diff --git a/src/libexpr/nixexpr.hh b/src/libexpr/nixexpr.hh
index c013f5deb83..b328b3941d8 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/nixexpr.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/nixexpr.hh
@@ -368,6 +368,13 @@ struct StaticEnv
             [](const Vars::value_type & a, const Vars::value_type & b) { return a.first < b.first; });
     }
 
+    void deduplicate()
+    {
+        const auto last = std::unique(vars.begin(), vars.end(),
+            [] (const Vars::value_type & a, const Vars::value_type & b) { return a.first == b.first; });
+        vars.erase(last, vars.end());
+    }
+
     Vars::const_iterator find(const Symbol & name) const
     {
         Vars::value_type key(name, 0);
diff --git a/src/nix/repl.cc b/src/nix/repl.cc
index 63ccbfda3e8..39a5a31deda 100644
--- a/src/nix/repl.cc
+++ b/src/nix/repl.cc
@@ -661,8 +661,16 @@ void NixRepl::reloadFiles()
 void NixRepl::addAttrsToScope(Value & attrs)
 {
     state->forceAttrs(attrs);
-    for (auto & i : *attrs.attrs)
-        addVarToScope(i.name, *i.value);
+    if (displ + attrs.attrs->size() >= envSize)
+        throw Error("environment full; cannot add more variables");
+
+    for (auto & i : *attrs.attrs) {
+        staticEnv.vars.emplace_back(i.name, displ);
+        env->values[displ++] = i.value;
+        varNames.insert((string) i.name);
+    }
+    staticEnv.sort();
+    staticEnv.deduplicate();
     notice("Added %1% variables.", attrs.attrs->size());
 }