diff --git a/artiq/default.nix b/artiq/default.nix
index 7d8ffaa..f985d9b 100644
--- a/artiq/default.nix
+++ b/artiq/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 { pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {}}:
 with pkgs;
 let
+  pythonDeps = callPackage ./pkgs/python-deps.nix {};
+
   # this code was copied from nipxkgs rev. ffafe9 (nixcloud team) and slightly modified
   rust = callPackage ./pkgs/rust
     (stdenv.lib.optionalAttrs (stdenv.cc.isGNU && stdenv.hostPlatform.isi686) {
@@ -27,14 +29,14 @@ let
           boardBinaries = boardBinaries;
         };
       }) {} boards;
-in rec {
-  inherit (rust) rustc;
-  inherit (callPackage ./pkgs/python3Packages.nix {}) migen microscope misoc jesd204b;
-  binutils-or1k = callPackage ./pkgs/binutils-or1k.nix {};
-  llvm-or1k = callPackage ./pkgs/llvm-or1k.nix { inherit llvm-src; };
-  llvmlite-artiq = callPackage ./pkgs/llvmlite-artiq.nix { inherit llvm-or1k; };
-  artiq = callPackage ./pkgs/artiq.nix { inherit binutils-or1k; inherit llvm-or1k; inherit llvmlite-artiq; };
-  openocd = callPackage ./pkgs/openocd.nix {};
-
-  conda-artiq = import ./conda-artiq.nix { inherit pkgs; };
-} // boardPackages
+in
+  rec {
+    inherit (rust) rustc;
+    inherit (pythonDeps) asyncserial levenshtein pythonparser quamash pyqtgraph-qt5 misoc migen microscope jesd204b sphinx-argparse wavedrom sphinxcontrib-wavedrom;
+    binutils-or1k = callPackage ./pkgs/binutils-or1k.nix {};
+    llvm-or1k = callPackage ./pkgs/llvm-or1k.nix { inherit llvm-src; };
+    llvmlite-artiq = callPackage ./pkgs/llvmlite-artiq.nix { inherit llvm-or1k; };
+    artiq = callPackage ./pkgs/artiq.nix { inherit binutils-or1k; inherit llvm-or1k; inherit llvmlite-artiq; };
+    openocd = callPackage ./pkgs/openocd.nix {};
+    conda-artiq = import ./conda-artiq.nix { inherit pkgs; };
+  } //  boardPackages
diff --git a/artiq/pkgs/artiq.nix b/artiq/pkgs/artiq.nix
index af0b1d7..792734a 100644
--- a/artiq/pkgs/artiq.nix
+++ b/artiq/pkgs/artiq.nix
@@ -1,80 +1,22 @@
-{ stdenv, git, fetchFromGitHub, fetchgit, python3Packages, qt5Full, binutils-or1k, llvm-or1k, llvmlite-artiq, python3 }:
+{ stdenv, callPackage, fetchgit, python3Packages, qt5Full, binutils-or1k, llvm-or1k, llvmlite-artiq }:
 
