diff --git a/pkg/nar/hash.go b/pkg/nar/hash.go
index 4784acfd..38fe8a2e 100644
--- a/pkg/nar/hash.go
+++ b/pkg/nar/hash.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ var (
 
 	// narHashPattern defines the valid characters for a nar hash.
 	//nolint:gochecknoglobals // This is used in other regexes to ensure they validate the same thing.
-	narHashPattern = `[a-z0-9]+`
+	narHashPattern = `[a-z0-9_-]+`
 
 	narHashRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`^(` + narHashPattern + `)$`)
 )
diff --git a/pkg/nar/url.go b/pkg/nar/url.go
index 3db3d1e4..57cb2b2a 100644
--- a/pkg/nar/url.go
+++ b/pkg/nar/url.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -100,3 +101,42 @@ func (u URL) pathWithCompression() string {
 
 	return p
 }
+
+// Normalize returns a new URL with the narinfo hash prefix trimmed from the Hash.
+// nix-serve serves NAR URLs with the narinfo hash as a prefix (e.g., "narinfo-hash-actual-hash").
+// This method removes that prefix to standardize the hash for storage.
+func (u URL) Normalize() URL {
+	hash := u.Hash
+
+	// Find the first separator ('-' or '_').
+	idx := strings.IndexAny(hash, "-_")
+
+	// If a separator is found after the first character.
+	if idx > 0 {
+		prefix := hash[:idx]
+		suffix := hash[idx+1:]
+
+		// A narinfo hash prefix is typically 32 characters long. This is a strong signal.
+		// We check this and ensure the suffix is not empty.
+		if len(prefix) == 32 && len(suffix) > 0 {
+			hash = suffix
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Sanitize the hash to prevent path traversal.
+	// Even though ParseURL validates the hash, URL is a public struct
+	// and Normalize could be called on a manually constructed URL.
+	cleanedHash := filepath.Clean(hash)
+	if strings.Contains(cleanedHash, "..") || strings.HasPrefix(cleanedHash, "/") {
+		// If the cleaned hash is still invalid, we return the original URL
+		// to avoid potentially breaking something that might be valid in some context,
+		// but storage layers will still validate it using ToFilePath().
+		return u
+	}
+
+	return URL{
+		Hash:        cleanedHash,
+		Compression: u.Compression,
+		Query:       u.Query,
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/nar/url_test.go b/pkg/nar/url_test.go
index afda4fb9..bb79ea06 100644
--- a/pkg/nar/url_test.go
+++ b/pkg/nar/url_test.go
@@ -132,6 +132,93 @@ func TestParseURL(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestNormalize(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		input  nar.URL
+		output nar.URL
+	}{
+		{
+			input: nar.URL{
+				Hash:        "09xizkfyvigl5fqs0dhkn46nghfwwijbpdzzl4zg6kx90prjmsg0",
+				Compression: nar.CompressionTypeNone,
+				Query:       url.Values{},
+			},
+			output: nar.URL{
+				Hash:        "09xizkfyvigl5fqs0dhkn46nghfwwijbpdzzl4zg6kx90prjmsg0",
+				Compression: nar.CompressionTypeNone,
+				Query:       url.Values{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			input: nar.URL{
+				Hash:        "c12lxpykv6sld7a0sakcnr3y0la70x8w-09xizkfyvigl5fqs0dhkn46nghfwwijbpdzzl4zg6kx90prjmsg0",
+				Compression: nar.CompressionTypeNone,
+				Query:       url.Values{},
+			},
+			output: nar.URL{
+				Hash:        "09xizkfyvigl5fqs0dhkn46nghfwwijbpdzzl4zg6kx90prjmsg0",
+				Compression: nar.CompressionTypeNone,
+				Query:       url.Values{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			input: nar.URL{
+				Hash:        "c12lxpykv6sld7a0sakcnr3y0la70x8w_09xizkfyvigl5fqs0dhkn46nghfwwijbpdzzl4zg6kx90prjmsg0",
+				Compression: nar.CompressionTypeZstd,
+				Query:       url.Values(map[string][]string{"hash": {"123"}}),
+			},
+			output: nar.URL{
+				Hash:        "09xizkfyvigl5fqs0dhkn46nghfwwijbpdzzl4zg6kx90prjmsg0",
+				Compression: nar.CompressionTypeZstd,
+				Query:       url.Values(map[string][]string{"hash": {"123"}}),
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			// Valid hash with separator but no prefix
+			input: nar.URL{
+				Hash: "my-hash",
+			},
+			output: nar.URL{
+				Hash: "my-hash",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			// Valid prefix and multiple separators in the suffix
+			input: nar.URL{
+				Hash: "c12lxpykv6sld7a0sakcnr3y0la70x8w-part1-part2",
+			},
+			output: nar.URL{
+				Hash: "part1-part2",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			// Potential path traversal attempt in the hash (should remain unchanged or be sanitized)
+			input: nar.URL{
+				Hash: "c12lxpykv6sld7a0sakcnr3y0la70x8w-../../etc/passwd",
+			},
+			output: nar.URL{
+				Hash: "c12lxpykv6sld7a0sakcnr3y0la70x8w-../../etc/passwd",
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		tname := fmt.Sprintf(
+			"Normalize(%q) -> %q",
+			test.input.Hash,
+			test.output.Hash,
+		)
+		t.Run(tname, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			result := test.input.Normalize()
+			assert.Equal(t, test.output, result)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestJoinURL(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()