diff --git a/lua/dep/modules/module.lua b/lua/dep/modules/module.lua
index a6cd04d..7e6d12e 100644
--- a/lua/dep/modules/module.lua
+++ b/lua/dep/modules/module.lua
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ local packager = require("dep.package")
 ---@field desc string description of the module
 ---@field path string path to the module
 ---@field mod table the module
+---@field packages package[] all packages registed from the module
 local module = {}
 
 --- Initialize a module
@@ -55,6 +56,9 @@ function module:new(modpath, prefix, overrides)
     return false
   end
 
+  -- ensure that the module contains the packages that it's created
+  self.packages = err
+
   return self
 end
 
diff --git a/lua/dep/package.lua b/lua/dep/package.lua
index 7ef768a..e9345f8 100644
--- a/lua/dep/package.lua
+++ b/lua/dep/package.lua
@@ -452,8 +452,10 @@ end
 --- recurse over all packages and register them
 ---@param speclist speclist table of specs
 ---@param overrides spec? a package spec that is used to override options
+---@return package[] packages
 function package.register_speclist(speclist, overrides)
   overrides = overrides or {}
+  local packages_from_speclist = {}
 
   -- recurse the packages
   local over = overrides
@@ -468,8 +470,19 @@ function package.register_speclist(speclist, overrides)
     -- While a package can fail to load we just don't care, it will work itself
     -- out. The goal is to make sure every plugin that can load does load, not
     -- keep working plugins from loading because an unrelated one doesn't load.
-    package:new(spec, over)
+    local pkg = package:new(spec, over)
+    if not pkg then
+      goto continue
+    end
+
+    -- we store all the packages in a table so that the caller may keep track of
+    -- their packages, this is not required and therefore the return value may
+    -- be discarded
+    table.insert(packages_from_speclist, pkg)
+    ::continue::
   end
+
+  return packages_from_speclist
 end
 
 --- reload the package