 let
-
-levenshtein = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
-  name = "levenshtein";
-  src = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "ztane";
-    repo = "python-Levenshtein";
-    rev = "854e61a05bb8b750e990add96df412cd5448b75e";
-    sha256 = "1yf21kg1g2ivm5a4dx1jra9k0c33np54d0hk5ymnfyc4f6pg386q";
-  };
-  doCheck = false;
-};
-
-pythonparser = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
-  name = "pythonparser";
-  src = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "m-labs";
-    repo = "pythonparser";
-    rev = "5b391fe86f43bb9f4f96c5bc0532e2a112db2936";
-    sha256 = "1gw1fk4y2l6bwq0fg2a9dfc1rvq8cv492dyil96amjdhsxvnx35b";
-  };
-  propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ regex ];
-};
-
-asyncserial = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
-  name = "asyncserial";
-  src = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "m-labs";
-    repo = "asyncserial";
-    rev = "d95bc1d6c791b0e9785935d2f62f628eb5cdf98d";
-    sha256 = "0yzkka9jk3612v8gx748x6ziwykq5lr7zmr9wzkcls0v2yilqx9k";
-  };
-  propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ pyserial ];
-  doCheck = false;
-};
-
-quamash = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
-  name = "quamash";
-  src = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "harvimt";
-    repo = "quamash";
-    rev = "e513b30f137415c5e098602fa383e45debab85e7";
-    sha256 = "117rp9r4lz0kfz4dmmpa35hp6nhbh6b4xq0jmgvqm68g9hwdxmqa";
-  };
-  propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ pyqt5 ];
-  doCheck = false;
-};
-
-pyqtgraph-qt5 = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
-  name = "pyqtgraph_qt5-${version}";
-  version = "0.10.0";
-  doCheck = false;
-  src = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "pyqtgraph";
-    repo = "pyqtgraph";
-    rev = "1426e334e1d20542400d77c72c132b04c6d17ddb";
-    sha256 = "1079haxyr316jf0wpirxdj0ry6j8mr16cqr0dyyrd5cnxwl7zssh";
-  };
-  propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ scipy numpy pyqt5 pyopengl ];
-};
-
+  pythonDeps = callPackage ./python-deps.nix {};
 in
-
-python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
-  name = "artiq-${version}";
-  version = import ./artiq-version.nix;
-  src = import ./artiq-src.nix { inherit fetchgit; };
-  preBuild = "export VERSIONEER_OVERRIDE=${version}";
-  propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ binutils-or1k llvm-or1k llvmlite-artiq levenshtein pyqtgraph-qt5 aiohttp pygit2 pythonparser numpy dateutil quamash scipy prettytable pyserial asyncserial h5py cython regex qt5Full pyqt5 ];
-  checkPhase = "python -m unittest discover -v artiq.test";
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-    description = "A leading-edge control system for quantum information experiments";
-    homepage = https://m-labs/artiq;
-    license = licenses.lgpl3;
-    #maintainers = [ maintainers.sb0 ];
-    platforms = [ "x86_64-linux" ];
-  };
-}
+  python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
+    name = "artiq-${version}";
+    version = import ./artiq-version.nix;
+    src = import ./artiq-src.nix { inherit fetchgit; };
+    preBuild = "export VERSIONEER_OVERRIDE=${version}";
+    propagatedBuildInputs = [ binutils-or1k llvm-or1k llvmlite-artiq ]
+      ++ (with pythonDeps; [ levenshtein pyqtgraph-qt5 quamash pythonparser asyncserial ])
+      ++ (with python3Packages; [ aiohttp pygit2 numpy dateutil scipy prettytable pyserial h5py cython regex qt5Full pyqt5 ]);
+    checkPhase = "python -m unittest discover -v artiq.test";
+    meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+      description = "A leading-edge control system for quantum information experiments";
+      homepage = https://m-labs/artiq;
+      license = licenses.lgpl3;
+      #maintainers = [ maintainers.sb0 ];
+      platforms = [ "x86_64-linux" ];
+    };
+  }
diff --git a/artiq/pkgs/python3Packages.nix b/artiq/pkgs/python-deps.nix
similarity index 72%
rename from artiq/pkgs/python3Packages.nix
rename to artiq/pkgs/python-deps.nix
index bd88eb9..14f2e90 100644
--- a/artiq/pkgs/python3Packages.nix
+++ b/artiq/pkgs/python-deps.nix
@@ -1,26 +1,68 @@
 { pkgs, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, python, python3Packages }:
 
-rec { 
+rec {
+  # User dependencies
   asyncserial = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
     name = "asyncserial";
-
     src = fetchFromGitHub {
       owner = "m-labs";
       repo = "asyncserial";
       rev = "d95bc1d6c791b0e9785935d2f62f628eb5cdf98d";
       sha256 = "0yzkka9jk3612v8gx748x6ziwykq5lr7zmr9wzkcls0v2yilqx9k";
-      fetchSubmodules = true;
-    };
-
-    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ pyserial ] ++ (with pkgs; [ ]);
-
-    meta = with stdenv.lib; {
-      description = "asyncio support for pyserial";
-      homepage    = "https://m-labs.hk";
-      license     = licenses.bsd2;
-      platforms   = platforms.unix;
     };
+    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ pyserial ];
+    doCheck = false;
   };
+
+  levenshtein = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
+    name = "levenshtein";
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "ztane";
+      repo = "python-Levenshtein";
+      rev = "854e61a05bb8b750e990add96df412cd5448b75e";
+      sha256 = "1yf21kg1g2ivm5a4dx1jra9k0c33np54d0hk5ymnfyc4f6pg386q";
+    };
+    doCheck = false;
+  };
+
+  pythonparser = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
+    name = "pythonparser";
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "m-labs";
+      repo = "pythonparser";
+      rev = "5b391fe86f43bb9f4f96c5bc0532e2a112db2936";
+      sha256 = "1gw1fk4y2l6bwq0fg2a9dfc1rvq8cv492dyil96amjdhsxvnx35b";
+    };
+    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ regex ];
+  };
+
+  quamash = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
+    name = "quamash";
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "harvimt";
+      repo = "quamash";
+      rev = "e513b30f137415c5e098602fa383e45debab85e7";
+      sha256 = "117rp9r4lz0kfz4dmmpa35hp6nhbh6b4xq0jmgvqm68g9hwdxmqa";
+    };
+    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ pyqt5 ];
+    doCheck = false;
+  };
+
+  pyqtgraph-qt5 = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
+    name = "pyqtgraph_qt5-${version}";
+    version = "0.10.0";
+    doCheck = false;
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "pyqtgraph";
+      repo = "pyqtgraph";
+      rev = "1426e334e1d20542400d77c72c132b04c6d17ddb";
+      sha256 = "1079haxyr316jf0wpirxdj0ry6j8mr16cqr0dyyrd5cnxwl7zssh";
+    };
+    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ scipy numpy pyqt5 pyopengl ];
+  };
+
+
+  # Development/firmware dependencies
   misoc = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
     name = "misoc";
     
