleases)}
+          ${lib.concatStringsSep "\n" (lib.mapAttrsToList mutableRedirect releases.mutableNixManualRedirects)}
         '';
-        versions = with pkgs.lib; lists.unique (attrsets.attrValues releases);
-      in
-      with pkgs.lib.attrsets;
-      with pkgs.lib.strings;
-      ''
-        mkdir -p $out
-        cp -R build/html/* $out/
-        # NOTE: the comma in the shell expansion makes it also work for singleton lists
-        mkdir -p $out/manual/nix/{${concatStringsSep "," versions},}
-        ${concatStringsSep "\n" (map copy versions)}
-        ${concatStringsSep "\n" (map redirects versions)}
-        ${concatStringsSep "\n" (mapAttrsToList shortlink releases)}
-      '';
-  };
+    };
 
   devmode =
     let
@@ -104,6 +105,8 @@ let
         python ${pkgs.writeText "live.py" script}
       '';
     };
+  update-nix-releases = pkgs.callPackage ./nix/update-nix-releases.nix { };
+  update-nixpkgs-releases = pkgs.callPackage ./nix/update-nixpkgs-releases.nix { };
 in
 {
   # build with `nix-build -A build`
@@ -113,6 +116,8 @@ in
     inputsFrom = [ nix-dev ];
     packages = [
       devmode
+      update-nix-releases
+      update-nixpkgs-releases
       pkgs.niv
       pkgs.python310.pkgs.black
       pkgs.vale
diff --git a/nix/inputs.nix b/nix/inputs.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bb275750a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/inputs.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# An abstraction over the different source pins in this directory
+{
+
+  # The main niv pins, these are without any standard names:
+  # {
+  #   <name> = <source>;
+  # }
+  main = import ./sources.nix {
+    sourcesFile = ./sources.json;
+  };
+
+  # Sources for Nix releases, the attribute name is the release version.
+  # These are done specially because updating these is non-trivial.
+  # See ./update-nix-releases.nix
+  # {
+  #   <version> = <source>;
+  # }
+  nix =
+    builtins.mapAttrs (name: value:
+      # This matches the nix-prefetch-url --unpack --name source call in ./update-nix-releases.nix
+      fetchTarball {
+        name = "source";
+        url = value.url;
+        sha256 = value.sha256;
+      }
+    ) (builtins.fromJSON (builtins.readFile ./nix-versions.json));
+
+  # Sources for Nixpkgs releases, the attribute name is the release name.
+  # These can be updated with the standard niv tooling, but are tracked separately to avoid having to filter them out during processing.
+  # See ./update-nixpkgs-releases.nix
+  nixpkgs =
+    import ./sources.nix {
+      sourcesFile = ./nixpkgs-versions.json;
+    };
+
+}
diff --git a/nix/nix-versions.json b/nix/nix-versions.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aaec2d963f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/nix-versions.json
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+{
+  "2.21": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/92e38fe30ccd7ca7e872b5da3b0fc138fed3b438",
+    "version": "2.21.2",
+    "sha256": "1wdaq3iv4dkajnvp4mn6ykq1f3pb24kgls3vggch3h08aadd2nj6"
+  },
+  "2.20": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/7bc4af7301df34ea4e157338ac3792c1a9ae35b7",
+    "version": "2.20.6",
+    "sha256": "17mpp5s3045zmilhvysa29g44clcfi5wn41sslkhxm7a50k7qa85"
+  },
+  "2.19": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/82f44d8633c849497d64980b5705d09ddbb01164",
+    "version": "2.19.5",
+    "sha256": "03vwahd1v8vq580cksr2grspj7iibdh5adyxdff8gq32scxahqzz"
+  },
+  "2.18": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/76364a847dd39e77ad5eebfcfa86df25f518ab1f",
+    "version": "2.18.3",
+    "sha256": "1d7b3khvkrmq3m34vw75l52a83rc7f2c4al7c5nyggwclkmnh11w"
+  },
+  "2.17": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/27c8b92f31fc4fb1d5be28d5196dc5ac0da58aee",
+    "version": "2.17.3",
+    "sha256": "1v1nw39j67y34hjnh9126975j1l1ha4ysfr70mnvpvsl3zb6mjvv"
+  },
+  "2.16": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/d9c204fafcbb5a05aef5c36fc83f4c3d6cc4749d",
+    "version": "2.16.4",
+    "sha256": "0m3x4qgp2m61d1dd5mfqwxw5r0dgy7pzdc7zg0z9x9l7slghx3ma"
+  },
+  "2.15": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/b59275b4417afd459dcf08a097fbd659f63161c2",
+    "version": "2.15.4",
+    "sha256": "0wx0z9b8abhdxcdm10mahx9dqqmwm63yrpmb5ax8ykzl7ij58wgv"
+  },
+  "2.14": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/9e19aca31bc9237d699b86bce1d31aa099f09121",
+    "version": "2.14.1",
+    "sha256": "1wnaah9bpycl89bjv85b967vxvgrppfl1a8f1h7vvavhb2fcgxkb"
+  },
