diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1933837e..dcdefe39 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# related repos
+/docs
+/examples
+
 # build files
 /result
 /build/
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
deleted file mode 100644
index 74013769..00000000
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-[submodule "docs"]
-	path = docs
-	url = https://git.outfoxxed.me/outfoxxed/quickshell-docs
-[submodule "examples"]
-	path = examples
-	url = https://git.outfoxxed.me/outfoxxed/quickshell-examples
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index a5fd4836..2aad2b3c 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ cannot handle random line breaks and will usually require you to disable clang-f
 lines are too long.
 
 Before submitting an MR, if adding new features please make sure the documentation is generated
-reasonably using the `quickshell-docs` repo.
+reasonably using the `quickshell-docs` repo. We recommend checking it out at `/docs` in this repo.
 
 Doc comments take the form `///` or `///!` (summary) and work with markdown.
 Look at existing code for how it works.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 012a33a6..1959583f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,19 +14,6 @@ can be built from the [quickshell-docs](https://git.outfoxxed.me/outfoxxed/quick
 Some fully working examples can be found in the [quickshell-examples](https://git.outfoxxed.me/outfoxxed/quickshell-examples)
 repo.
 
-Both the documentation and examples are included as submodules with revisions that work with the current
-version of quickshell.
-
-You can clone everything with
-```
-$ git clone --recursive https://git.outfoxxed.me/outfoxxed/quickshell.git
-```
-
-Or clone missing submodules later with
-```
-$ git submodule update --init --recursive
-```
-
 # Installation
 
 ## Nix
diff --git a/docs b/docs
deleted file mode 160000
index ff5da84a..00000000
--- a/docs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit ff5da84a8b258a9b2caaf978ddb6de23635d8903
diff --git a/examples b/examples
deleted file mode 160000
index b9e744b5..00000000
--- a/examples
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit b9e744b50673304dfddb68f3da2a2e906d028b96