diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/continuous-integration/buildkite-agent.nix b/nixos/modules/services/continuous-integration/buildkite-agent.nix
index 32f361454bc184..e996680bedaf40 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/continuous-integration/buildkite-agent.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/continuous-integration/buildkite-agent.nix
@@ -210,6 +210,9 @@ in
         ##     don't end up in the Nix store.
         preStart = let
           sshDir = "${cfg.dataDir}/.ssh";
+          metaData = if cfg.meta-data == ""
+            then ""
+            else "meta-data=${cfg.meta-data}";
         in
           ''
             mkdir -m 0700 -p "${sshDir}"
@@ -220,7 +223,7 @@ in
             cat > "${cfg.dataDir}/buildkite-agent.cfg" <<EOF
             token="$(cat ${toString cfg.tokenPath})"
             name="${cfg.name}"
-            meta-data="${cfg.meta-data}"
+            ${metaData}
             build-path="${cfg.dataDir}/builds"
             hooks-path="${cfg.hooksPath}"
             ${cfg.extraConfig}
@@ -228,7 +231,7 @@ in
           '';
 
         serviceConfig =
-          { ExecStart = "${pkgs.buildkite-agent}/bin/buildkite-agent start --config /var/lib/buildkite-agent/buildkite-agent.cfg";
+          { ExecStart = "${cfg.buildkite-agent}/bin/buildkite-agent start --config /var/lib/buildkite-agent/buildkite-agent.cfg";
             User = "buildkite-agent";
             RestartSec = 5;
             Restart = "on-failure";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/continuous-integration/buildkite-agent/3.x.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/continuous-integration/buildkite-agent/3.x.nix
index e8266c2efe2cda..f4dd4de93b2d45 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/continuous-integration/buildkite-agent/3.x.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/continuous-integration/buildkite-agent/3.x.nix
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ callPackage ./generic.nix (args // rec {
     owner = "buildkite";
     repo = "agent";
     rev = "v${version}";
-    sha256 = "0sr1rxl92d4wdipl66f1yymx5bmyj1y85v6k22v57rzr6yhyfmsf";
+    sha256 = "0a7x919kxnpdn0pnhc5ilx1z6ninx8zgjvsd0jcg4qwh0qqp5ppr";
   };
-  version = "3.8.4";
+  version = "3.17.0";
   hasBootstrapScript = false;
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace bootstrap/shell/shell.go --replace /bin/bash ${bash}/bin/bash