diff --git a/cli/src/input.rs b/cli/src/input.rs
index d9516248d1..1e6c0a31e7 100644
--- a/cli/src/input.rs
+++ b/cli/src/input.rs
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ impl<C: clap::Args + Customize> Prepare for InputOptions<C> {
 
         program.color_opt = global.color.into();
 
+        if let Ok(nickel_path) = std::env::var("NICKEL_PATH") {
+            program.add_import_paths(nickel_path.split(':'));
+        }
+
         #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
         if self.nostdlib {
             program.set_skip_stdlib();
diff --git a/core/src/cache.rs b/core/src/cache.rs
index e6baac4f7e..6c7d98bc5c 100644
--- a/core/src/cache.rs
+++ b/core/src/cache.rs
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ pub struct Cache {
     wildcards: HashMap<FileId, Wildcards>,
     /// Whether processing should try to continue even in case of errors. Needed by the NLS.
     error_tolerance: ErrorTolerance,
+    import_paths: Vec<PathBuf>,
 
     #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
     /// Skip loading the stdlib, used for debugging purpose
@@ -337,12 +338,20 @@ impl Cache {
             rev_imports: HashMap::new(),
             stdlib_ids: None,
             error_tolerance,
+            import_paths: Vec::new(),
 
             #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
             skip_stdlib: false,
         }
     }
 
+    pub fn add_import_paths<P>(&mut self, paths: impl Iterator<Item = P>)
+    where
+        PathBuf: From<P>,
+    {
+        self.import_paths.extend(paths.map(PathBuf::from));
+    }
+
     /// Same as [Self::add_file], but assume that the path is already normalized, and take the
     /// timestamp as a parameter.
     fn add_file_(&mut self, path: PathBuf, timestamp: SystemTime) -> io::Result<FileId> {
@@ -1314,16 +1323,38 @@ impl ImportResolver for Cache {
         parent: Option<FileId>,
         pos: &TermPos,
     ) -> Result<(ResolvedTerm, FileId), ImportError> {
-        let parent_path = parent.and_then(|p| self.get_path(p)).map(PathBuf::from);
-        let path_buf = with_parent(path, parent_path);
+        // `parent` is the file that did the import. We first look in its containing directory.
+        let mut parent_path = parent
+            .and_then(|p| self.get_path(p))
+            .map(PathBuf::from)
+            .unwrap_or_default();
+        parent_path.pop();
+
+        let possible_parents: Vec<PathBuf> = std::iter::once(parent_path)
+            .chain(self.import_paths.iter().cloned())
+            .collect();
+
+        // Try to import from all possibilities, taking the first one that succeeds.
+        let (id_op, path_buf) = possible_parents
+            .iter()
+            .find_map(|parent| {
+                let mut path_buf = parent.clone();
+                path_buf.push(path);
+                self.get_or_add_file(&path_buf).ok().map(|x| (x, path_buf))
+            })
+            .ok_or_else(|| {
+                let parents = possible_parents
+                    .iter()
+                    .map(|p| p.to_string_lossy())
+                    .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+                ImportError::IOError(
+                    path.to_string_lossy().into_owned(),
+                    format!("could not find import (looked in [{}])", parents.join(", ")),
+                    *pos,
+                )
+            })?;
+
         let format = InputFormat::from_path(&path_buf).unwrap_or_default();
-        let id_op = self.get_or_add_file(&path_buf).map_err(|err| {
-            ImportError::IOError(
-                path_buf.to_string_lossy().into_owned(),
-                format!("{err}"),
-                *pos,
-            )
-        })?;
         let (result, file_id) = match id_op {
             CacheOp::Cached(id) => (ResolvedTerm::FromCache, id),
             CacheOp::Done(id) => (ResolvedTerm::FromFile { path: path_buf }, id),
@@ -1356,14 +1387,6 @@ impl ImportResolver for Cache {
     }
 }
 
