diff --git a/modules/programs/default.nix b/modules/programs/default.nix
index ac8a64c3..8ca54f03 100644
--- a/modules/programs/default.nix
+++ b/modules/programs/default.nix
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ let
         '';
       };
       services = mkOption {
-        type = types.attrsOf types.anything; # options.sane.users.value.type;
+        type = options.sane.user._options.services.type;
         default = {};
         description = ''
           user services to define if this package is enabled.
diff --git a/modules/users/default.nix b/modules/users/default.nix
index c05a20dc..22c8454b 100644
--- a/modules/users/default.nix
+++ b/modules/users/default.nix
@@ -108,58 +108,56 @@ let
       ];
     };
   });
-  userOptions = {
-    options = with lib; {
-      fs = mkOption {
-        # map to listOf attrs so that we can allow multiple assigners to the same path
-        # w/o worrying about merging at this layer, and defer merging to modules/fs instead.
-        type = types.attrsOf (types.coercedTo types.attrs (a: [ a ]) (types.listOf types.attrs));
-        default = {};
-        description = ''
-          entries to pass onto `sane.fs` after prepending the user's home-dir to the path
-          and marking them as wanted.
-          e.g. `sane.users.colin.fs."/.config/aerc" = X`
-          => `sane.fs."/home/colin/.config/aerc" = { wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target"]; } // X;
+  userOptions = with lib; {
+    fs = mkOption {
+      # map to listOf attrs so that we can allow multiple assigners to the same path
+      # w/o worrying about merging at this layer, and defer merging to modules/fs instead.
+      type = types.attrsOf (types.coercedTo types.attrs (a: [ a ]) (types.listOf types.attrs));
+      default = {};
+      description = ''
+        entries to pass onto `sane.fs` after prepending the user's home-dir to the path
+        and marking them as wanted.
+        e.g. `sane.users.colin.fs."/.config/aerc" = X`
+        => `sane.fs."/home/colin/.config/aerc" = { wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target"]; } // X;
 
-          conventions are similar as to toplevel `sane.fs`. so `sane.users.foo.fs."/"` represents the home directory,
-          whereas every other entry is expected to *not* have a trailing slash.
+        conventions are similar as to toplevel `sane.fs`. so `sane.users.foo.fs."/"` represents the home directory,
+        whereas every other entry is expected to *not* have a trailing slash.
 
-          option merging happens inside `sane.fs`, so `sane.users.colin.fs."foo" = A` and `sane.fs."/home/colin/foo" = B`
-          behaves identically to `sane.fs."/home/colin/foo" = lib.mkMerge [ A B ];
-          (the unusual signature for this type is how we delay option merging)
-        '';
-      };
+        option merging happens inside `sane.fs`, so `sane.users.colin.fs."foo" = A` and `sane.fs."/home/colin/foo" = B`
+        behaves identically to `sane.fs."/home/colin/foo" = lib.mkMerge [ A B ];
+        (the unusual signature for this type is how we delay option merging)
+      '';
+    };
 
-      persist = mkOption {
-        type = options.sane.persist.sys.type;
-        default = {};
-        description = ''
-          entries to pass onto `sane.persist.sys` after prepending the user's home-dir to the path.
-        '';
-      };
+    persist = mkOption {
+      type = options.sane.persist.sys.type;
+      default = {};
+      description = ''
+        entries to pass onto `sane.persist.sys` after prepending the user's home-dir to the path.
+      '';
+    };
 
-      environment = mkOption {
-        type = types.attrsOf types.str;
-        default = {};
-        description = ''
-          environment variables to place in user's shell profile.
-          these end up in ~/.profile
-        '';
-      };
+    environment = mkOption {
+      type = types.attrsOf types.str;
+      default = {};
+      description = ''
+        environment variables to place in user's shell profile.
+        these end up in ~/.profile
+      '';
+    };
 
-      services = mkOption {
-        type = types.attrsOf serviceType;
-        default = {};
-        description = ''
-          services to define for this user.
-        '';
-      };
+    services = mkOption {
+      type = types.attrsOf serviceType;
+      default = {};
+      description = ''
+        services to define for this user.
+      '';
     };
   };
   userModule = let
     nixConfig = config;
   in with lib; types.submodule ({ name, config, ... }: {
-    options = userOptions.options // {
+    options = userOptions// {
       default = mkOption {
         type = types.bool;
         default = false;
@@ -335,11 +333,13 @@ in
     };
 
     sane.user = mkOption {
-      type = types.nullOr (types.submodule userOptions);
+      type = types.nullOr (types.submodule { options = userOptions; });
       default = null;
       description = ''
         options to pass down to the default user
       '';
+    } // {
+      _options = userOptions;
     };
 
     sane.defaultUser = mkOption {