diff --git a/crates/compiler/unify/src/fix.rs b/crates/compiler/unify/src/fix.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f25751b1df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/compiler/unify/src/fix.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,270 @@
+//! Fix fixpoints of recursive types.
+
+use roc_error_macros::internal_error;
+use roc_types::subs::{Content, FlatType, GetSubsSlice, Subs, Variable};
+
+struct Update {
+    source_of_truth: Variable,
+    update_var: Variable,
+}
+
+fn find_chain(subs: &Subs, left: Variable, right: Variable) -> impl Iterator<Item = Update> {
+    let left = subs.get_root_key_without_compacting(left);
+    let right = subs.get_root_key_without_compacting(right);
+
+    let needle = (left, right);
+
+    enum ClobberSide {
+        Left,
+        Right,
+    }
+    use ClobberSide::*;
+
+    let (search_left, search_right, clobber_side) = match (
+        subs.get_content_without_compacting(left),
+        subs.get_content_without_compacting(right),
+    ) {
+        (Content::RecursionVar { .. }, Content::RecursionVar { .. }) => internal_error!(
+            "two recursion variables at the same level can be unified without fixpoint-fixing"
+        ),
+        // Unwrap one of the recursion variables to their structure, so that we don't end up
+        // immediately staring at the base case in `help`.
+        (Content::RecursionVar { structure, .. }, _) => (*structure, right, Right),
+        (_, Content::RecursionVar { structure, .. }) => (left, *structure, Left),
+        _ => internal_error!(
+            "fixpoint-fixing requires a recursion variable and a non-recursion variable"
+        ),
+    };
+
+    let chain = help(subs, needle, search_left, search_right)
+        .expect("chain must exist if fixpoints are being fixed!");
+    // Suppose we started with
+    //   (type1, <rec>)
+    // where <rec> recurses to type2. At this point, the chain should look like
+    //   (type1, <rec>), ..., (type1, type2)
+    // We'll verify that <rec> appears on the side we'll be choosing to clobber. Then, we don't
+    // want to explicitly update the recursion var, so we'll just update everything past the first
+    // item of the chain.
+    assert_eq!(chain.first().unwrap(), &needle);
+
+    let updates_iter = chain
+        .into_iter()
+        // Skip the first element to avoid rewritting <rec> => type1 explicitly!
+        .skip(1)
+        // Set up the iterator so the right-hand side contains the variable we want to clobber with
+        // the content of the left-hand side; that is, the left-hand side becomes the
+        // source-of-truth.
+        .map(move |(left, right)| {
+            let (source_of_truth, update_var) = match clobber_side {
+                Left => (right, left),
+                Right => (left, right),
+            };
+            Update {
+                source_of_truth,
+                update_var,
+            }
+        });
+
+    return updates_iter;
+
+    fn help(
+        subs: &Subs,
+        needle: (Variable, Variable),
+        left: Variable,
+        right: Variable,
+    ) -> Result<Vec<(Variable, Variable)>, ()> {
+        let left = subs.get_root_key_without_compacting(left);
+        let right = subs.get_root_key_without_compacting(right);
+
+        if (left, right) == needle {
+            return Ok(vec![needle]);
+        }
+
+        // dbg!((left, right));
+
+        use Content::*;
+        use FlatType::*;
+        match (
+            subs.get_content_without_compacting(left),
+            subs.get_content_without_compacting(right),
+        ) {
+            (FlexVar(..), FlexVar(..))
+            | (RigidVar(..), RigidVar(..))
+            | (RigidAbleVar(..), RigidAbleVar(..))
+            | (FlexAbleVar(..), FlexAbleVar(..))
+            | (Error, Error)
+            | (RangedNumber(..), RangedNumber(..)) => Err(()),
+            (RecursionVar { .. }, RecursionVar { .. }) => internal_error!("not expected"),
+            (RecursionVar { structure, .. }, _) => {
+                // By construction, the recursion variables will be adjusted to be equal after
+                // the transformation, so we can immediately look at the inner variable. We only
+                // need to adjust head constructors.
+                // help(subs, needle, *structure, right)
+                let chain = help(subs, needle, *structure, right)?;
+                //chain.push((left, right));
+                Ok(chain)
+            }
+            (_, RecursionVar { structure, .. }) => {
+                // dbg!("HERE");
+                let chain = help(subs, needle, left, *structure)?;
+                //chain.push((left, right));
+                Ok(chain)
+            }
+            (LambdaSet(..), _) | (_, LambdaSet(..)) => {
+                // NB: I've failed to construct a way for two lambda sets to be recursive and not
+                // equal. My argument is that, for a lambda set to be recursive, it must be
+                // owned by one of the closures it passes through. But a lambda set for a closure
+                // is unique, so equivalent (recursive) lambda sets must be equal.
+                //
+                // As such they should never be involved in fixpoint fixing. I may be wrong,
+                // though.
+                Err(())
+            }
+            (Alias(_, _, left_inner, _), _) => {
+                // Aliases can be different as long as we adjust their real variables.
+                help(subs, needle, *left_inner, right)
+            }
+            (_, Alias(_, _, right_inner, _)) => {
+                // Aliases can be different as long as we adjust their real variables.
