diff --git a/src/gnome-shell/__nix-prepend-search-paths.js b/src/gnome-shell/__nix-prepend-search-paths.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e8e20c67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/gnome-shell/__nix-prepend-search-paths.js
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+import GIRepository from 'gi://GIRepository';
+
+GIRepository.Repository.prepend_search_path('@typelibDir@');
diff --git a/src/gnome-shell/extension.js b/src/gnome-shell/extension.js
index cb862a30..980767c9 100644
--- a/src/gnome-shell/extension.js
+++ b/src/gnome-shell/extension.js
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2010-2023, Marc-Antoine Perennou <Marc-Antoine@Perennou.com>
  */
 
+import './__nix-prepend-search-paths.js';
+
 import * as Main from 'resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/main.js';
 import {Extension, gettext as _} from 'resource:///org/gnome/shell/extensions/extension.js';
 
diff --git a/src/gnome-shell/meson.build b/src/gnome-shell/meson.build
index 86cbb0b2..80fc4d67 100644
--- a/src/gnome-shell/meson.build
+++ b/src/gnome-shell/meson.build
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 shell_extension_files = [
+  '__nix-prepend-search-paths.js',
   'aboutItem.js',
   'actionButton.js',
   'actionButtonActor.js',
diff --git a/src/gnome-shell/prefs.js b/src/gnome-shell/prefs.js
index 4c0d9bde..58f54f9a 100644
--- a/src/gnome-shell/prefs.js
+++ b/src/gnome-shell/prefs.js
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2010-2023, Marc-Antoine Perennou <Marc-Antoine@Perennou.com>
  */
 
+import './__nix-prepend-search-paths.js';
+
 import { ExtensionPreferences, gettext as _ } from 'resource:///org/gnome/Shell/Extensions/js/extensions/prefs.js';
 
 import GPasteGtk from 'gi://GPasteGtk?version=4';
diff --git a/src/libgpaste/gpaste/gpaste-settings.c b/src/libgpaste/gpaste/gpaste-settings.c
index 830f5e0b..c8df0e11 100644
--- a/src/libgpaste/gpaste/gpaste-settings.c
+++ b/src/libgpaste/gpaste/gpaste-settings.c
@@ -1039,7 +1039,10 @@ create_g_settings (void)
     }
     else
     {
-        return g_settings_new (G_PASTE_SETTINGS_NAME);
+        // library used by introspection requires schemas but we cannot set XDG_DATA_DIRS for the library
+        g_autoptr (GSettingsSchemaSource) schema_source = g_settings_schema_source_new_from_directory ("@gschemasCompiled@", NULL, FALSE, NULL);
+        g_autoptr (GSettingsSchema) schema = g_settings_schema_source_lookup (schema_source, G_PASTE_SETTINGS_NAME, FALSE);
+        return g_settings_new_full (schema, NULL, NULL);
     }
 }