diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE/LICENSE.dwl
similarity index 100%
rename from LICENSE
rename to LICENSE/LICENSE.dwl
diff --git a/LICENSE.dwm b/LICENSE/LICENSE.dwm
similarity index 100%
rename from LICENSE.dwm
rename to LICENSE/LICENSE.dwm
diff --git a/LICENSE.sway b/LICENSE/LICENSE.sway
similarity index 100%
rename from LICENSE.sway
rename to LICENSE/LICENSE.sway
diff --git a/LICENSE.tinywl b/LICENSE/LICENSE.tinywl
similarity index 100%
rename from LICENSE.tinywl
rename to LICENSE/LICENSE.tinywl
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 578194f..c3126b6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 .POSIX:
 .SUFFIXES:
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := all
 
 include config.mk
 
 # flags for compiling
-DWLCPPFLAGS = -I. -DWLR_USE_UNSTABLE -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L \
+DWLCPPFLAGS = -I$(INCLUDE) -DWLR_USE_UNSTABLE -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L \
 	-DVERSION=\"$(VERSION)\" $(XWAYLAND)
 DWLDEVCFLAGS = -g -Wpedantic -Wall -Wextra -Wdeclaration-after-statement \
 	-Wno-unused-parameter -Wshadow -Wunused-macros -Werror=strict-prototypes \
@@ -16,13 +17,31 @@ PKGS      = wayland-server xkbcommon libinput $(XLIBS)
 DWLCFLAGS = `$(PKG_CONFIG) --cflags $(PKGS)` $(WLR_INCS) $(DWLCPPFLAGS) $(DWLDEVCFLAGS) $(CFLAGS)
 LDLIBS    = `$(PKG_CONFIG) --libs $(PKGS)` $(WLR_LIBS) -lm $(LIBS)
 
-all: dwl
-dwl: dwl.o util.o
-	$(CC) dwl.o util.o $(DWLCFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
-dwl.o: dwl.c client.h config.h config.mk cursor-shape-v1-protocol.h \
+# macros to relevant path definitions
+define mkbin
+$(addprefix $(BIN)/,$1)
+endef
+define mkobj
+$(addprefix $(OBJ)/,$1)
+endef
+define mkinclude
+$(addprefix $(INCLUDE)/,$1)
+endef
+define mksrc
+$(addprefix $(SRC)/,$1)
+endef
+
+.PHONY: setup
+setup:
+	mkdir -p $(BIN) $(BUILD) $(INCLUDE) $(OBJ)
+
+all: setup $(call mkbin,dwl)
+$(BIN)/dwl: $(call mkobj,dwl.o util.o)
+	$(CC) $^ $(DWLCFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
+$(OBJ)/dwl.o: $(call mksrc,dwl.c client.h) config.mk $(call mkinclude,config.h cursor-shape-v1-protocol.h \
 	pointer-constraints-unstable-v1-protocol.h wlr-layer-shell-unstable-v1-protocol.h \
-	wlr-output-power-management-unstable-v1-protocol.h xdg-shell-protocol.h
-util.o: util.c util.h
+	wlr-output-power-management-unstable-v1-protocol.h xdg-shell-protocol.h)
+$(OBJ)/util.o: $(call mksrc,util.c util.h)
 
 # wayland-scanner is a tool which generates C headers and rigging for Wayland
 # protocols, which are specified in XML. wlroots requires you to rig these up
@@ -30,39 +49,39 @@ util.o: util.c util.h
 WAYLAND_SCANNER   = `$(PKG_CONFIG) --variable=wayland_scanner wayland-scanner`
 WAYLAND_PROTOCOLS = `$(PKG_CONFIG) --variable=pkgdatadir wayland-protocols`
 
-cursor-shape-v1-protocol.h:
+$(INCLUDE)/cursor-shape-v1-protocol.h:
 	$(WAYLAND_SCANNER) enum-header \
 		$(WAYLAND_PROTOCOLS)/staging/cursor-shape/cursor-shape-v1.xml $@
-pointer-constraints-unstable-v1-protocol.h:
+$(INCLUDE)/pointer-constraints-unstable-v1-protocol.h:
 	$(WAYLAND_SCANNER) enum-header \
 		$(WAYLAND_PROTOCOLS)/unstable/pointer-constraints/pointer-constraints-unstable-v1.xml $@
-wlr-layer-shell-unstable-v1-protocol.h:
+$(INCLUDE)/wlr-layer-shell-unstable-v1-protocol.h:
 	$(WAYLAND_SCANNER) enum-header \
 		protocols/wlr-layer-shell-unstable-v1.xml $@
-wlr-output-power-management-unstable-v1-protocol.h:
+$(INCLUDE)/wlr-output-power-management-unstable-v1-protocol.h:
 	$(WAYLAND_SCANNER) server-header \
 		protocols/wlr-output-power-management-unstable-v1.xml $@
-xdg-shell-protocol.h:
+$(INCLUDE)/xdg-shell-protocol.h:
 	$(WAYLAND_SCANNER) server-header \
 		$(WAYLAND_PROTOCOLS)/stable/xdg-shell/xdg-shell.xml $@
 