+                help(subs, needle, left, *right_inner)
+            }
+            (Structure(left_s), Structure(right_s)) => match (left_s, right_s) {
+                (Apply(left_sym, left_vars), Apply(right_sym, right_vars)) => {
+                    assert_eq!(left_sym, right_sym);
+                    let mut chain = short_circuit(
+                        subs,
+                        needle,
+                        subs.get_subs_slice(*left_vars).iter(),
+                        subs.get_subs_slice(*right_vars).iter(),
+                    )?;
+                    chain.push((left, right));
+                    Ok(chain)
+                }
+                (
+                    Func(left_args, _left_clos, left_ret),
+                    Func(right_args, _right_clos, right_ret),
+                ) => {
+                    // lambda sets are ignored; see the comment in the LambdaSet case above.
+                    let check_args = |_| {
+                        short_circuit(
+                            subs,
+                            needle,
+                            subs.get_subs_slice(*left_args).iter(),
+                            subs.get_subs_slice(*right_args).iter(),
+                        )
+                    };
+                    let mut chain =
+                        help(subs, needle, *left_ret, *right_ret).or_else(check_args)?;
+                    chain.push((left, right));
+                    Ok(chain)
+                }
+                (Record(left_fields, left_ext), Record(right_fields, right_ext)) => {
+                    let mut left_it = left_fields.sorted_iterator(subs, *left_ext);
+                    let mut right_it = right_fields.sorted_iterator(subs, *right_ext);
+                    let mut chain = loop {
+                        match (left_it.next(), right_it.next()) {
+                            (Some((left_field, left_v)), Some((right_field, right_v))) => {
+                                assert_eq!(left_field, right_field, "fields do not unify");
+                                if let Ok(chain) =
+                                    help(subs, needle, left_v.into_inner(), right_v.into_inner())
+                                {
+                                    break Ok(chain);
+                                }
+                            }
+                            (None, None) => break Err(()),
+                            _ => internal_error!("fields differ; does not unify"),
+                        }
+                    }?;
+                    chain.push((left, right));
+                    Ok(chain)
+                }
+                (
+                    FunctionOrTagUnion(_left_tag_name, left_sym, left_var),
+                    FunctionOrTagUnion(_right_tag_name, right_sym, right_var),
+                ) => {
+                    assert_eq!(
+                        subs.get_subs_slice(*left_sym),
+                        subs.get_subs_slice(*right_sym)
+                    );
+                    let mut chain = help(subs, needle, *left_var, *right_var)?;
+                    chain.push((left, right));
+                    Ok(chain)
+                }
+                (TagUnion(left_tags, left_ext), TagUnion(right_tags, right_ext))
+                | (
+                    RecursiveTagUnion(_, left_tags, left_ext),
+                    RecursiveTagUnion(_, right_tags, right_ext),
+                )
+                | (TagUnion(left_tags, left_ext), RecursiveTagUnion(_, right_tags, right_ext))
+                | (RecursiveTagUnion(_, left_tags, left_ext), TagUnion(right_tags, right_ext)) => {
+                    let (left_it, _) = left_tags.sorted_iterator_and_ext(subs, *left_ext);
+                    let (right_it, _) = right_tags.sorted_iterator_and_ext(subs, *right_ext);
+                    assert_eq!(
+                        left_it.len(),
+                        right_it.len(),
+                        "tag lengths differ; does not unify"
+                    );
+
+                    for ((left_tag, left_args), (right_tag, right_args)) in left_it.zip(right_it) {
+                        assert_eq!(left_tag, right_tag);
+                        if let Ok(mut chain) =
+                            short_circuit(subs, needle, left_args.iter(), right_args.iter())
+                        {
+                            chain.push((left, right));
+                            return Ok(chain);
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    Err(())
+                }
+                (EmptyRecord, EmptyRecord)
+                | (EmptyTagUnion, EmptyTagUnion) => Err(()),
+                _ => internal_error!(
+                    "structures {:?} and {:?} do not unify; they should never have been involved in fixing!",
+                    roc_types::subs::SubsFmtContent(&Structure(*left_s), subs),
+                    roc_types::subs::SubsFmtContent(&Structure(*right_s), subs)
+                ),
+            },
+            _ => internal_error!("types do not unify; they should never have been involved in fixing!"),
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn short_circuit<'a, T, U>(
+        subs: &Subs,
+        needle: (Variable, Variable),
+        left_iter: T,
+        right_iter: U,
+    ) -> Result<Vec<(Variable, Variable)>, ()>
+    where
+        T: ExactSizeIterator<Item = &'a Variable>,
+        U: ExactSizeIterator<Item = &'a Variable>,
+    {
+        assert_eq!(left_iter.len(), right_iter.len(), "types do not unify");
+
+        for (left, right) in left_iter.zip(right_iter) {
+            if let Ok(chain) = help(subs, needle, *left, *right) {
+                return Ok(chain);
+            }
+        }
+
+        Err(())
+    }
+}
+
+#[must_use]
+pub fn fix_fixpoint(subs: &mut Subs, left: Variable, right: Variable) -> Vec<Variable> {
+    let updates = find_chain(subs, left, right);
+    let mut new = vec![];
+
+    for Update {
+        source_of_truth,
+        update_var,
+    } in updates
+    {
+        let source_of_truth_desc = subs.get_without_compacting(source_of_truth);
+        subs.union(source_of_truth, update_var, source_of_truth_desc);
+        new.push(source_of_truth);
+    }
+
+    new
+}
diff --git a/crates/compiler/unify/src/lib.rs b/crates/compiler/unify/src/lib.rs
index d01b69174f..10ac5192a0 100644
--- a/crates/compiler/unify/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/compiler/unify/src/lib.rs
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@
 // See github.com/roc-lang/roc/issues/800 for discussion of the large_enum_variant check.
 #![allow(clippy::large_enum_variant)]
 
+mod fix;
 pub mod unify;