diff --git a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
index f8894df631ef..dba394a91d64 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/all-tests.nix
@@ -321,6 +321,7 @@ in {
   mimir = handleTest ./mimir.nix {};
   garage = handleTest ./garage {};
   gemstash = handleTest ./gemstash.nix {};
+  geoserver = runTest ./geoserver.nix;
   gerrit = handleTest ./gerrit.nix {};
   geth = handleTest ./geth.nix {};
   ghostunnel = handleTest ./ghostunnel.nix {};
diff --git a/nixos/tests/geoserver.nix b/nixos/tests/geoserver.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7e5507a296ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/tests/geoserver.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{ pkgs, lib, ... }: {
+
+  name = "geoserver";
+  meta = {
+    maintainers = with lib; [ teams.geospatial.members ];
+  };
+
+  nodes = {
+    machine = { pkgs, ... }: {
+      virtualisation.diskSize = 2 * 1024;
+
+      environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.geoserver ];
+    };
+  };
+
+  testScript = ''
+    start_all()
+
+    machine.execute("${pkgs.geoserver}/bin/geoserver-startup > /dev/null 2>&1 &")
+    machine.wait_until_succeeds("curl --fail --connect-timeout 2 http://localhost:8080/geoserver", timeout=60)
+
+    machine.succeed("curl --fail --connect-timeout 2 http://localhost:8080/geoserver/ows?service=WMS&version=1.3.0&request=GetCapabilities")
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/geospatial/geoserver/data-dir.patch b/pkgs/servers/geospatial/geoserver/data-dir.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..869321627998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/servers/geospatial/geoserver/data-dir.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+--- a/bin/startup.sh
++++ b/bin/startup.sh
+@@ -66,12 +66,9 @@ fi
+ 
+ #Find the configuration directory: GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR
+ if [ -z "${GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR:-}" ]; then
+-    if [ -r "${GEOSERVER_HOME}/data_dir" ]; then
+-        export GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR="${GEOSERVER_HOME}/data_dir"
+-    else
+-        echo "No GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR found, using application defaults"
+-	      GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=""
+-    fi
++  echo "GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR is not provided. Using $(pwd)/geoserver/data_dir directory"
++  mkdir -p "$(pwd)"/geoserver/data_dir
++  GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR="$(pwd)/geoserver/data_dir"
+ fi
+ 
+ cd "${GEOSERVER_HOME}" || exit 1
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/geospatial/geoserver/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/geospatial/geoserver/default.nix
index 4f0b657fda66..c0a8bfbdf77e 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/geospatial/geoserver/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/geospatial/geoserver/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, unzip, jre, makeWrapper }:
+{ lib
+, fetchurl
+, makeWrapper
+, nixosTests
+, stdenv
+
+, jre
+, unzip
+}:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "geoserver";
@@ -9,6 +17,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "sha256-xX1rAONMh5XSWGPXkVMemAvG34DDNmu2018HsTvY7G0=";
   };
 
+  patches = [
+    # set GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR to current working directory if not provided
+    ./data-dir.patch
+  ];
+
   sourceRoot = ".";
   nativeBuildInputs = [ unzip makeWrapper ];
 
@@ -27,12 +40,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     runHook postInstall
   '';
 
+  passthru = {
+    tests.geoserver = nixosTests.geoserver;
+  };
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "Open source server for sharing geospatial data";
     homepage = "https://geoserver.org/";
     sourceProvenance = with sourceTypes; [ binaryBytecode ];
     license = licenses.gpl2Plus;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ sikmir ];
+    maintainers = teams.geospatial.members;
     platforms = platforms.all;
   };
 }