diff --git a/gnu/packages/rust-apps.scm b/gnu/packages/rust-apps.scm
index e5efaaa179..a359cf1078 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/rust-apps.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/rust-apps.scm
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ (define-public agate
         ("rust-tokio" ,rust-tokio-1)
         ("rust-tokio-rustls" ,rust-tokio-rustls-0.22)
         ("rust-url" ,rust-url-2))))
+    (native-inputs
+     (list perl))
     (home-page "https://github.com/mbrubeck/agate")
     (synopsis "Very simple server for the Gemini hypertext protocol")
     (description