diff --git a/cmd/flux/build_artifact.go b/cmd/flux/build_artifact.go
index 9da0ca0e..d64e08ab 100644
--- a/cmd/flux/build_artifact.go
+++ b/cmd/flux/build_artifact.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -48,9 +49,10 @@ from the given directory or a single manifest file.`,
 }
 
 type buildArtifactFlags struct {
-	output      string
-	path        string
-	ignorePaths []string
+	output          string
+	path            string
+	ignorePaths     []string
+	resolveSymlinks bool
 }
 
 var excludeOCI = append(strings.Split(sourceignore.ExcludeVCS, ","), strings.Split(sourceignore.ExcludeExt, ",")...)
@@ -61,6 +63,7 @@ func init() {
 	buildArtifactCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&buildArtifactArgs.path, "path", "p", "", "Path to the directory where the Kubernetes manifests are located.")
 	buildArtifactCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&buildArtifactArgs.output, "output", "o", "artifact.tgz", "Path to where the artifact tgz file should be written.")
 	buildArtifactCmd.Flags().StringSliceVar(&buildArtifactArgs.ignorePaths, "ignore-paths", excludeOCI, "set paths to ignore in .gitignore format")
+	buildArtifactCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&buildArtifactArgs.resolveSymlinks, "resolve-symlinks", false, "resolve symlinks by copying their targets into the artifact")
 
 	buildCmd.AddCommand(buildArtifactCmd)
 }
@@ -85,6 +88,15 @@ func buildArtifactCmdRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid path '%s', must point to an existing directory or file", path)
 	}
 
+	if buildArtifactArgs.resolveSymlinks {
+		resolved, err := resolveSymlinks(path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("resolving symlinks failed: %w", err)
+		}
+		defer os.RemoveAll(resolved)
+		path = resolved
+	}
+
 	logger.Actionf("building artifact from %s", path)
 
 	ociClient := oci.NewClient(oci.DefaultOptions())
@@ -96,6 +108,110 @@ func buildArtifactCmdRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// resolveSymlinks creates a temporary directory with symlinks resolved to their
+// real file contents. This allows building artifacts from symlink trees (e.g.,
+// those created by Nix) where the actual files live outside the source directory.
+func resolveSymlinks(srcPath string) (string, error) {
+	absPath, err := filepath.Abs(srcPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	info, err := os.Stat(absPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	// For a single file, resolve the symlink and return a temp dir containing it
+	if !info.IsDir() {
+		resolved, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(absPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("resolving symlink for %s: %w", absPath, err)
+		}
+		tmpDir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "flux-artifact-*")
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+		dst := filepath.Join(tmpDir, filepath.Base(absPath))
+		if err := copyFile(resolved, dst); err != nil {
+			os.RemoveAll(tmpDir)
+			return "", err
+		}
+		return tmpDir, nil
+	}
+
+	tmpDir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "flux-artifact-*")
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	err = filepath.Walk(absPath, func(p string, fi os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		relPath, err := filepath.Rel(absPath, p)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		dstPath := filepath.Join(tmpDir, relPath)
+
+		// Resolve symlinks to get the real file info
+		realPath := p
+		realInfo := fi
+		if fi.Mode()&os.ModeSymlink != 0 {
+			realPath, err = filepath.EvalSymlinks(p)
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("resolving symlink %s: %w", p, err)
+			}
+			realInfo, err = os.Stat(realPath)
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("stat resolved path %s: %w", realPath, err)
+			}
+		}
+
+		if realInfo.IsDir() {
+			return os.MkdirAll(dstPath, realInfo.Mode())
+		}
+
+		if !realInfo.Mode().IsRegular() {
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		return copyFile(realPath, dstPath)
+	})
+
+	if err != nil {
+		os.RemoveAll(tmpDir)
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	return tmpDir, nil
+}
+
+func copyFile(src, dst string) error {
+	in, err := os.Open(src)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer in.Close()
+
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dst), 0o755); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	out, err := os.Create(dst)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer out.Close()
+
+	if _, err := io.Copy(out, in); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return out.Close()
+}
+
 func saveReaderToFile(reader io.Reader) (string, error) {
 	b, err := io.ReadAll(bufio.NewReader(reader))
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/flux/build_artifact_test.go b/cmd/flux/build_artifact_test.go
index ba84186c..cc1a106d 100644
--- a/cmd/flux/build_artifact_test.go
+++ b/cmd/flux/build_artifact_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -68,3 +69,47 @@ data:
 
