diff --git a/default.nix b/default.nix
index 244da23..c437f39 100755
--- a/default.nix
+++ b/default.nix
@@ -13,39 +13,6 @@ in {
     ]
     ++ (mapModulesRec' (toString ./modules) import);
 
-  environment.variables = {
-    NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE = "1";
-  };
-
-  nix = {
-    package = pkgs.nix;
-
-    # 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"
-      ];
-      trusted-public-keys = [
-        "nix-community.cachix.org-1:mB9FSh9qf2dCimDSUo8Zy7bkq5CX+/rkCWyvRCYg3Fs="
-      ];
-    };
-
-    optimise.automatic = true;
-    gc = {
-      automatic = true;
-      dates = "weekly";
-      options = "--delete-older-than 30d";
-    };
-  };
-
   system.stateVersion = mkDefault "25.11";
   system.configurationRevision = with inputs; mkIf (self ? rev) self.rev;
 
@@ -61,9 +28,6 @@ in {
   hardware.enableRedistributableFirmware = true;
 
   environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
-    unrar unzip
-    micro
-    curl wget
     git
   ];
 }
diff --git a/hosts/nixos-server-reid/default.nix b/hosts/nixos-server-reid/default.nix
index d6c9ed7..10af3b8 100755
--- a/hosts/nixos-server-reid/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/nixos-server-reid/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,18 @@
     reidlab = {
       conf = {
         packages = with pkgs; [
-          bat btop duf file micro nix-output-monitor tree which
+          # archives
+          zip xz unrar unzip p7zip zstd lrzip
+          # utils
+          ripgrep ripgrep-all jq libqalculate
+          # nix
+          nix-output-monitor nix-prefetch-scripts nix-top
+          # system
+          btop duf lm_sensors killall
+          # debug
+          strace ltrace lsof
+          # misc
+          bat file which
         ];
         extraGroups = [ "wheel" "dotfiles" ];
         openssh.authorizedKeys.keys = [
diff --git a/modules/nix.nix b/modules/nix.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b4a31e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/nix.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+{ lib, pkgs, inputs, config, ... }:
+{
+  environment.variables = {
+    NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE = "1";
+  };
+
+  nixpkgs.flake.setNixPath = true;
+  nixpkgs.flake.setFlakeRegistry = true;
+
+  nix = {
+    package = pkgs.nixVersions.latest;
+
+    settings = {
+      experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];
+
+      auto-optimise-store = true;
+
+      keep-outputs = true;
+      keep-derivations = true;
+
+      substituters = [
+        "https://nix-community.cachix.org"
+      ];
+      trusted-public-keys = [
+        "nix-community.cachix.org-1:mB9FSh9qf2dCimDSUo8Zy7bkq5CX+/rkCWyvRCYg3Fs="
+      ];
+    };
+  };
+
+  nix.optimise.automatic = true;
+  nix.gc = {
+    automatic = true;
+    dates = "weekly";
+    options = "--delete-older-than 30d";
+  };
+}