diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 4a63669..e22751f 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -197,7 +197,8 @@
                 sshUser = "root";
                 buildOn = "remote"; # valid args are "local" or "remote"
                 substituteOnTarget = false; # if buildOn is "local" then it will substitute on the target, "-s"
-                hermetic = false;
+                #hermetic = false; # ??? don't know what this is
+                nixOptions = ["--max-jobs 1" ];
               };
             }
             {
@@ -269,6 +270,10 @@
           sizes.popups = 15;
         };
 
+        home-manager.extraSpecialArgs = {
+          inherit private_assets;
+          assets = ./nixos/assets;
+        };
         home-manager.useGlobalPkgs = true;
         home-manager.useUserPackages = true;
         home-manager.sharedModules = [
diff --git a/nixos/homes/common/0001-make-atuin-on-zfs-fast-again.patch b/nixos/assets/0001-make-atuin-on-zfs-fast-again.patch
similarity index 100%
rename from nixos/homes/common/0001-make-atuin-on-zfs-fast-again.patch
rename to nixos/assets/0001-make-atuin-on-zfs-fast-again.patch
diff --git a/nixos/homes/common/terminal.nix b/nixos/homes/common/terminal.nix
index 4042690..eb43f0e 100644
--- a/nixos/homes/common/terminal.nix
+++ b/nixos/homes/common/terminal.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, pkgs, ... }:
+{ lib, pkgs, assets, ... }:
 {
 
   programs.zsh = {
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
     #package = pkgs.unstable.atuin;
     package = pkgs.unstable.atuin.overrideAttrs (_old: {
       # as cursed as doing mitigations=off in the kernel command line
-      patches = [ ./0001-make-atuin-on-zfs-fast-again.patch ];
+      patches = [ "${assets}/0001-make-atuin-on-zfs-fast-again.patch" ];
     });
     settings = {
       auto_sync = true;
diff --git a/nixos/machines/chungus/atuin.nix b/nixos/machines/chungus/atuin.nix
index 0b5877b..2f1d49c 100644
--- a/nixos/machines/chungus/atuin.nix
+++ b/nixos/machines/chungus/atuin.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
-{ config, ... }: {
+{ config, pkgs, assets, ... }: {
   services.atuin = {
     enable = true;
+    package = pkgs.unstable.atuin.overrideAttrs (_old: {
+      # as cursed as doing mitigations=off in the kernel command line
+      patches = [ "${assets}/0001-make-atuin-on-zfs-fast-again.patch" ];
+    });
     host = "0.0.0.0";
     maxHistoryLength = 999999;
     openRegistration = false;