diff --git a/hie.yaml b/hie-arm-mac.yaml
similarity index 70%
rename from hie.yaml
rename to hie-arm-mac.yaml
index 48385edcd..a6a406a45 100644
--- a/hie.yaml
+++ b/hie-arm-mac.yaml
@@ -1,24 +1,13 @@
-# hand-rolled hie.yaml file
-
-# $ stack ide targets
-# hledger:lib
-# hledger:exe:hledger
-# hledger:test:unittest
-# hledger:bench:bench
-# hledger-lib:lib
-# hledger-lib:test:doctest
-# hledger-lib:test:unittest
-# hledger-ui:exe:hledger-ui
-# hledger-web:lib
-# hledger-web:exe:hledger-web
-
-# testing:
-# $ hie-bios check
-# $ hie-bios debug hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Register.hs
+# on arm macs, you probably want to symlink this as hie.yaml to make hls use 
+# ghc 8.10, since there isn't a widely available arm binary for ghc 9.0 yet.
 
 cradle:
   stack:
-    stackYaml: stack8.10.yaml  # ghc 9.0 doesn't have arm binaries on mac yet
+    stackYaml: stack8.10.yaml
+
+    # if there is a hie.yaml, these must be listed explicitly 
+    # (a limitation of current hls with a multi-package stack project).
+    # Generated by gen-hie.
     components:
       - path: "hledger-lib/"
         component: "hledger-lib:lib"