diff --git a/src/builder.rs b/src/builder.rs
index 520d6c94..3c9ea211 100644
--- a/src/builder.rs
+++ b/src/builder.rs
@@ -103,9 +103,21 @@ fn instrumented_instantiation(
             .into_iter()
             .fold((vec![], vec![]), |(mut paths, mut log_lines), result| {
                 match result {
-                    LogDatum::CopiedSource(src)
-                    | LogDatum::NixSourceFile(src)
-                    | LogDatum::ReadFileOrDir(src) => {
+                    LogDatum::CopiedSource(src) | LogDatum::ReadFileOrDir(src) => {
+                        paths.push(src);
+                    }
+                    LogDatum::NixSourceFile(mut src) => {
+                        // We need to emulate nix’s `default.nix` mechanism here.
+                        // That is, if the user uses something like
+                        // `import ./foo`
+                        // and `foo` is a directory, nix will actually import
+                        // `./foo/default.nix`
+                        // but still print `./foo`.
+                        // Since this is the only time directories are printed,
+                        // we can just manually re-implement that behavior.
+                        if src.is_dir() {
+                            src.push("default.nix");
+                        }
                         paths.push(src);
                     }
                     LogDatum::Text(line) => log_lines.push(line),
@@ -405,4 +417,100 @@ in {}
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    /// Helper to recursively print the contents of files of a directory tree.
+    /// No error handling is done.
+    fn pretty_print_files_in_dir(dir: &Path) -> String {
+        std::fs::read_dir(&dir)
+            .unwrap()
+            .map(|path| {
+                let p = path.unwrap().path();
+                format!(
+                    "{:?}: {}\n",
+                    p,
+                    if !p.is_dir() {
+                        String::from_utf8(std::fs::read(&p).unwrap()).unwrap()
+                    } else {
+                        "<directory>\n".to_string() + &pretty_print_files_in_dir(&p)
+                    }
+                )
+            })
+            .collect::<String>()
+    }
+
+    // TODO: builtins.fetchTarball and the like? What happens with those?
+    // Are they directories and if yes, should we watch them?
+    /// The paths that are returned by the nix-instantiate call
+    /// must not contain directories, otherwise the watcher will
+    /// watch those recursively, which leads to a lot of wasted resources
+    /// and often exhausts the amount of available file handles
+    /// (especially on macOS).
+    #[test]
+    fn no_unnecessary_files_or_directories_watched() -> std::io::Result<()> {
+        let root_tmp = tempfile::tempdir()?;
+        let cas_tmp = tempfile::tempdir()?;
+        let root = root_tmp.path();
+        let shell = root.join("shell.nix");
+        std::fs::write(
+            &shell,
+            drv(
+                "shell",
+                r##"
+# The `foo/default.nix` is implicitely imported
+# (we only want to watch that one, not the whole directory)
+foo = import ./foo;
+# `dir` is imported as source directory (no `import`).
+# We *do* want to watch this directory, because we need to react
+# when the user updates it.
+dir-as-source = ./dir;
+"##,
+            ),
+        )?;
+
+        // ./foo
+        // ./foo/default.nix
+        // ./foo/bar <- should not be watched
+        // ./foo/baz <- should be watched
+        // ./dir <- should be watched, because imported as source
+        let foo = root.join("foo");
+        std::fs::create_dir(&foo)?;
+        let dir = root.join("dir");
+        std::fs::create_dir(&dir)?;
+        let foo_default = &foo.join("default.nix");
+        std::fs::write(&foo_default, "import ./baz")?;
+        let foo_bar = &foo.join("bar");
+        std::fs::write(&foo_bar, "This file should not be watched")?;
+        let foo_baz = &foo.join("baz");
+        std::fs::write(&foo_baz, "\"This file should be watched\"")?;
+
+        let cas = ContentAddressable::new(cas_tmp.path().join("cas"))?;
+
+        match instrumented_instantiation(&NixFile::from(shell), &cas).unwrap() {
+            Info::Success(s) => {
+                assert!(
+                    s.paths.iter().any(|p| p.ends_with("foo/default.nix")),
+                    "foo/default.nix should be watched!"
+                );
+                assert!(
+                    !s.paths.iter().any(|p| p.ends_with("foo/bar")),
+                    "foo/bar should not be watched!"
+                );
+                assert!(
+                    s.paths.iter().any(|p| p.ends_with("foo/baz")),
+                    "foo/baz should be watched!"
+                );
+                assert!(
+                    s.paths.iter().any(|p| p.ends_with("dir")),
+                    "dir should be watched!"
+                );
+                assert!(
+                    !s.paths.iter().any(|p| p.ends_with("foo")),
+                    "No imported directories must exist in watched paths: {:#?}",
+                    s.paths
+                );
+            }
+            Info::Failure(f) => panic!("{:#?}\n{}", f, pretty_print_files_in_dir(root)),
+        };
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
 }