diff --git a/flakeModule.nix b/flakeModule.nix
index f68fa02..728da6d 100644
--- a/flakeModule.nix
+++ b/flakeModule.nix
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@
     }: let
       cfg = config.ci.config;
 
+      filterAttrsRec = pred: v:
+        if lib.isAttrs v
+        then lib.filterAttrs pred (lib.mapAttrs (path: filterAttrsRec pred) v)
+        else v;
+
       subType = options: lib.types.submodule {inherit options;};
 
       configType = with lib;
@@ -40,10 +45,6 @@
             default = [];
           };
           # gitlab opts
-          variables = mkOption {
-            type = types.attrs;
-            default = {};
-          };
           before_script = mkOption {
             type = types.listOf types.str;
             default = [];
@@ -63,6 +64,10 @@
             type = types.str;
             default = cfg.default-nix-image;
           };
+          variables = mkOption {
+            type = types.nullOr types.attrs;
+            default = null;
+          };
           when = mkOption {
             type = types.nullOr types.str;
             default = null;
@@ -72,16 +77,16 @@
             default = null;
           };
           allow_failure = mkOption {
-            type = types.bool;
-            default = false;
+            type = types.nullOr types.bool;
+            default = null;
           };
           needs = mkOption {
             type = types.nullOr (types.listOf types.str);
             default = null;
           };
           rules = mkOption {
-            type = types.attrs;
-            default = {};
+            type = types.nullOr types.attrs;
+            default = null;
           };
         };
     in {
@@ -100,16 +105,16 @@
               default = null;
             };
             variables = mkOption {
-              type = types.attrs;
-              default = {};
+              type = types.nullOr types.attrs;
+              default = null;
             };
             default = mkOption {
-              type = types.attrs;
-              default = {};
+              type = types.nullOr types.attrs;
+              default = null;
             };
             stages = mkOption {
-              type = types.listOf types.str;
-              default = [];
+              type = types.nullOr (types.listOf types.str);
+              default = null;
             };
             jobs = mkOption {
               type = types.lazyAttrsOf jobType;
@@ -135,8 +140,8 @@
               ++ job.before_script;
           };
 
-        jobs = config.ci.jobs;
-        rest = builtins.removeAttrs config.ci ["jobs" "config"];
+        jobs = filterAttrsRec (n: v: v != null) config.ci.jobs;
+        rest = filterAttrsRec (n: v: v != null) (builtins.removeAttrs config.ci ["jobs" "config"]);
         # this allows us to nix build this to get all the mentioned dependencies from the binary cache
         # pro: we don't have to download everything, just the deps for the current job
         # before, we just allowed pkgs inside the script string directly, but now with the ability to source this file