+  "2.13": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/17e5d0325d0d7bb108d35f678622e3c237ca9fe9",
+    "version": "2.13.7",
+    "sha256": "1brlmfm2ab37hzsi5p6m13gpfhqzqkr1nvwkg2ks8ij1mcz7dh67"
+  },
+  "2.12": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/3c1f09ca492f5ec2252b511c9b627eddd2e98f88",
+    "version": "2.12.2",
+    "sha256": "14bjd85i3qm8jzzyafv1jcsdq5ylrp96563141dimc7p2085jczs"
+  },
+  "2.11": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/1aac1884c5d5976cc74a0a4e193e0b0ca3f25dbf",
+    "version": "2.11.2",
+    "sha256": "0ivcvz7g838sbh05vgzirz0agbr1dbr3gw1ywmxzmm3bh75hw2gs"
+  },
+  "2.10": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/73b3ba878a86e9a4d5e46fb16ce735b7dea4c929",
+    "version": "2.10.3",
+    "sha256": "0s7i6mj3x9l5l3b73fp4jq0cl1sjah7lq11gkymzb2jrqhxc681z"
+  },
+  "2.9": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/338418790adac11a4e73218e40fa109c4cfbc86d",
+    "version": "2.9.3",
+    "sha256": "0kl36c365dd9mzjcr5py52lgm78hj81cvw7lws9f16zkj64hcy9v"
+  },
+  "2.8": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/4555784afb613247563896273dad7887c1a2a0a3",
+    "version": "2.8.2",
+    "sha256": "0zg7y4c1fjz241fspzmba3acjw1qbigvkngp7q2xb5mdm5sl6swp"
+  },
+  "2.7": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/5ed3a9db6add8b28bdb484c00f45033f50ccb853",
+    "version": "2.7.0",
+    "sha256": "03y59yxc32ghkfrfkrrjkhpnksyp5q29mlhq1ssxia29wjmv5mz3"
+  },
+  "2.6": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/e044ccb67ce38d11059de32515306f5f1bd2f04f",
+    "version": "2.6.1",
+    "sha256": "0pfx87zgyhhhf4mnrknzq0pgry8i2d5pxvsbf52sqrxxzznr1n0k"
+  },
+  "2.5": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/16b3e41ed0e4b6c2ceffcbe8956acdd8b0cde71d",
+    "version": "2.5.1",
+    "sha256": "1px45lab0yb9gx6bysr296w3bc6cv1cm3x3lik1hhi3k5fpfc3pn"
+  },
+  "2.4": {
+    "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/fbe3b09248feb251f7baf24dc5cd6d675ec0cb2c",
+    "version": "2.4.1",
+    "sha256": "0kzn3ggmir8iv1nk4yds6676x8y4q72xv06ks5p2nrvazhdarl8y"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/nix/nixpkgs-versions.json b/nix/nixpkgs-versions.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bb865145c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/nixpkgs-versions.json
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+{
+    "18.09": {
+        "branch": "nixos-18.09",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "a7e559a5504572008567383c3dc8e142fa7a8633",
+        "sha256": "16j95q58kkc69lfgpjkj76gw5sx8rcxwi3civm0mlfaxxyw9gzp6",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/a7e559a5504572008567383c3dc8e142fa7a8633.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "19.03": {
+        "branch": "nixos-19.03",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "34c7eb7545d155cc5b6f499b23a7cb1c96ab4d59",
+        "sha256": "11z6ajj108fy2q5g8y4higlcaqncrbjm3dnv17pvif6avagw4mcb",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/34c7eb7545d155cc5b6f499b23a7cb1c96ab4d59.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "19.09": {
+        "branch": "nixos-19.09",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "75f4ba05c63be3f147bcc2f7bd4ba1f029cedcb1",
+        "sha256": "157c64220lf825ll4c0cxsdwg7cxqdx4z559fdp7kpz0g6p8fhhr",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/75f4ba05c63be3f147bcc2f7bd4ba1f029cedcb1.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "20.03": {
+        "branch": "nixos-20.03",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "1db42b7fe3878f3f5f7a4f2dc210772fd080e205",
+        "sha256": "05k9y9ki6jhaqdhycnidnk5zrdzsdammbk5lsmsbz249hjhhgcgh",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/1db42b7fe3878f3f5f7a4f2dc210772fd080e205.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "20.09": {
+        "branch": "nixos-20.09",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "1c1f5649bb9c1b0d98637c8c365228f57126f361",
+        "sha256": "0f2nvdijyxfgl5kwyb4465pppd5vkhqxddx6v40k2s0z9jfhj0xl",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/1c1f5649bb9c1b0d98637c8c365228f57126f361.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "21.05": {
+        "branch": "nixos-21.05",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "022caabb5f2265ad4006c1fa5b1ebe69fb0c3faf",
+        "sha256": "12q00nbd7fb812zchbcnmdg3pw45qhxm74hgpjmshc2dfmgkjh4n",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/022caabb5f2265ad4006c1fa5b1ebe69fb0c3faf.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "21.11": {
