diff --git a/nvimrc b/nvimrc
index 649c1b9..4804e75 100644
--- a/nvimrc
+++ b/nvimrc
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 " Prefer $HOME/.vim to $HOME/.config/nvim (for now):
-set runtimepath^=~/.vim runtimepath+=~/.vim/after
+" TODO: refactor file structure for nvim
+set runtimepath^=~/.vim runtimepath+=~/.vim/after runtimepath+=~/.vim/lua
 let &packpath = &runtimepath
 
 set background=dark
@@ -145,6 +146,9 @@ nnoremap <leader>dq ggVG"_d:wq<cr>
 iabbrev esdebug debugger; // eslint-disable-line no-debugger
 iabbrev bashstrict set -euo pipefail<cr>IFS=$'\n\t'<cr>
 
+" lua includes
+lua require("main")
+
 lua <<EOF
 function _G.dump(...)
   local objects = vim.tbl_map(vim.inspect, {...})
@@ -493,19 +497,9 @@ packadd! vim-wordmotion    " https://github.com/chaoren/vim-wordmotion.git
 packadd! formatter.nvim    " https://github.com/mhartington/formatter.nvim.git
 
 lua <<EOF
--- return prettier configuration. If a frontend/ path exists in project root,
--- assume node_modules will be found there.
 local prettier = function()
-  local root_path = vim.fn.getcwd()
-  local frontend_path = root_path .. "/frontend"
-  local is_frontend = vim.fn.isdirectory(frontend_path) ~= 0
-  local base_path = root_path
-  if is_frontend then
-    base_path = frontend_path
-  end
-
   return {
-    exe = base_path .. "/node_modules/.bin/prettier",
+    exe = Get_project_node_modules_path() .. "/.bin/prettier",
     args = {"--stdin-filepath", vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(0), '--single-quote'},
     stdin = true
   }
diff --git a/vim/lua/helpers.lua b/vim/lua/helpers.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9668f97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vim/lua/helpers.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+-- Return the node_modules path for this project. If the project root contains a
+-- frontend/ directory, assume node_modules lives there.
+function Get_project_node_modules_path()
+  local root_path = vim.fn.getcwd()
+  local frontend_path = root_path .. "/frontend"
+  local is_frontend = vim.fn.isdirectory(frontend_path) ~= 0
+  local base_path = root_path
+  if is_frontend then
+    base_path = frontend_path
+  end
+  return base_path .. "/node_modules"
+end
diff --git a/vim/lua/main.lua b/vim/lua/main.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b131820
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vim/lua/main.lua
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+require "helpers"