@@ -44,6 +86,7 @@ rec {
       platforms   = platforms.unix;
     };
   };
+
   migen = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
     name = "migen";
 
@@ -66,6 +109,7 @@ rec {
       platforms   = platforms.unix;
     };
   };
+
   microscope = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
     name = "microscope";
 
@@ -85,6 +129,7 @@ rec {
       platforms   = platforms.unix;
     };
   };
+
   jesd204b = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
     name = "jesd204b";
 
@@ -105,6 +150,8 @@ rec {
     };
   };
 
+
+  # Documentation building dependencies
   # sphinx-argparse will be included in nixpkgs 19.03
   sphinx-argparse = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
     pname = "sphinx-argparse";
@@ -124,7 +171,7 @@ rec {
       description = "A sphinx extension that automatically documents argparse commands and options";
       homepage = https://github.com/ribozz/sphinx-argparse;
       license = licenses.mit;
-      maintainers = with maintainers; [ clacke ];
+      #maintainers = with maintainers; [ clacke ];
     };
   };
 
@@ -159,7 +206,7 @@ rec {
     };
 
     buildInputs = [ python3Packages.setuptools_scm ];
-    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ sphinx wavedrom cairosvg xcffib ];
+    propagatedBuildInputs = [ wavedrom ] ++ (with python3Packages; [ sphinx cairosvg xcffib ]);
 
     meta = with stdenv.lib; {
       description = "A Sphinx extension that allows including WaveDrom diagrams";
diff --git a/main.nix b/main.nix
index a8af869..4582484 100644
--- a/main.nix
+++ b/main.nix
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ let
     echo \"5e.`cut -c1-8 <<< $REV`\" > $out/pkgs/artiq-version.nix
     '';
   artiqpkgs = import "${generatedNix}/default.nix" { inherit pkgs; };
-  python3pkgs = pkgs.callPackage "${generatedNix}/pkgs/python3Packages.nix" {};
   artiqVersion = import "${generatedNix}/pkgs/artiq-version.nix";
   jobs = builtins.mapAttrs (key: value: pkgs.lib.hydraJob value) artiqpkgs;
 in
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ in
     docs = pkgs.runCommand "docs"
       {
         buildInputs = [
-          (pkgs.python3.withPackages(ps: [python3pkgs.sphinx-argparse python3pkgs.sphinxcontrib-wavedrom ps.sphinx_rtd_theme ps.sphinx]))
+          (pkgs.python3.withPackages(ps: [ artiqpkgs.sphinx-argparse artiqpkgs.sphinxcontrib-wavedrom ps.sphinx_rtd_theme ps.sphinx ]))
         ];
       }
       ''
@@ -43,7 +42,7 @@ in
       '';
     extended-tests = pkgs.runCommand "extended-tests" {
       propagatedBuildInputs = [
-          (pkgs.python3.withPackages(ps: [artiqpkgs.artiq artiqpkgs.artiq-board-kc705-nist_clock]))
+          (pkgs.python3.withPackages(ps: [ artiqpkgs.artiq artiqpkgs.artiq-board-kc705-nist_clock ]))
           artiqpkgs.binutils-or1k
           artiqpkgs.openocd
           pkgs.iputils