-config.h:
-	cp config.def.h $@
+$(INCLUDE)/config.h:
+	cp $(SRC)/config.def.h $@
 clean:
-	rm -f dwl *.o *-protocol.h
+	rm -rf $(INCLUDE) $(OBJ) $(BUILD) $(BIN) 
 
 dist: clean
 	mkdir -p dwl-$(VERSION)
-	cp -R LICENSE* Makefile CHANGELOG.md README.md client.h config.def.h \
-		config.mk protocols dwl.1 dwl.c util.c util.h dwl.desktop \
+	cp -R LICENSE Makefile CHANGELOG.md README.md src \
+		config.mk protocols dwl.1 dwl.desktop \
 		dwl-$(VERSION)
 	tar -caf dwl-$(VERSION).tar.gz dwl-$(VERSION)
 	rm -rf dwl-$(VERSION)
 
-install: dwl
+install: $(BIN)/dwl
 	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
 	rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin/dwl
-	cp -f dwl $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
+	cp -f $(BIN)/dwl $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
 	chmod 755 $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin/dwl
 	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(MANDIR)/man1
 	cp -f dwl.1 $(DESTDIR)$(MANDIR)/man1
@@ -74,6 +93,5 @@ uninstall:
 	rm -f $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin/dwl $(DESTDIR)$(MANDIR)/man1/dwl.1 \
 		$(DESTDIR)$(DATADIR)/wayland-sessions/dwl.desktop
 
-.SUFFIXES: .c .o
-.c.o:
+%.c %.o:
 	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(DWLCFLAGS) -o $@ -c $<
diff --git a/config.mk b/config.mk
index eb08a05..7d1dc14 100644
--- a/config.mk
+++ b/config.mk
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ PREFIX = /usr/local
 MANDIR = $(PREFIX)/share/man
 DATADIR = $(PREFIX)/share
 
+SRC = src
+BUILD = build
+OBJ = $(BUILD)/obj
+INCLUDE = $(BUILD)/include
+BIN = bin
+
 WLR_INCS = `$(PKG_CONFIG) --cflags wlroots-0.19`
 WLR_LIBS = `$(PKG_CONFIG) --libs wlroots-0.19`
 
diff --git a/flake.lock b/flake.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d48cd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flake.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{
+  "nodes": {
+    "nixpkgs": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1755922037,
+        "narHash": "sha256-wY1+2JPH0ZZC4BQefoZw/k+3+DowFyfOxv17CN/idKs=",
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "rev": "b1b3291469652d5a2edb0becc4ef0246fff97a7c",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "owner": "nixos",
+        "ref": "nixos-25.05",
+        "repo": "nixpkgs",
+        "type": "github"
+      }
+    },
+    "root": {
+      "inputs": {
+        "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs"
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "root": "root",
+  "version": 7
+}
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ceb42f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+{
+  description = "DWL Development Shell";
+
+  inputs = {
+    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-25.05";
+  };
+
+  outputs = {nixpkgs, ...}: let
+    system = "x86_64-linux";
+    enableXWayland = false;
+  in {
+    devShells."${system}".default = let
+      pkgs = import nixpkgs {
+        inherit system;
+      };
+      lib = nixpkgs.lib;
+      stdenv = pkgs.stdenv;
+    in
+      pkgs.mkShell {
+        packages = with pkgs;
+          [
+            # NativeBuildInputs
+            installShellFiles
+            pkg-config
+            wayland-scanner
+
+            # BuildInputs
+            libinput
+            xorg.libxcb
+            libxkbcommon
+            pixman
+            wayland
+            wayland-protocols
+            wlroots_0_19
+          ]
+          ++ lib.optionals enableXWayland
+          [
+            # XWayland
+            xorg.libX11
+            xorg.xcbutilwm
+            xwayland
+          ];
+
+        shellHook = let
+          makeFlags =
+            lib.strings.concatStringsSep " "
+            ([
+                "PKG_CONFIG=${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}pkg-config"
+                "WAYLAND_SCANNER=wayland-scanner"
+                # "PREFIX=$(out)"
+                # "MANDIR=$(man)/share/man"
+              ]
+              ++ lib.optionals enableXWayland [
+                ''XWAYLAND="-DXWAYLAND"''
+                ''XLIBS="xcb xcb-icccm"''
+              ]);
+        in ''
+          TERM=xterm-256color
+          alias mk='${makeFlags} make'
+        '';
+      };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/client.h b/src/client.h
similarity index 100%
rename from client.h
rename to src/client.h
diff --git a/config.def.h b/src/config.def.h
similarity index 100%
rename from config.def.h
rename to src/config.def.h
diff --git a/dwl.c b/src/dwl.c
similarity index 100%
rename from dwl.c
rename to src/dwl.c
diff --git a/util.c b/src/util.c
similarity index 100%
rename from util.c
rename to src/util.c
diff --git a/util.h b/src/util.h
similarity index 100%
rename from util.h
rename to src/util.h