+        "branch": "nixos-21.11",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "eabc38219184cc3e04a974fe31857d8e0eac098d",
+        "sha256": "04ffwp2gzq0hhz7siskw6qh9ys8ragp7285vi1zh8xjksxn1msc5",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/eabc38219184cc3e04a974fe31857d8e0eac098d.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "22.05": {
+        "branch": "nixos-22.05",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "380be19fbd2d9079f677978361792cb25e8a3635",
+        "sha256": "154x9swf494mqwi4z8nbq2f0sp8pwp4fvx51lqzindjfbb9yxxv5",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/380be19fbd2d9079f677978361792cb25e8a3635.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "22.11": {
+        "branch": "nixos-22.11",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "ea4c80b39be4c09702b0cb3b42eab59e2ba4f24b",
+        "sha256": "1xi53rlslcprybsvrmipm69ypd3g3hr7wkxvzc73ag8296yclyll",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/ea4c80b39be4c09702b0cb3b42eab59e2ba4f24b.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "23.05": {
+        "branch": "nixos-23.05",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "70bdadeb94ffc8806c0570eb5c2695ad29f0e421",
+        "sha256": "05cbl1k193c9la9xhlz4y6y8ijpb2mkaqrab30zij6z4kqgclsrd",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/70bdadeb94ffc8806c0570eb5c2695ad29f0e421.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    },
+    "23.11": {
+        "branch": "nixos-23.11",
+        "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
+        "homepage": "",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "219951b495fc2eac67b1456824cc1ec1fd2ee659",
+        "sha256": "065jy7qivlbdqmbvd7r9h97b23f21axmc4r7sqmq2h0j82rmymxv",
+        "type": "tarball",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/219951b495fc2eac67b1456824cc1ec1fd2ee659.tar.gz",
+        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
+    }
+}
diff --git a/overlay.nix b/nix/overlay.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from overlay.nix
rename to nix/overlay.nix
diff --git a/nix/releases.nix b/nix/releases.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2d6742db5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/releases.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+{ lib, inputs, system }:
+let
+  # Import Nixpkgs, get the pkgs set back
+  pkgsFor = source:
+    import source {
+      inherit system;
+      config = { };
+      overlays = [ ];
+    };
+
+  # The pkgs for nixpkgs rolling release
+  pkgsRolling = pkgsFor inputs.main.nixpkgs-rolling;
+
+  # The pkgs for each release:
+  # {
+  #   "23.11" = pkgs...;
+  #   "23.05" = pkgs...;
+  # }
+  pkgsReleases = lib.mapAttrs (release: source:
+    pkgsFor source
+  ) inputs.nixpkgs;
+
+  # Information on Nixpkgs versions
+  nixpkgsVersions = rec {
+    # List of sorted version strings, e.g. [ "22.11" "23.05" "23.11" ]
+    sorted = lib.sort lib.versionOlder (lib.attrNames pkgsReleases);
+    # Number of versions, e.g. 3
+    count = lib.length sorted;
+    # String for the latest version, e.g. "23.11"
+    latest = lib.elemAt sorted (count - 1);
+    # String for the version before the latest one, e.g. "23.05"
+    prevLatest = lib.elemAt sorted (count - 2);
+  };
+
+  # The Nix version string for a pkgs, e.g. "2.18"
+  nixVersionForPkgs = pkgs:
+    # XXX: We ignore the patch version here, which means that we may show a different (slightly more up-to-date) version than what's actually in Nixpkgs.
+    # This is not a big issue, and simplifies the setup a lot.
+    lib.versions.majorMinor pkgs.nix.version;
+
+  # The build for each Nix version:
+  # {
+  #   "2.18" = { outPath = ...; ... };
+  #   "2.19" = { outPath = ...; ... };
+  #   ...
+  # }
+  nixReleases = lib.mapAttrs (release: source:
+    # XXX: Unfortunately, the use of flake-compat prevents passing `system` with stable Nix...
+    (import source).default
+  ) inputs.nix;
+
+  # Information on Nix versions
+  nixVersions = rec {
+    # List of sorted version strings, e.g. [ "2.18" "2.19" "2.20" ]
+    sorted = lib.sort lib.versionOlder (lib.attrNames nixReleases);
+    # Number of versions, e.g. 3
+    count = lib.length sorted;
+    # String for the latest version, e.g. "2.20"
+    latest = lib.elemAt sorted (count - 1);
+  };
+
+  # Mutable link redirects to set up for the Nix manual
+  # E.g. /manual/nix/latest redirects to /manual/nix/2.20, which is encoded as:
+  # {
+  #   "latest" = "2.20";
+  #   ...
+  # }
+  mutableNixManualRedirects = {
+    latest = nixVersions.latest;
