diff --git a/nvim/ftplugin/rust.lua b/nvim/ftplugin/rust.lua
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/nvim/lua/plugins/rustaceanvim.lua b/nvim/lua/plugins/rustaceanvim.lua
index 02d2eaf..600c298 100644
--- a/nvim/lua/plugins/rustaceanvim.lua
+++ b/nvim/lua/plugins/rustaceanvim.lua
@@ -3,5 +3,21 @@ return {
     'mrcjkb/rustaceanvim',
     version = '^5',
     lazy = false,
+    init = function()
+      -- something is off with this plugin, or something else here and i cannot really pinpoint it (yet).
+      -- the below config seems to (mostly?) fix an issue where if i open `nvim` from within a non-rust
+      -- project / source directory, and then run `:cd /path/to/rust/project` and then open some rust (.rs)
+      -- files in neovim, rustaceanvim will NOT auto-attach via the ftplugin stuff as it's supposed to.
+      -- running `:chechhealth` at this point says rust-analyzer is not found. however, if i instead
+      -- initially open `nvim` from within a rust project / source directory and then open some rust (.rs)
+      -- files in neovim, rustaceanvim auto-attaches no problem and :checkhealth doesn't show any issues.
+      -- in either case, rust-analyzer is installed via rustup as rustaceanvim recommends and rust-analyzer
+      -- is correctly located on the current path ...
+      vim.g.rustaceanvim = {
+        server = {
+          cmd = { 'rust-analyzer' },
+        },
+      }
+    end,
   },
 }