diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/parse/parse.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/attrs.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/parse/parse.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/attrs.nix
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/default.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/default.nix
index c721987..db5b681 100644
--- a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/default.nix
+++ b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/default.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ let
     mapAttrs
     ;
 
-  # NOTE: bootstrap does the equivalent to mix's `include.public` option.
+  # NOTE: bootstrap can do the equivalent of mix's
+  # NOTE: `include.public` & `submods.public` options.
   bootstrap = extraInputs: target: let
     this = delegate target;
     inputs = {inherit this;} // extraInputs;
@@ -30,15 +31,18 @@ let
       else target inputs;
   in
     this;
+
+  submods = {
+    bootstrap = _: bootstrap;
+    # XXX: TODO: should I rename bootstrap.nix -> default.nix?
+    prim = ./prim/bootstrap.nix;
+    naive = ./naive/bootstrap.nix;
+  };
 in
   bootstrap {} [
-    ./nt.nix
-    {
-      bootstrap = _: bootstrap;
-      std = ./std/bootstrap.nix;
-      parse = ./parse/bootstrap.nix;
+    submods.prim
+    submods.naive
+    ./attrs.nix
 
-      maybe = ./maybe.nix;
-      terminal = ./terminal.nix;
-    }
+    submods
   ]
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/parse/bootstrap.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/naive/bootstrap.nix
similarity index 71%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/parse/bootstrap.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/naive/bootstrap.nix
index 9e6207b..7b5f475 100644
--- a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/parse/bootstrap.nix
+++ b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/naive/bootstrap.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 # WARNING: this file is strictly for bootstrapping nt
 {this, ...} @ inputs:
 this.bootstrap inputs [
-  ./parse.nix
-  ./sig.nix
+  {
+    maybe = ./maybe.nix;
+    terminal = ./terminal.nix;
+  }
 ]
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/maybe.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/naive/maybe.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/maybe.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/naive/maybe.nix
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/terminal.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/naive/terminal.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/terminal.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/naive/terminal.nix
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/README.md b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/README.md
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/README.md
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/attrs.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/attrs.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/attrs.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/attrs.nix
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/bootstrap.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/bootstrap.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/bootstrap.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/bootstrap.nix
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/fn.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/fn.nix
similarity index 50%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/fn.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/fn.nix
index c84d845..2ac65e6 100644
--- a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/fn.nix
+++ b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/fn.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,15 @@
 {...}: {
   id = x: x;
+
+  # syntactic sugar for curry flipping
   flip = f: a: b: f b a;
 
+  # syntactic sugar for recursive definitions
+  recdef = def: let
+    Self = def Self;
+  in
+    Self;
+
   # not sure where else to put this...
   nullOr = f: x:
     if x != null
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/list.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/list.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/list.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/list.nix
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/num.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/num.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/num.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/num.nix
diff --git a/nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/string.nix b/nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/string.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from nt/primitives/bootstrap/std/string.nix
rename to nt/primitives/bootstrap/prim/string.nix