+    rolling = nixVersionForPkgs pkgsRolling;
+    stable = nixVersionForPkgs pkgsReleases.${nixpkgsVersions.latest};
+    prev-stable = nixVersionForPkgs pkgsReleases.${nixpkgsVersions.prevLatest};
+  };
+
+  # Substitutions to perform on ../source/reference/nix-manual.md
+  # E.g. @nix-latest@ gets replaced with 2.20, which is encoded as:
+  # {
+  #   "nix-latest" = "2.20";
+  #   ...
+  # }
+  substitutions = {
+    nixpkgs-stable = nixpkgsVersions.latest;
+    nixpkgs-prev-stable = nixpkgsVersions.prevLatest;
+  } // lib.mapAttrs' (name: value:
+    lib.nameValuePair "nix-${name}" value
+  ) mutableNixManualRedirects;
+in
+{
+  inherit nixReleases mutableNixManualRedirects substitutions;
+}
diff --git a/nix/sources.json b/nix/sources.json
index af08ddd2ef..260a931df6 100644
--- a/nix/sources.json
+++ b/nix/sources.json
@@ -1,50 +1,14 @@
 {
-    "nix_2-13": {
-        "branch": "2.13-maintenance",
-        "description": "Nix, the purely functional package manager",
-        "homepage": "https://nixos.org/",
-        "owner": "nixos",
-        "repo": "nix",
-        "rev": "25f2dfc6e41d8c30e7abc443a7b262e34e49253b",
-        "sha256": "0lbp6yq92wpzi7kihbbma8d1c6q33msw95y0kmirfiikd8yvpvs7",
-        "type": "tarball",
-        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/archive/25f2dfc6e41d8c30e7abc443a7b262e34e49253b.tar.gz",
-        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
-    },
-    "nix_2-18": {
-        "branch": "2.18-maintenance",
-        "description": "Nix, the purely functional package manager",
-        "homepage": "https://nixos.org/",
-        "owner": "nixos",
-        "repo": "nix",
-        "rev": "60eb80593f3a18aebc7672ad7007cb23c14db061",
-        "sha256": "0nyssab6skn9qd7mz4v0y3ycnhck7is6agm0i26l1anrgs90x37l",
-        "type": "tarball",
-        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/archive/60eb80593f3a18aebc7672ad7007cb23c14db061.tar.gz",
-        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
-    },
-    "nix_2-19": {
-        "branch": "2.19-maintenance",
-        "description": "Nix, the purely functional package manager",
-        "homepage": "https://nixos.org/",
-        "owner": "nixos",
-        "repo": "nix",
-        "rev": "dc09e6193bffcab37d3d43107eae9464395ab51d",
-        "sha256": "0n117h0jz3aih41mg0kns8v6rjhmrg7r6p8azl55p32zrj02zyvm",
-        "type": "tarball",
-        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nix/archive/dc09e6193bffcab37d3d43107eae9464395ab51d.tar.gz",
-        "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
-    },
-    "nixpkgs": {
-        "branch": "nixos-23.05",
+    "nixpkgs-rolling": {
+        "branch": "nixpkgs-unstable",
         "description": "Nix Packages collection & NixOS",
         "homepage": "",
-        "owner": "NixOS",
+        "owner": "nixos",
         "repo": "nixpkgs",
-        "rev": "898cb2064b6e98b8c5499f37e81adbdf2925f7c5",
-        "sha256": "0ha53gbglrcnpzfc4lwzgyvlsagvm1m2q9z5i5b4nfahplnqpsbj",
+        "rev": "e976fa8f49c35cf28496301a1ef2aa23ad576b56",
+        "sha256": "1kq9wkwaf4kfv2p29jdqwfkbadmx1isbkaryqcrrjah4wskwa1rw",
         "type": "tarball",
-        "url": "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/898cb2064b6e98b8c5499f37e81adbdf2925f7c5.tar.gz",
+        "url": "https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/archive/e976fa8f49c35cf28496301a1ef2aa23ad576b56.tar.gz",
         "url_template": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/<rev>.tar.gz"
     },
     "poetry2nix": {
diff --git a/nix/update-nix-releases.nix b/nix/update-nix-releases.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5ac812abf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/update-nix-releases.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+{ writeShellApplication
+, git
+, nix
+, ripgrep
+, coreutils
+, jq
+}:
+# Custom update mechanism for Nix releases in ./nix-versions.json
+writeShellApplication {
+  name = "update-nix-releases";
+  runtimeInputs = [ git nix ripgrep coreutils jq ];
+  text = ''
+    tmp=$(mktemp -d)
+    trap 'rm -rf "$tmp"' EXIT
+
+    echo >&2 "Fetching the Nix git history"
+    # We only need the Git history of the repo, the contents we download directly into the Nix store.
+    # --filter=tree:0 prevents downloading any contents and --bare prevents creating a working tree
+    git clone --quiet --filter=tree:0 --bare https://github.com/nixos/nix "$tmp/nix"
+
+    echo >&2 "Going through all *-maintenance branches"
+    git -C "$tmp/nix" branch --list '*-maintenance' --format '%(refname)' \
