diff --git a/modules/home-manager/default.nix b/modules/home-manager/default.nix
index 326a2081..e4e4dd6d 100644
--- a/modules/home-manager/default.nix
+++ b/modules/home-manager/default.nix
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ with lib;
 let
   cfg = config.sane.home-manager;
   # extract package from `sane.packages.enabledUserPkgs`
-  pkg-list = pkgspec: builtins.map (e: e.pkg or e) pkgspec;
+  pkg-list = pkgspec: builtins.map (e: e.pkg) pkgspec;
   # extract `dir` from `sane.packages.enabledUserPkgs`
-  dir-list = pkgspec: builtins.concatLists (builtins.map (e: e.dir or []) pkgspec);
-  private-list = pkgspec: builtins.concatLists (builtins.map (e: e.private or []) pkgspec);
+  dir-list = pkgspec: builtins.concatLists (builtins.map (e: e.dir) pkgspec);
+  private-list = pkgspec: builtins.concatLists (builtins.map (e: e.private) pkgspec);
   feeds = import ./feeds.nix { inherit lib; };
 in
 {
diff --git a/modules/packages.nix b/modules/packages.nix
index 262788fc..74a3f078 100644
--- a/modules/packages.nix
+++ b/modules/packages.nix
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ in
         ++ (if cfg.enableGuiPkgs then guiPkgs else [])
         ++ (if cfg.enableDevPkgs then devPkgs else [])
       ;
-      type = types.listOf (types.either types.package types.attrs);
+      type = types.listOf (types.coercedTo types.package (p: { pkg = p; }) pkgSpec);
       description = "generated from other config options";
     };
   };