diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 27c0ff7..7de2980 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -16,39 +16,34 @@
   let
     system = "x86_64-linux";
     homeManagerConfFor = config: { ... }: {
-        #nixpkgs.overlays = [ nur.overlay ];
-        imports = [ config ];
-      };
+      #nixpkgs.overlays = [ nur.overlay ];
+      imports = [ config ];
+    };
+    mkNixosSystem = extraModules: nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
+      inherit system;
+      # see https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2022-07-20-nixos-flakes-command-sync-with-system.html
+      specialArgs = { inherit inputs; };
+      modules = [
+        home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager {
+          home-manager.useUserPackages = true;
+          home-manager.users.jacob = homeManagerConfFor ./home/jacob.nix;
+        }
+        sops-nix.nixosModules.sops
+      ] ++ extraModules;
+    };
   in {
-
     nixosConfigurations = {
       # Thinkpad T470 laptop
-      buck = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
-        inherit system;
-        modules = [
-          nixos-hardware.nixosModules.lenovo-thinkpad-t470s
-          ./machines/buck/configuration.nix
-          home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager {
-            home-manager.useUserPackages = true;
-            home-manager.users.jacob = homeManagerConfFor ./home/jacob.nix;
-          }
-          sops-nix.nixosModules.sops
-        ];
-      };
+      buck = mkNixosSystem [
+        nixos-hardware.nixosModules.lenovo-thinkpad-t470s
+        ./machines/buck/configuration.nix
+      ];
       # ThinkCentre M700 mini-pc (server)
-      pedro = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
-        inherit system;
-        modules = [
-          nixos-hardware.nixosModules.common-pc-hdd
-          nixos-hardware.nixosModules.common-cpu-intel-cpu-only
-          ./machines/pedro/configuration.nix 
-          home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager {
-            home-manager.useUserPackages = true;
-            home-manager.users.jacob = homeManagerConfFor ./home/jacob.nix;
-          }
-          sops-nix.nixosModules.sops
-        ];
-      };
+      pedro = mkNixosSystem [
+        nixos-hardware.nixosModules.common-pc-hdd
+        nixos-hardware.nixosModules.common-cpu-intel-cpu-only
+        ./machines/pedro/configuration.nix 
+      ];
     };
   };
 }
diff --git a/machines/pedro/configuration.nix b/machines/pedro/configuration.nix
index bf27a46..f7e30f7 100644
--- a/machines/pedro/configuration.nix
+++ b/machines/pedro/configuration.nix
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 # Edit this configuration file to define what should be installed on your system.  Help is available in the configuration.nix(5) man page and in the NixOS manual (accessible by running ‘nixos-help’).
 
-{ config, pkgs, options, sops, ... }:
+{ config, pkgs, inputs, options, sops, ... }:
 
 { imports =
     [ # Include the results of the hardware scan.
       ./hardware-configuration-zfs.nix
     ];
 
+  # This lets us pin the nixpkgs registry by default to the nixpkgs used to build this system.
+  # Doing this means we are less likely to require the 30+MB download when
+  # running commands like nix search or nix run
+  # See: https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2022-07-20-nixos-flakes-command-sync-with-system.html
+  nix.registry.nixpkgs.flake = inputs.nixpkgs;
+
   sops = {
     # This will add secrets.yml to the nix store
     # You can avoid this by adding a string to the full path instead, i.e.