diff --git a/nixos/tests/replace-dependencies/default.nix b/nixos/tests/replace-dependencies/default.nix
index 822b0fbecade..ce0013a868c7 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/replace-dependencies/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/replace-dependencies/default.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import ../make-test-python.nix (
     nodes.machine =
       { ... }:
       {
+        nix.settings.experimental-features = [ "ca-derivations" ];
         system.extraDependencies = [ pkgs.stdenvNoCC ];
       };
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/replace-dependencies/guest.nix b/nixos/tests/replace-dependencies/guest.nix
index 32376e0a5636..f022f1728599 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/replace-dependencies/guest.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/replace-dependencies/guest.nix
@@ -21,12 +21,17 @@ let
   oldDependency = writeShellScriptBin "dependency" ''
     echo "got old dependency"
   '';
+  oldDependency-ca = oldDependency.overrideAttrs { __contentAddressed = true; };
   newDependency = writeShellScriptBin "dependency" ''
     echo "got new dependency"
   '';
+  newDependency-ca = newDependency.overrideAttrs { __contentAddressed = true; };
   basic = writeShellScriptBin "test" ''
     ${oldDependency}/bin/dependency
   '';
+  basic-ca = writeShellScriptBin "test" ''
+    ${oldDependency-ca}/bin/dependency
+  '';
   transitive = writeShellScriptBin "test" ''
     ${basic}/bin/test
   '';
@@ -58,6 +63,18 @@ in
     inherit oldDependency newDependency;
   }) "got new dependency";
 
+  replacedependency-basic-old-ca = mkCheckOutput "replacedependency-basic" (replaceDependency {
+    drv = basic-ca;
+    oldDependency = oldDependency-ca;
+    inherit newDependency;
+  }) "got new dependency";
+
+  replacedependency-basic-new-ca = mkCheckOutput "replacedependency-basic" (replaceDependency {
+    drv = basic;
+    inherit oldDependency;
+    newDependency = newDependency-ca;
+  }) "got new dependency";
+
   replacedependency-transitive = mkCheckOutput "replacedependency-transitive" (replaceDependency {
     drv = transitive;
     inherit oldDependency newDependency;
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/replace-dependencies.nix b/pkgs/build-support/replace-dependencies.nix
index af0a2c05d623..c276b3e09e49 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/replace-dependencies.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/replace-dependencies.nix
@@ -43,14 +43,14 @@ let
   inherit (builtins) unsafeDiscardStringContext appendContext;
   inherit (lib)
     trace
-    stringLength
     listToAttrs
+    isStorePath
+    readFile
     attrValues
     mapAttrs
     filter
     hasAttr
     mapAttrsToList
-    all
     ;
   inherit (lib.attrsets) mergeAttrsList;
 
@@ -89,17 +89,38 @@ let
         ''
       ).outPath;
 
-  knownDerivations = [ drv ] ++ map ({ newDependency, ... }: newDependency) replacements;
+  targetDerivations = [ drv ] ++ map ({ newDependency, ... }: newDependency) replacements;
+  realisation =
+    drv:
+    if isStorePath drv then
+      # Input-addressed and fixed-output derivations have their realisation as outPath.
+      toContextlessString drv
+    else
+      # Floating and deferred derivations have a placeholder outPath.
+      # The realisation can only be obtained by performing an actual build.
+      unsafeDiscardStringContext (
+        readFile (
+          runCommandLocal "realisation"
+            {
+              env = {
+                inherit drv;
+              };
+            }
+            ''
+              echo -n "$drv" > $out
+            ''
+        )
+      );
   referencesMemo = listToAttrs (
     map (drv: {
-      name = toContextlessString drv;
+      name = realisation drv;
       value = referencesOf drv;
-    }) knownDerivations
+    }) targetDerivations
   );
   relevantReferences = mergeAttrsList (attrValues referencesMemo);
   # Make sure a derivation is returned even when no replacements are actually applied.
   # Yes, even in the stupid edge case where the root derivation itself is replaced.
-  storePathOrKnownDerivationMemo =
+  storePathOrKnownTargetDerivationMemo =
     mapAttrs (
       drv: _references:
       # builtins.storePath does not work in pure evaluation mode, even though it is not impure.
@@ -109,9 +130,9 @@ let
     ) relevantReferences
     // listToAttrs (
       map (drv: {
-        name = toContextlessString drv;
+        name = realisation drv;
         value = drv;
-      }) knownDerivations
+      }) targetDerivations
     );
 
