diff --git a/pkgs/shells/oksh/default.nix b/pkgs/shells/oksh/default.nix
index 0be401c0a1f2..391ccab4ea5f 100644
--- a/pkgs/shells/oksh/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/shells/oksh/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-{ stdenv, lib, fetchFromGitHub, buildPackages }:
+{ stdenv
+, lib
+, fetchFromGitHub
+, buildPackages
+, ncurses
+}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "oksh";
@@ -19,6 +24,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   configureFlags = [ "--no-strip" ];
 
+  buildInputs = [ ncurses ];
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "Portable OpenBSD ksh, based on the Public Domain Korn Shell (pdksh)";
     mainProgram = "oksh";