diff --git a/maintainers/scripts/check-cherry-picks.sh b/maintainers/scripts/check-cherry-picks.sh
index c846fa108df2..0e02c709d8f5 100755
--- a/maintainers/scripts/check-cherry-picks.sh
+++ b/maintainers/scripts/check-cherry-picks.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ if [ $# != "2" ] ; then
   exit 2
 fi
 
+# Make sure we are inside the nixpkgs repo, even when called from outside
+cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
+
 PICKABLE_BRANCHES=${PICKABLE_BRANCHES:-master staging release-??.?? staging-??.??}
 problem=0