diff --git a/packages/genodelabs/depot-targets.nix b/packages/genodelabs/depot-targets.nix
index 28499dd..ab26814 100644
--- a/packages/genodelabs/depot-targets.nix
+++ b/packages/genodelabs/depot-targets.nix
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ in {
   nic_loopback = { };
   nic_router = { };
   nit_focus = { };
-  nitpicker = { };
+  nitpicker.patches = [ ./patches/nitpicker.patch ];
   nvme_drv = { };
   openjpeg = { };
   part_block.patches = [ ./patches/config-update.patch ];
diff --git a/packages/genodelabs/patches/nitpicker.patch b/packages/genodelabs/patches/nitpicker.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..088a440
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/genodelabs/patches/nitpicker.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+From 23aba2631d51e921c2f5cf880274648eae2a1616 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Emery Hemingway <ehmry@posteo.net>
+Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2021 14:35:13 +0200
+Subject: [PATCH] nitpicker: make backdrop magic explicit in policy
+
+Activate the undocumented backdrop handling with a boolen attribute
+"backdrop" on a matched session policy, regardless of what the
+session label is.
+---
+ repos/os/src/server/nitpicker/main.cc | 8 +++++---
+ 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/repos/os/src/server/nitpicker/main.cc b/repos/os/src/server/nitpicker/main.cc
+index 2aa78cfdb1..357cc8ebc5 100644
+--- a/repos/os/src/server/nitpicker/main.cc
++++ b/repos/os/src/server/nitpicker/main.cc
+@@ -88,9 +88,11 @@ class Nitpicker::Gui_root : public Root_component<Gui_session>,
+ 
+ 		Gui_session *_create_session(const char *args) override
+ 		{
++			auto config = _config.xml();
+ 			Session_label const label = label_from_args(args);
++			Session_policy policy(label, config);
+ 
+-			bool const provides_default_bg = (label == "backdrop");
++			bool provides_default_bg = policy.attribute_value("backdrop", false);
+ 
+ 			Gui_session *session = new (md_alloc())
+ 				Gui_session(_env,
+@@ -100,9 +102,9 @@ class Nitpicker::Gui_root : public Root_component<Gui_session>,
+ 				            _builtin_background, provides_default_bg,
+ 				            _focus_reporter, *this);
+ 
+-			session->apply_session_policy(_config.xml(), _domain_registry);
++			session->apply_session_policy(config, _domain_registry);
+ 			_session_list.insert(session);
+-			_global_keys.apply_config(_config.xml(), _session_list);
++			_global_keys.apply_config(config, _session_list);
+ 			_focus_updater.update_focus();
+ 			_hover_updater.update_hover();
+ 
+-- 
+2.31.0
+