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_resolveSymlinks(t *testing.T) {
+	g := NewWithT(t)
+
+	// Create source directory with a real file
+	srcDir := t.TempDir()
+	realFile := filepath.Join(srcDir, "real.yaml")
+	g.Expect(os.WriteFile(realFile, []byte("apiVersion: v1\nkind: Namespace\nmetadata:\n  name: test\n"), 0o644)).To(Succeed())
+
+	// Create a directory with symlinks pointing to files outside it
+	symlinkDir := t.TempDir()
+	symlinkFile := filepath.Join(symlinkDir, "linked.yaml")
+	g.Expect(os.Symlink(realFile, symlinkFile)).To(Succeed())
+
+	// Also add a regular file in the symlink dir
+	regularFile := filepath.Join(symlinkDir, "regular.yaml")
+	g.Expect(os.WriteFile(regularFile, []byte("apiVersion: v1\nkind: ConfigMap\n"), 0o644)).To(Succeed())
+
+	// Create a symlinked subdirectory
+	subDir := filepath.Join(srcDir, "subdir")
+	g.Expect(os.MkdirAll(subDir, 0o755)).To(Succeed())
+	g.Expect(os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(subDir, "nested.yaml"), []byte("nested"), 0o644)).To(Succeed())
+	g.Expect(os.Symlink(subDir, filepath.Join(symlinkDir, "linkeddir"))).To(Succeed())
+
+	// Resolve symlinks
+	resolved, err := resolveSymlinks(symlinkDir)
+	g.Expect(err).To(BeNil())
+	t.Cleanup(func() { os.RemoveAll(resolved) })
+
+	// Verify the regular file was copied
+	content, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(resolved, "regular.yaml"))
+	g.Expect(err).To(BeNil())
+	g.Expect(string(content)).To(Equal("apiVersion: v1\nkind: ConfigMap\n"))
+
+	// Verify the symlinked file was resolved and copied
+	content, err = os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(resolved, "linked.yaml"))
+	g.Expect(err).To(BeNil())
+	g.Expect(string(content)).To(ContainSubstring("kind: Namespace"))
+
+	// Verify that the resolved file is a regular file, not a symlink
+	info, err := os.Lstat(filepath.Join(resolved, "linked.yaml"))
+	g.Expect(err).To(BeNil())
+	g.Expect(info.Mode().IsRegular()).To(BeTrue())
+}
diff --git a/cmd/flux/push_artifact.go b/cmd/flux/push_artifact.go
index c37f0ef1..8a178c7a 100644
--- a/cmd/flux/push_artifact.go
+++ b/cmd/flux/push_artifact.go
@@ -103,17 +103,18 @@ The command can read the credentials from '~/.docker/config.json' but they can a
 }
 
 type pushArtifactFlags struct {
-	path         string
-	source       string
-	revision     string
-	creds        string
-	provider     flags.SourceOCIProvider
-	ignorePaths  []string
-	annotations  []string
-	output       string
-	debug        bool
-	reproducible bool
-	insecure     bool
+	path            string
+	source          string
+	revision        string
+	creds           string
+	provider        flags.SourceOCIProvider
+	ignorePaths     []string
+	annotations     []string
+	output          string
+	debug           bool
+	reproducible    bool
+	insecure        bool
+	resolveSymlinks bool
 }
 
 var pushArtifactArgs = newPushArtifactFlags()
@@ -137,6 +138,7 @@ func init() {
 	pushArtifactCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&pushArtifactArgs.debug, "debug", "", false, "display logs from underlying library")
 	pushArtifactCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&pushArtifactArgs.reproducible, "reproducible", false, "ensure reproducible image digests by setting the created timestamp to '1970-01-01T00:00:00Z'")
 	pushArtifactCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&pushArtifactArgs.insecure, "insecure-registry", false, "allows artifacts to be pushed without TLS")
+	pushArtifactCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&pushArtifactArgs.resolveSymlinks, "resolve-symlinks", false, "resolve symlinks by copying their targets into the artifact")
 
 	pushCmd.AddCommand(pushArtifactCmd)
 }
@@ -183,6 +185,15 @@ func pushArtifactCmdRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid path '%s', must point to an existing directory or file: %w", path, err)
 	}
 
+	if pushArtifactArgs.resolveSymlinks {
+		resolved, err := resolveSymlinks(path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("resolving symlinks failed: %w", err)
+		}
+		defer os.RemoveAll(resolved)
+		path = resolved
+	}
+
 	annotations := map[string]string{}
 	for _, annotation := range pushArtifactArgs.annotations {
 		kv := strings.Split(annotation, "=")