diff --git a/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_create_flake.py b/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_create_flake.py
index 9a69d21d..89338430 100644
--- a/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_create_flake.py
+++ b/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_create_flake.py
@@ -26,6 +26,14 @@ def test_create_flake(
     cli.run(["machines", "create", "machine1"])
     capsys.readouterr()  # flush cache
 
+    # create a hardware-configuration.nix that doesn't throw an eval error
+
+    for patch_machine in ["jon", "sara"]:
+        with open(
+            flake_dir / "machines" / f"{patch_machine}/hardware-configuration.nix", "w"
+        ) as hw_config_nix:
+            hw_config_nix.write("{}")
+
     cli.run(["machines", "list"])
     assert "machine1" in capsys.readouterr().out
     flake_show = subprocess.run(
diff --git a/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_machines_cli.py b/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_machines_cli.py
index de1991d7..a06ce656 100644
--- a/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_machines_cli.py
+++ b/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_machines_cli.py
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ def test_machine_subcommands(
     out = capsys.readouterr()
 
     assert "machine1" in out.out
-    assert "nvm1" in out.out
-    assert "nvm2" in out.out
+    assert "vm1" in out.out
+    assert "vm2" in out.out
 
     cli.run(
         ["--flake", str(test_flake_with_core.path), "machines", "delete", "machine1"]
@@ -30,5 +30,5 @@ def test_machine_subcommands(
     out = capsys.readouterr()
 
     assert "machine1" not in out.out
-    assert "nvm1" in out.out
-    assert "nvm2" in out.out
+    assert "vm1" in out.out
+    assert "vm2" in out.out