diff --git a/modules/nixos/system/default.nix b/modules/nixos/system/default.nix
index 6e7421ea..37c35a03 100644
--- a/modules/nixos/system/default.nix
+++ b/modules/nixos/system/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     ./logind.nix
     ./logs.nix
     ./misc.nix
+    ./modern.nix
     ./monitoring.nix
     ./oomd.nix
     ./printing.nix
diff --git a/modules/nixos/system/modern.nix b/modules/nixos/system/modern.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a8d6ba8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/nixos/system/modern.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# to quite an opinionated stance i think all these options help create a more
+# modern nixos feel this happens by removing parts of the system i don't really
+# like i.e. perl, mutable /etc, activation scripts etc. a lot of these options
+# are also directly needed by each other to work.
+#
+# WARNING: some of these options are experimental meaning they will and can
+# break things. so use at your own risk
+{
+  # We enable Systemd in the initrd so we can use it to mount the root
+  # filesystem this will remove Perl form the activation
+  boot.initrd.systemd.enable = true;
+
+  # Declarative user management
+  # either use this or systemd-sysusers :D
+  services.userborn.enable = true;
+
+  system = {
+    # nixos-init will going to make our system more robust in principal
+    # see <https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/9bf13c9c35c9e80fab6fa3161ec0a09c1ec9a3be/pkgs/by-name/ni/nixos-init/README.md>
+    nixos-init.enable = true;
+
+    # mount /etc as a read-only overlay filesystem
+    etc.overlay.enable = true;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/modules/nixos/system/size.nix b/modules/nixos/system/size.nix
index 1f05da96..b6cf9149 100644
--- a/modules/nixos/system/size.nix
+++ b/modules/nixos/system/size.nix
@@ -3,19 +3,6 @@ let
   inherit (lib) mkForce;
 in
 {
-  boot = {
-    # this can break things, particularly if you use containers
-    # personally I don't so it should be fine to disable this
-    enableContainers = false;
-
-    # We enable Systemd in the initrd so we can use it to mount the root
-    # filesystem this will remove Perl form the activation
-    initrd.systemd.enable = true;
-  };
-
-  # Declarative user management
-  services.userborn.enable = true;
-
   environment = {
     # disable stub-ld, this exists to kill dynamically linked executables, since they cannot work
     # on NixOS, however we know that so we don't need to see the warning
@@ -26,8 +13,6 @@ in
     defaultPackages = mkForce [ ];
   };
 
-  system.etc.overlay.enable = true;
-
   programs = {
     # this is on by default. but i don't use nano
     nano.enable = false;