   relevantReplacements = filter (
@@ -121,7 +142,7 @@ let
         # Attempting to replace a dependency by itself is completely useless, and would only lead to infinite recursion.
         # Hence it must not be attempted to apply this replacement in any case.
         false
-    else if !hasAttr (toContextlessString oldDependency) referencesMemo.${toContextlessString drv} then
+    else if !hasAttr (realisation oldDependency) referencesMemo.${realisation drv} then
       warn "replaceDependencies: ${drv} does not depend on ${oldDependency}"
         # Handle the corner case where one of the other replacements introduces the dependency.
         # It would be more correct to not show the warning in this case, but the added complexity is probably not worth it.
@@ -146,7 +167,7 @@ let
         );
       in
       replaceDirectDependencies {
-        drv = storePathOrKnownDerivationMemo.${drv};
+        drv = storePathOrKnownTargetDerivationMemo.${drv};
         replacements = mapAttrsToList (name: value: {
           oldDependency = name;
           newDependency = value;
@@ -155,21 +176,18 @@ let
     ) relevantReferences
     // listToAttrs (
       map (drv: {
-        name = toContextlessString drv;
-        value = storePathOrKnownDerivationMemo.${toContextlessString drv};
+        name = realisation drv;
+        value = storePathOrKnownTargetDerivationMemo.${realisation drv};
       }) cutoffPackages
     )
     // listToAttrs (
       map (
         { oldDependency, newDependency }:
         {
-          name = toContextlessString oldDependency;
-          value = rewriteMemo.${toContextlessString newDependency};
+          name = realisation oldDependency;
+          value = rewriteMemo.${realisation newDependency};
         }
       ) relevantReplacements
     );
 in
-assert all (
-  { oldDependency, newDependency }: stringLength oldDependency == stringLength newDependency
-) replacements;
-rewriteMemo.${toContextlessString drv}
+rewriteMemo.${realisation drv}
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/replace-direct-dependencies.nix b/pkgs/build-support/replace-direct-dependencies.nix
index b579a097c442..57036ebd74d1 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/replace-direct-dependencies.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/replace-direct-dependencies.nix
@@ -6,20 +6,67 @@
 
 # Replace some direct dependencies of drv, not recursing into the dependency tree.
 # You likely want to use replaceDependencies instead, unless you plan to implement your own recursion mechanism.
-{ drv, replacements ? [ ] }:
-let inherit (lib) all stringLength substring concatStringsSep;
-in assert all ({ oldDependency, newDependency }:
-  stringLength oldDependency == stringLength newDependency) replacements;
+{
+  drv,
+  replacements ? [ ],
+}:
+let
+  inherit (lib)
+    isStorePath
+    substring
+    stringLength
+    optionalString
+    escapeShellArgs
+    concatMap
+    ;
+in
 if replacements == [ ] then
   drv
 else
-  let drvName = substring 33 (stringLength (baseNameOf drv)) (baseNameOf drv);
-  in runCommandLocal drvName { nixStore = "${nix}/bin/nix-store"; } ''
-    $nixStore --dump ${drv} | sed 's|${
-      baseNameOf drv
-    }|'$(basename $out)'|g' | sed -e ${
-      concatStringsSep " -e " (map ({ oldDependency, newDependency }:
-        "'s|${baseNameOf oldDependency}|${baseNameOf newDependency}|g'")
-        replacements)
-    } | $nixStore --restore $out
+  let
+    drvName =
+      if isStorePath drv then
+        # Reconstruct the name from the actual store path if available.
+        substring 33 (stringLength (baseNameOf drv)) (baseNameOf drv)
+      else if drv ? drvAttrs.name then
+        # Try to get the name from the derivation arguments otherwise (for floating or deferred derivations).
+        drv.drvAttrs.name
+        + (
+          let
+            outputName = drv.outputName or "out";
+          in
+          optionalString (outputName != "out") "-${outputName}"
+        )
+      else
+        throw "cannot reconstruct the derivation name from ${drv}";
+  in
+  runCommandLocal drvName { nativeBuildInputs = [ nix.out ]; } ''
+    createRewriteScript() {
+        while [ $# -ne 0 ]; do
+            oldBasename="$(basename "$1")"
+            newBasename="$(basename "$2")"
+            shift 2
+            if [ ''${#oldBasename} -ne ''${#newBasename} ]; then
+                echo "cannot rewrite $oldBasename to $newBasename: length does not match" >&2
+                exit 1
+            fi
+            echo "s|$oldBasename|$newBasename|g" >> rewrite.sed
+        done
+    }
+    createRewriteScript ${
+      escapeShellArgs (
+        [
+          drv
+          (placeholder "out")
+        ]
+        ++ concatMap (
+          { oldDependency, newDependency }:
+          [
+            oldDependency
+            newDependency
+          ]
+        ) replacements
+      )
+    }
+    nix-store --dump ${drv} | sed -f rewrite.sed | nix-store --restore $out
   ''