diff --git a/default.nix b/default.nix
index 60ab422..6b8656a 100755
--- a/default.nix
+++ b/default.nix
@@ -13,49 +13,6 @@ in {
   ]
     ++ (mapModulesRec' (toString ./modules) import);
 
-  environment.variables = {
-    NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE = "1";
-  };
-
-  nix = {
-    package = pkgs.nixVersions.latest;
-
-    # flake registry and nix path pinning
-    # might not be needed? see: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/e456032addae76701eb17e6c03fc515fd78ad74f
-    nixPath = [ "nixpkgs=${inputs.nixpkgs}" ];
-    registry.nixpkgs.flake = inputs.nixpkgs;
-
-    settings = {
-      experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];
-      auto-optimise-store = true;
-      keep-outputs = true;
-      keep-derivations = true;
-      substituters = [
-        "https://nix-community.cachix.org"
-        "https://nixpkgs-wayland.cachix.org"
-        "https://wezterm.cachix.org"
-        "https://niri.cachix.org"
-        "https://cache.soopy.moe"
-      ];
-      trusted-public-keys = [
-        "nix-community.cachix.org-1:mB9FSh9qf2dCimDSUo8Zy7bkq5CX+/rkCWyvRCYg3Fs="
-        "nixpkgs-wayland.cachix.org-1:3lwxaILxMRkVhehr5StQprHdEo4IrE8sRho9R9HOLYA="
-        "wezterm.cachix.org-1:kAbhjYUC9qvblTE+s7S+kl5XM1zVa4skO+E/1IDWdH0="
-        "niri.cachix.org-1:Wv0OmO7PsuocRKzfDoJ3mulSl7Z6oezYhGhR+3W2964="
-        "cache.soopy.moe-1:0RZVsQeR+GOh0VQI9rvnHz55nVXkFardDqfm4+afjPo="
-      ];
-    };
-
-    optimise.automatic = true;
-    gc = {
-      automatic = true;
-      dates = "weekly";
-      options = "--delete-older-than 14d";
-    };
-  };
-
-  programs.nix-ld.enable = mkDefault true;
-
   system.stateVersion = "23.11";
   system.configurationRevision = with inputs; mkIf (self ? rev) self.rev;
   hm.home.stateVersion = config.system.stateVersion;
@@ -96,13 +53,6 @@ in {
 
   environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
     openssh mosh
-    unrar unzip
-    micro
-    curl wget
-    desktop-file-utils
-    shared-mime-info
-    xdg-user-dirs
-    xdg-utils
     git
   ];
 }
diff --git a/hosts/goopnet-interface/default.nix b/hosts/goopnet-interface/default.nix
index ffadfa5..66c6636 100755
--- a/hosts/goopnet-interface/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/goopnet-interface/default.nix
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
   hm.home.packages = with pkgs; [
     # archives
-    zip xz unzip p7zip zstd
+    zip xz unrar unzip p7zip zstd
     # utils
     ffmpeg ripgrep ripgrep-all jq libqalculate imagemagick pandoc
     # dev
diff --git a/modules/nix.nix b/modules/nix.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89df476
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/nix.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+{ lib, pkgs, inputs, config, ... }:
+{
+  environment.variables = {
+    NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE = "1";
+  };
+
+  nix = {
+    package = pkgs.nixVersions.latest;
+
+    flake.setNixPath = true;
+    flake.setFlakeRegistry = true;
+
+    settings = {
+      experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];
+
+      auto-optimise-store = true;
+
+      keep-outputs = true;
+      keep-derivations = true;
+
+      substituters = [
+        "https://nix-community.cachix.org"
+        "https://nixpkgs-wayland.cachix.org"
+        "https://wezterm.cachix.org"
+        "https://niri.cachix.org"
+        "https://cache.soopy.moe"
+      ];
+      trusted-public-keys = [
+        "nix-community.cachix.org-1:mB9FSh9qf2dCimDSUo8Zy7bkq5CX+/rkCWyvRCYg3Fs="
+        "nixpkgs-wayland.cachix.org-1:3lwxaILxMRkVhehr5StQprHdEo4IrE8sRho9R9HOLYA="
+        "wezterm.cachix.org-1:kAbhjYUC9qvblTE+s7S+kl5XM1zVa4skO+E/1IDWdH0="
+        "niri.cachix.org-1:Wv0OmO7PsuocRKzfDoJ3mulSl7Z6oezYhGhR+3W2964="
+        "cache.soopy.moe-1:0RZVsQeR+GOh0VQI9rvnHz55nVXkFardDqfm4+afjPo="
+      ];
+    };
+  };
+
+  nix.optimise.automatic = true;
+  nix.gc = {
+    automatic = true;
+    dates = "weekly";
+    options = "--delete-older-than 14d";
+  };
+
+  programs.nix-index.enable = true;
+  programs.command-not-found.enable = true;
+
+  # compat w/ non-nix programs
+  programs.nix-ld.enable = true;
+  programs.appimage = {
+    enable = true;
+    binfmt = true;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/modules/xdg.nix b/modules/xdg.nix
index cc9c8a1..dd85b81 100644
--- a/modules/xdg.nix
+++ b/modules/xdg.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ ... }:
+{ pkgs, ... }:
 {
   config = {
     hm.xdg.enable = true;
@@ -19,5 +19,9 @@
         screenshots = "${pictures}/screenshots";
       };
     };
+
+    environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
+      xdg-utils
+    ];
   };
 }