diff --git a/src/modules/containers.nix b/src/modules/containers.nix
index 63a026a50..11d550b2d 100644
--- a/src/modules/containers.nix
+++ b/src/modules/containers.nix
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ let
   mkDerivation = cfg: nix2container.nix2container.buildImage {
     name = cfg.name;
     tag = cfg.version;
+    maxLayers = cfg.maxLayers;
     copyToRoot = [
       (pkgs.runCommand "create-paths" { } ''
         mkdir -p $out/tmp
@@ -164,6 +165,11 @@ let
           docker run -it ${config.name}:${config.version} "$@"
         '';
       };
+
+      maxLayers = lib.mkOption {
+        type = types.int;
+        default = 1;
+      };
     };
   });
 in