diff --git a/home/programs/xdg/config-files.nix b/home/programs/xdg/config-files.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f94033d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/home/programs/xdg/config-files.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+# Attribute set of files to link into the user's XDG directories
+{ config, ... }: let
+  XDG_CACHE_HOME = config.xdg.cacheHome;
+  XDG_CONFIG_HOME = config.xdg.configHome;
+  XDG_DATA_HOME = config.xdg.dataHome;
+  XDG_STATE_HOME = config.xdg.stateHome;
+  XDG_RUNTIME_DIR = config.home.sessionVariables.XDG_RUNTIME_DIR;
+  XDG_BIN_HOME = config.home.sessionVariables.XDG_BIN_HOME;
+in {
+
+  # Variables set to force apps into the XDG base directories
+  # These will get set at login
+  # Defined in /etc/profiles/per-user/$USER/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh
+  home.sessionVariables = {
+    # General applications / tools
+    LESSHISTFILE = "${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/less/history";
+    WINEPREFIX = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/wine";
+    MPLAYER_HOME = "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/mplayer";
+    WAKATIME_HOME = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/wakatime";
+    SQLITE_HISTORY = "${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/sqlite_history";
+    PARALLEL_HOME = "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/parallel";
+
+    # Programming languages / tools / package managers
+    ANDROID_HOME = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/android";
+    DOCKER_CONFIG = "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/docker";
+    GRADLE_USER_HOME = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/gradle";
+    GOPATH = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/go";
+    M2_HOME = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/m2";
+    _JAVA_OPTIONS = "-Djava.util.prefs.userRoot=${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/java";
+    CARGO_HOME = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/cargo";
+    ## npm/node
+    NODE_REPL_HISTORY = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/node_repl_history";
+    NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG = "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/npm/npmrc";
+    NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/npm";
+    NPM_CONFIG_CACHE = "${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/npm";
+    NPM_CONFIG_TMP = "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/npm";
+    ## dotnet
+    DOTNET_CLI_HOME = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/dotnet";
+    NUGET_PACKAGES = "${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/NuGetPackages";
+    ## Python
+    PYTHONSTARTUP = "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/python/pythonrc.py";
+    PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX = "${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/python";
+    PYTHONUSERBASE = "${XDG_DATA_HOME}/python";
+    MYPY_CACHE_DIR = "${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/mypy";
+    IPYTHONDIR = "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/ipython";
+    JUPYTER_CONFIG_DIR = "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/jupyter";
+  };
+
+  # Create the following files in XDG_CONFIG_HOME, for purposes of
+  # forcing apps to use the XDG base directories 
+  xdg.configFile = {
+    "npm/npmrc".text = ''
+      prefix=${XDG_DATA_HOME}/npm
+      cache=${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/npm
+      tmp=${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/npm
+      init-module=${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/npm/config/npm-init.js
+    '';
+
+    "python/pythonrc.py".text = ''
+      import atexit
+      import os
+      import readline
+      from functools import partial
+      from pathlib import Path
+      from types import ModuleType
+
+      cache_xdg_dir = Path(
+          os.environ.get("XDG_CACHE_HOME", str(Path("~/.cache").expanduser()))
+      )
+      cache_xdg_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)
+
+      history_file = cache_xdg_dir.joinpath("python_history")
+      history_file.touch()
+
+      readline.read_history_file(history_file)
+
+
+      def write_history(readline: ModuleType, history_file: Path) -> None:
+          """
+          We need to get ``readline`` and ``history_file`` as arguments, as it
+          seems they get garbage collected when the function is registered and
+          the program ends, even though we refer to them here.
+          """
+          readline.write_history_file(history_file)
+
+
+      atexit.register(partial(write_history, readline, history_file))
+    '';
+  };
+}
diff --git a/home/programs/xdg/default.nix b/home/programs/xdg/default.nix
index fd67cbc..d683831 100644
--- a/home/programs/xdg/default.nix
+++ b/home/programs/xdg/default.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   imports = [
     ./mime-apps.nix
     ./user-dirs.nix
+    ./config-files.nix
   ];
 
   xdg = {