diff --git a/hosts/common/programs/newelle.nix b/hosts/common/programs/newelle.nix
index daf96dfef..0599224e1 100644
--- a/hosts/common/programs/newelle.nix
+++ b/hosts/common/programs/newelle.nix
@@ -31,12 +31,6 @@
         # is launchable without it.
         # actually trying to use speech recognition will (likely) manifest as a runtime error, instead.
         find . -exec sed -i 's/import speech_recognition/# import speech_recognition/g' '{}' ';'
-
-        # turn pydub (text-to-speech) into a runtime error.
-        # N.B.: remove once Newelle is upgraded past 0.9.8:
-        # future versions do not use pydub for tts (but ffplay instead)
-        substituteInPlace src/handlers/tts/tts.py \
-          --replace-fail 'from pydub' '# from pydub'
       '';
     });
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/master.nix b/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/master.nix
index e52a0a51b..e7fe8f613 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/master.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/master.nix
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
   mkNixpkgs ? import ./mkNixpkgs.nix {},
 }:
 mkNixpkgs {
-  rev = "bd210dd16af288350175f92bbadc4a29f213ac83";
-  sha256 = "sha256-k82b3JK7RiamSz/tTg0vpCCFKx6W4eotETR5Mbdep/E=";
-  version = "unstable-2025-08-02";
+  rev = "f2f51c125824e9dcca29e4905bb5494a5561d8a5";
+  sha256 = "sha256-Luc/KVlUcl+d4znECQZ54gNIj+an0bxiwDvrkS9S7+k=";
+  version = "unstable-2025-08-03";
   branch = "master";
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/staging-next.nix b/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/staging-next.nix
index 1b9d5ff12..10dd2975a 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/staging-next.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/staging-next.nix
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
   mkNixpkgs ? import ./mkNixpkgs.nix {},
 }:
 mkNixpkgs {
-  rev = "171d85223d620bb286a05ac361e6e9503b9e50d9";
-  sha256 = "sha256-6blUJxvUafuueTqY4PWdvI/ykQlCBVTpT5KndUxgycI=";
-  version = "unstable-2025-08-02";
+  rev = "9e306e7a1d48b79c2de9080143ffcb726519f23a";
+  sha256 = "sha256-4SKdWSeaFqmjkuipUSeAuyPdK62xHhP7/OOLTBSy4Rs=";
+  version = "unstable-2025-08-03";
   branch = "staging-next";
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/staging.nix b/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/staging.nix
index f43e29da1..fafbd08c6 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/staging.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/nixpkgs-bootstrap/staging.nix
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
   mkNixpkgs ? import ./mkNixpkgs.nix {},
 }:
 mkNixpkgs {
-  rev = "45bbb5106083bafa1e944e499eef1a61c30b6d1b";
-  sha256 = "sha256-TG+4JWeCSRJ/U47IttsWJ8aaxyXyu3Z/+T5B26cY/4Q=";
-  version = "unstable-2025-08-02";
+  rev = "f4409071299c903faefef1701740b357b220c2ea";
+  sha256 = "sha256-rvwjFj3JCjHmK+1/moaV1Wu7XsMD/RV+uioTPLzC7s0=";
+  version = "unstable-2025-08-03";
   branch = "staging";
 }