+      | rg 'refs/heads/(.*)-maintenance' -or '$1' \
+      | sort --reverse --version-sort \
+      | while read -r version; do
+
+      rev=$(git -C "$tmp/nix" rev-parse "$version-maintenance")
+      echo >&2 "Version $version on branch $version-maintenance is at $rev"
+
+      # Try to find a cached build by iterating back through the Git history
+      # This is necessary because the maintenance branches are pushed to directly and Hydra will take a while to build it
+      cached=false
+      steps=0
+      while true; do
+        # We fetch Nix the same as `fetchTarball { name = "source"; ... }`, such that we should definitely get the same hashes and co.
+        # Though older versions of Nix didn't pin flake-compat, but this doesn't appear to be a problem in this case
+        # See https://github.com/NixOS/nix.dev/pull/830#issuecomment-1922672937
+        url=https://github.com/nixos/nix/tarball/"$rev"
+        readarray -t sha256Source < <(nix-prefetch-url --unpack --name source --print-path "$url")
+        sha256=''${sha256Source[0]}
+        source=''${sha256Source[1]}
+
+        if [[ ! -f "$source"/.version ]]; then
+          # Not having a .version indicates that we're not in the release anymore
+          break
+        fi
+        fullVersion="$(<"$source"/.version)"
+
+        # Only try versions recent enough to have the same structure, this filter out versions before 2.4
+        if ! drvPath=$(nix-instantiate "$source" --argstr system "x86_64-linux" -A default 2> /dev/null); then
+          echo >&2 "No default.nix supporting -A default"
+          break
+        fi
+        # We need a doc output, this is always the case for >= 2.4
+        if ! docOutput=$(nix-store --query --binding doc "$drvPath"); then
+          echo >&2 "No doc output"
+          break
+        fi
+        # Check if the path is cached; `--size` is needed because without it, no query to the cache would be made
+        if nix-store --query --size "$docOutput" --store https://cache.nixos.org > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+          cached=true
+          break
+        fi
+        # If it's not cached, try the parent commit, usually only a couple steps are required at most
+        rev=$(git -C "$tmp/nix" rev-parse "$rev~")
+        steps=$(( steps + 1 ))
+      done
+
+      if [ "$cached" = false ]; then
+        echo >&2 "Could not find a cached version for release $version"
+        continue
+      fi
+
+      echo >&2 "Found a cached version, $steps steps away from the latest commit"
+
+      jq -n \
+        --arg key "$version" \
+        --arg url "$url" \
+        --arg version "$fullVersion" \
+        --arg sha256 "$sha256" \
+        '$ARGS.named'
+    done \
+      | jq -s 'map({ key: .key, value: del(.key) }) | from_entries' \
+      > nix/nix-versions.json
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/nix/update-nixpkgs-releases.nix b/nix/update-nixpkgs-releases.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1613361cd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/update-nixpkgs-releases.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{ writeShellApplication
+, git
+, niv
+, nix
+, ripgrep
+, coreutils
+, jq
+}:
+# add or update Nixpkgs releases using `niv`
+writeShellApplication {
+  name = "update-nixpkgs-releases";
+  runtimeInputs = [ git niv nix ripgrep jq coreutils ];
+  text = ''
+    echo >&2 "Updating rolling"
+    niv update nixpkgs-rolling
+    echo >&2 "Updating stable releases"
+    niv -s nix/nixpkgs-versions.json update
+
+    echo >&2 "Adding any new releases"
+    # get release branches
+    git ls-remote https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs "refs/heads/*" \
+      | rg '^([0-9a-f]+)\trefs/heads/nixos-(\d\d\.\d\d)$' -or '$2' \
+      | sort --reverse --version-sort \
+      | while read -r version; do
+
+        if ! jq -e --arg version "$version" 'has($ARGS.named.version)' nix/nixpkgs-versions.json >/dev/null; then
+          niv -s nix/nixpkgs-versions.json add nixos/nixpkgs -n "$version" -b "nixos-$version"
+        fi
+      done
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/source/reference/nix-manual.md b/source/reference/nix-manual.md
index 7e67a08cfe..0c8359094a 100644
--- a/source/reference/nix-manual.md
+++ b/source/reference/nix-manual.md
@@ -1,35 +1,50 @@
+---
+myst:
+  html_meta:
+    "description lang=en": "Nix reference manual version overview"
+    "keywords": "Nix, reference, manual, documentation"
+---
+
 (nix-manual)=
 # Nix reference manual
 
