diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn/001-remove-vendoring.diff b/pkgs/development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn/001-remove-vendoring.diff
index d3f7f497fcb8..253740df8b88 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn/001-remove-vendoring.diff
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn/001-remove-vendoring.diff
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ index a5f3d75..f617e25 100644
 -	@echo "Copying precompiled bytecode from the bytecode branch"
 -	git checkout remotes/origin/bytecode src/gen/{compiler,formatter,runtime0,runtime1,src}
 -	git reset src/gen/{compiler,formatter,runtime0,runtime1,src}
-+	echo "src/gen/ files retrieved externally"
++	@echo "src/gen/ files retrieved externally"
  ${bd}/load.o: src/gen/customRuntime
  
  -include $(bd)/*.d
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn/default.nix
index e80844f1b724..68bd9a2b8740 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn/default.nix
@@ -1,33 +1,30 @@
 { lib
 , stdenv
 , fetchFromGitHub
+, genBytecode ? false
 , bqn-path ? null
+, mbqn-source ? null
 }:
 
 let
-  mlochbaum-bqn = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "mlochbaum";
-    repo = "BQN";
-    rev = "97cbdc67fe6a9652c42daefadd658cc41c1e5ae3";
-    hash = "sha256-F2Bv3n3C7zAhqKCMB6hT2iIWTjEqFdLBMyX6/w7V1SY=";
+  cbqn-bytecode-files = fetchFromGitHub {
+    name = "cbqn-bytecode-files";
+    owner = "dzaima";
+    repo = "CBQN";
+    rev = "94bb312d20919f942eabed3dca33c514de3c3227";
+    hash = "sha256-aFw5/F7/sYkYmxAnGeK8EwkoVrbEcjuJAD9YT+iW9Rw=";
   };
 in
+assert genBytecode -> ((bqn-path != null) && (mbqn-source != null));
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  pname = "cbqn";
-  version = "0.0.0+unstable=2021-09-29";
+  pname = "cbqn" + lib.optionalString (!genBytecode) "-standalone";
+  version = "0.0.0+unstable=2021-10-01";
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "dzaima";
     repo = "CBQN";
-    rev = "1c83483d5395e097f60de299274ebe0df590217e";
-    hash = "sha256-C34DpXab08mBm2oCQuaeq4fJPtQ5rVa/HlpL/nB9XjQ=";
-  };
-
-  cbqn-bytecode = fetchFromGitHub {
-    owner = "dzaima";
-    repo = "CBQN";
-    rev = "fdf0b93409d68d5ffd86c5670db27c240e6039e0";
-    hash = "sha256-A0zvpg+G37WNgyfrJuc5rH6L7Wntdbrz8pYEPreqgKE=";
+    rev = "3725bd58c758a749653080319766a33169551536";
+    hash = "sha256-xWp64inFZRqGGTrH6Hqbj7aA0vYPyd+FdetowTMTjPs=";
   };
 
   dontConfigure = true;
@@ -42,17 +39,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   preBuild =
-    if bqn-path == null
+    if genBytecode
     then ''
-      cp ${cbqn-bytecode}/src/gen/{compiler,formatter,runtime0,runtime1,src} src/gen/
+      ${bqn-path} genRuntime ${mbqn-source}
     ''
     else ''
-      ${bqn-path} genRuntime ${mlochbaum-bqn}
+      cp ${cbqn-bytecode-files}/src/gen/{compiler,formatter,runtime0,runtime1,src} src/gen/
     '';
 
   makeFlags = [
     "CC=${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}cc"
-    "single-o3"
   ];
 
   installPhase = ''
@@ -70,9 +66,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     homepage = "https://github.com/dzaima/CBQN/";
     description = "BQN implementation in C";
     license = licenses.gpl3Plus;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ AndersonTorres ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ AndersonTorres sternenseemann synthetica ];
     platforms = platforms.all;
+    priority = if genBytecode then 0 else 10;
   };
 }
-# TODO: factor BQN
-# TODO: test suite (dependent on BQN from mlochbaum)
+# TODO: factor and version cbqn-bytecode-files
+# TODO: test suite
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 9346d21072fd..8f0684704929 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -12835,16 +12835,37 @@ with pkgs;
 
   mbqn = callPackage ../development/interpreters/bqn/mlochbaum-bqn { };
 
-  cbqn = cbqn-phase2;
-  # And the classic bootstrapping process
-  cbqn-phase0 = callPackage ../development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn {
-    bqn-path = null;
-  };
-  cbqn-phase1 = callPackage ../development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn {
-    bqn-path = "${cbqn-phase0}/bin/bqn";
-  };
-  cbqn-phase2 = callPackage ../development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn {
-    bqn-path = "${cbqn-phase1}/bin/bqn";
+  cbqn = cbqn-bootstrap.phase2;
+  cbqn-standalone = cbqn-bootstrap.phase0;
+
+  # Below, the classic self-bootstrapping process
+  cbqn-bootstrap = lib.dontRecurseIntoAttrs {
+    # use clang here since it emits less speculative warnings;
+    # however, avoid its building in cross compilations
+    stdenv =
+      if stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform
+      then clangStdenv
+      else stdenv;
+    mbqn-source = buildPackages.mbqn.src;
+
+    phase0 = callPackage ../development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn {
+      inherit (cbqn-bootstrap) stdenv;
+      genBytecode = false;
+      bqn-path = null;
+      mbqn-source = null;
+    };
+
+    phase1 = callPackage ../development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn {
+      inherit (cbqn-bootstrap) stdenv mbqn-source;
+      genBytecode = true;
+      bqn-path = "${buildPackages.cbqn-bootstrap.phase0}/bin/cbqn";
+    };
+
+    phase2 = callPackage ../development/interpreters/bqn/cbqn {
+      inherit (cbqn-bootstrap) stdenv mbqn-source;
+      genBytecode = true;
+      bqn-path = "${buildPackages.cbqn-bootstrap.phase1}/bin/cbqn";
+    };
   };
 
   dbqn = callPackage ../development/interpreters/bqn/dzaima-bqn {