diff --git a/flake.lock b/flake.lock
index a508c48..9f2ed6a 100644
--- a/flake.lock
+++ b/flake.lock
@@ -1,5 +1,20 @@
 {
   "nodes": {
+    "crane": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1770419512,
+        "narHash": "sha256-o8Vcdz6B6bkiGUYkZqFwH3Pv1JwZyXht3dMtS7RchIo=",
+        "owner": "ipetkov",
+        "repo": "crane",
+        "rev": "2510f2cbc3ccd237f700bb213756a8f35c32d8d7",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "owner": "ipetkov",
+        "repo": "crane",
+        "type": "github"
+      }
+    },
     "nixpkgs": {
       "locked": {
         "lastModified": 1769170682,
@@ -18,6 +33,7 @@
     },
     "root": {
       "inputs": {
+        "crane": "crane",
         "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs",
         "rust-overlay": "rust-overlay"
       }
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index e452354..27284c1 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -4,9 +4,11 @@
 
     rust-overlay.url = "github:oxalica/rust-overlay";
     rust-overlay.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
+
+    crane.url = "github:ipetkov/crane";
   };
 
-  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, rust-overlay}:
+  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, rust-overlay, crane }:
   let
     inherit (nixpkgs) lib;
 
@@ -71,6 +73,9 @@
       roowho2 = final: prev: {
         inherit (self.packages.${prev.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}) roowho2;
       };
+      roowho2-crane = final: prev: {
+        roowho2 = self.packages.${prev.stdenv.hostPlatform.system}.roowho2-crane;
+      };
     };
 
     nixosModules.default = ./nix/module.nix;
@@ -79,12 +84,13 @@
       let
       cargoToml = builtins.fromTOML (builtins.readFile ./Cargo.toml);
       cargoLock = ./Cargo.lock;
+      craneLib = (crane.mkLib pkgs).overrideToolchain(p: p.rust-bin.nightly.latest.default);
+
       src = lib.fileset.toSource {
         root = ./.;
         fileset = lib.fileset.unions [
-          ./src
-          ./Cargo.toml
-          ./Cargo.lock
+          (craneLib.fileset.commonCargoSources ./.)
+          # ./assets
         ];
       };
 
@@ -93,13 +99,25 @@
         cargo = pkgs.rust-bin.nightly.latest.cargo;
       };
     in {
-      default = self.packages.${system}.roowho2;
+      default = self.packages.${system}.roowho2-crane;
 
-      roowho2 = pkgs.callPackage ./nix/package.nix { inherit cargoToml cargoLock src rustPlatform; };
+      roowho2 = pkgs.callPackage ./nix/package.nix {
+        inherit cargoToml cargoLock src rustPlatform;
+      };
+
+      roowho2-crane = pkgs.callPackage ./nix/package.nix {
+        useCrane = true;
+        inherit cargoToml cargoLock src craneLib;
+      };
 
       filteredSource = pkgs.runCommandLocal "filtered-source" { } ''
         ln -s ${src} $out
       '';
     });
+
+    checks = forAllSystems (system: pkgs: _: {
+      # NOTE: the non-crane build runs tests during checkPhase
+      inherit (self.packages.${system}) roowho2;
+    });
   };
 }
diff --git a/nix/package.nix b/nix/package.nix
index 67db7c0..5a54f48 100644
--- a/nix/package.nix
+++ b/nix/package.nix
@@ -10,22 +10,62 @@
 , cargoToml
 , cargoLock
 , src
+
+, useCrane ? false
+, craneLib ? null
 }:
-rustPlatform.buildRustPackage {
-  pname = "roowho2";
+let
+  mainProgram = "roowhod";
+  buildFunction = if useCrane then craneLib.buildPackage else rustPlatform.buildRustPackage;
+
+  pnameCraneSuffix = lib.optionalString useCrane "-crane";
+  pname = "${cargoToml.package.name}${pnameCraneSuffix}";
+
+  rustPlatformArgs = {
+    buildType = "releaselto";
+    buildFeatures = lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux [
+      "systemd"
+    ];
+    cargoLock.lockFile = cargoLock;
+
+    doCheck = true;
+    useNextest = true;
+    nativeCheckInputs = [
+      versionCheckHook
+    ];
+    cargoCheckFeatures = lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux [
+      "systemd"
+    ];
+  };
+
+  craneArgs = {
+    cargoLock = cargoLock;
+    cargoExtraArgs = lib.escapeShellArgs [ "--features" (lib.concatStringsSep "," (
+      lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux [
+        "systemd"
+      ]
+    )) ];
+    cargoArtifacts = craneLib.buildDepsOnly {
+      inherit pname;
+      inherit (cargoToml.package) version;
+      src = lib.fileset.toSource {
+        root = ../.;
+        fileset = lib.fileset.unions [
+          (craneLib.fileset.cargoTomlAndLock ../.)
+        ];
+      };
+
+      cargoLock = cargoLock;
+    };
+  };
+in
+buildFunction ({
+  inherit pname;
   inherit (cargoToml.package) version;
   inherit src;
 
-  cargoLock.lockFile = cargoLock;
-
-  buildType = "releaselto";
-
   RUSTFLAGS = "-Zhigher-ranked-assumptions";
 
-  buildFeatures = lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux [
-    "systemd"
-  ];
-
   buildInputs = lib.optionals stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux [
     systemdLibs
   ];
@@ -46,7 +86,11 @@ rustPlatform.buildRustPackage {
   in lib.concatStringsSep "\n" installShellCompletions;
 
   meta = with lib; {
-    license = licenses.mit;
+    license = licenses.bsdOriginalUC;
     platforms = platforms.linux ++ platforms.darwin;
+    inherit mainProgram;
   };
 }
+//
+(if useCrane then craneArgs else rustPlatformArgs)
+)
diff --git a/nix/vm.nix b/nix/vm.nix
index 16a8fba..cc929d4 100644
--- a/nix/vm.nix
+++ b/nix/vm.nix
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ let
   pkgs = import nixpkgs {
     inherit system;
     overlays = [
-      self.overlays.default
+      self.overlays.roowho2-crane
     ];
   };
 in