+<!--
+This page is pre-processed before rendering with Sphinx. For details:
+
+    grep -n nix-manual.md default.nix
+-->
+
 ```{toctree}
 :hidden:
 
 Nix pre-release (development) <https://hydra.nixos.org/job/nix/master/build.x86_64-linux/latest/download>
-Nix 2.19 (latest) <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.19/>
-Nix 2.18 (rolling) <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.18/>
-Nix 2.18 (stable 23.11) <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.18/>
-Nix 2.13 (stable 23.05) <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.13/>
+Nix @nix-latest@ (latest) <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/latest/>
+Nix @nix-rolling@ (in Nixpkgs rolling) <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/rolling/>
+Nix @nix-stable@ (in Nixpkgs @nixpkgs-stable@) <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/stable/>
+Nix @nix-prev-stable@ (in Nixpkgs @nixpkgs-prev-stable@) <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/prev-stable/>
 ```
 
+The Nix reference manual is available for multiple versions:
+
 - [Nix pre-release](https://hydra.nixos.org/job/nix/master/build.x86_64-linux/latest/download)
 
-  Reference documentation for the latest build from the `master` branch of the [Nix repository](https://github.com/NixOS/nix)
+  Development build from the `master` branch of the [Nix repository](https://github.com/NixOS/nix)
 
