{ pkgs, config, ... }: {

  home.packages = with pkgs; [
    # shell utils
    coreutils
    direnv
    dust
    procs
    ripgrep
    tree
    wget

    # network
    bandwhich

    # data manipulation
    jless
    jq
    yq

    # encryption
    age

    # media
    # mpv - TODO: this is currently broken
    ffmpeg

    # dicts
    aspell
    aspellDicts.en
    aspellDicts.en-computers
    aspellDicts.en-science

    # nix related
    nil
    nix-direnv
    nixd
    nixfmt-classic
    nixpkgs-fmt
    nil # nix lsp
  ];

  xdg = {
    configFile = {
      "aspell/config".text = ''
        local-data-dir ${pkgs.aspell}/lib/aspell
        data-dir ${pkgs.aspellDicts.en}/lib/aspell
        personal ${config.xdg.configHome}/aspell/en_US.personal
        repl ${config.xdg.configHome}/aspell/en_US.repl
      '';
    };
  };

  home.sessionVariables = {
    EDITOR = "emacsclient -a=";
    VISUAL = "emacsclient -a=";
    LESS = "-FRSXM";
    LESSCHARSET = "utf-8";
    PAGER = "less";
    ASPELL_CONF = "conf ${config.xdg.configHome}/aspell/config;";
    # for some reason, if I don't set this, zsh is picked up and mess up stuff.
    SHELL = "${pkgs.fish}/bin/fish";
    # stop bothering me with brew messages
    HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE = 1;
  };

  # an alternative to ls
  programs.eza = {
    enable = true;
    icons = false;
    enableFishIntegration = false;
    extraOptions = [
      "--group-directories-first"
      "--no-quotes"
      "--git-ignore"
      "--icons=never"
    ];
  };

  # an alternative to find
  programs.fd = {
    enable = true;
    hidden = true;
    ignores = [ ".git/" ];
  };

  programs.direnv = {
    enable = true;
    nix-direnv.enable = true;
    enableZshIntegration = true;
    config = {
      global.disable_stdin = true;
      global.strict_env = true;
    };
  };

  programs.fish = {
    enable = true;
    interactiveShellInit = ''
      set fish_greeting ""
    '';

    shellAbbrs = { ncg = "nix-collect-garbage -d"; };
    shellAliases = {
      c = "clear";
      ls = "eza -l -L=1 --git --color=always --group-directories-first";
      la = "eza -la --git --color=always --group-directories-first";
      ll = "eza -la -L=1 --git --color=always --group-directories-first";
      lt = "eza -aT -L=2 --git --color=always --group-directories-first";
    };
  };
}