-/// Compute the path of a file relatively to a parent.
-fn with_parent(path: &OsStr, parent: Option<PathBuf>) -> PathBuf {
-    let mut path_buf = parent.unwrap_or_default();
-    path_buf.pop();
-    path_buf.push(Path::new(path));
-    path_buf
-}
-
 /// Normalize the path of a file for unique identification in the cache.
 ///
 /// The returned path will be an absolute path.
diff --git a/core/src/program.rs b/core/src/program.rs
index 195bbbe5be..8bdbb5042c 100644
--- a/core/src/program.rs
+++ b/core/src/program.rs
@@ -297,6 +297,13 @@ impl<EC: EvalCache> Program<EC> {
         self.overrides.extend(overrides);
     }
 
+    pub fn add_import_paths<P>(&mut self, paths: impl Iterator<Item = P>)
+    where
+        PathBuf: From<P>,
+    {
+        self.vm.import_resolver_mut().add_import_paths(paths);
+    }
+
     /// Only parse the program, don't typecheck or evaluate. returns the [`RichTerm`] AST
     pub fn parse(&mut self) -> Result<RichTerm, Error> {
         self.vm
diff --git a/core/tests/integration/imports/missing-nickel-path.ncl b/core/tests/integration/imports/missing-nickel-path.ncl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f567a0fd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/tests/integration/imports/missing-nickel-path.ncl
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# test.type = 'error'
+#
+# [test.metadata]
+# error = 'ImportError::IoError'
+2 == (import "two.ncl")
diff --git a/core/tests/integration/imports/needs-nickel-path.ncl b/core/tests/integration/imports/needs-nickel-path.ncl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dcbc9750f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/tests/integration/imports/needs-nickel-path.ncl
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# test.type = 'pass'
+# nickel_path = ['tests/integration/imports/imported']
+2 == (import "two.ncl")
diff --git a/core/tests/integration/main.rs b/core/tests/integration/main.rs
index 7affb080aa..808dc060d3 100644
--- a/core/tests/integration/main.rs
+++ b/core/tests/integration/main.rs
@@ -63,12 +63,15 @@ fn run_test(test_case: TestCase<Test>, path: String) {
     let test = test_case.annotation.test;
 
     for _ in 0..repeat {
-        let p = TestProgram::new_from_source(
+        let mut p = TestProgram::new_from_source(
             Cursor::new(program.clone()),
             path.as_str(),
             std::io::stderr(),
         )
         .expect("");
+        if let Some(imports) = &test_case.annotation.nickel_path {
+            p.add_import_paths(imports.iter());
+        }
         match test.clone() {
             Expectation::Error(expected_err) => {
                 let err = eval_strategy.eval_program_to_err(p);
@@ -92,6 +95,7 @@ struct Test {
     test: Expectation,
     repeat: Option<usize>,
     eval: Option<EvalStrategy>,
+    nickel_path: Option<Vec<String>>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Clone, Copy, Deserialize)]
@@ -196,6 +200,8 @@ enum ErrorExpectation {
     ParseTypedFieldWithoutDefinition,
     #[serde(rename = "ImportError::ParseError")]
     ImportParseError,
+    #[serde(rename = "ImportError::IoError")]
+    ImportIoError,
     #[serde(rename = "ExportError::NumberOutOfRange")]
     SerializeNumberOutOfRange,
 }
@@ -229,6 +235,7 @@ impl PartialEq<Error> for ErrorExpectation {
                 Error::TypecheckError(TypecheckError::FlatTypeInTermPosition { .. }),
             )
             | (ImportParseError, Error::ImportError(ImportError::ParseErrors(..)))
+            | (ImportIoError, Error::ImportError(ImportError::IOError(..)))
             | (
                 SerializeNumberOutOfRange,
                 Error::EvalError(EvalError::SerializationError(ExportError::NumberOutOfRange {
@@ -340,6 +347,7 @@ impl std::fmt::Display for ErrorExpectation {
                 "ParseError::TypedFieldWithoutDefinition".to_owned()
             }
             ImportParseError => "ImportError::ParseError".to_owned(),
+            ImportIoError => "ImportError::IoError".to_owned(),
             EvalBlameError => "EvalError::BlameError".to_owned(),
             EvalTypeError => "EvalError::TypeError".to_owned(),
             EvalEqError => "EvalError::EqError".to_owned(),