-- [Nix 2.19](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.19/)
+- [Nix @nix-latest@](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/latest/)
 
-  Reference documentation for the latest Nix release
+  Latest Nix release
 
-- [Nix 2.18](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.18/)
+- [Nix @nix-rolling@](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/rolling/)
 
-  Reference documentation for the Nix version shipped with the {term}`Nixpkgs` and {term}`NixOS` rolling release
+  Shipped with the rolling release of {term}`Nixpkgs` and {term}`NixOS`
 
-- [Nix 2.18](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.18/)
+- [Nix @nix-stable@](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/stable/)
 
-  Reference documentation for the Nix version shipped with the current {term}`Nixpkgs` and {term}`NixOS` stable release
+  Shipped with the latest stable release of {term}`Nixpkgs` and {term}`NixOS`: @nixpkgs-stable@
 
-- [Nix 2.13](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.13/)
+- [Nix @nix-prev-stable@](https://nix.dev/manual/nix/prev-stable/)
 
-  Reference documentation for the Nix version shipped with the previous {term}`Nixpkgs` and {term}`NixOS` stable release
+  Shipped with the previous stable release of {term}`Nixpkgs` and {term}`NixOS`: @nixpkgs-prev-stable@
 
 :::{tip}
 More information on Nixpkgs and NixOS releases: [](channel-branches)