diff --git a/deployment/data-model-test.nix b/deployment/data-model-test.nix
index e7af5932..7c11f687 100644
--- a/deployment/data-model-test.nix
+++ b/deployment/data-model-test.nix
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ let
       ];
     }).config;
   nixops4Deployment = inputs.nixops4.modules.nixops4Deployment.default;
+  inherit (inputs.nixops4.lib) mkDeployment;
 in
 {
   test-eval = {
@@ -166,6 +167,12 @@ in
         resources = fediversity.applications.hello.resources fediversity.example-configuration.applications.hello;
         hello-shell = (resources).resources.hello.login-shell;
         environment = fediversity.environments.single-nixos-vm.resources.operator-environment.login-shell;
+        result = mkDeployment {
+          modules = [
+            (fediversity.environments.single-nixos-vm.deployment fediversity.example-configuration)
+          ];
+        };
+
       in
       rec {
         number-of-resources = with lib; length (attrNames fediversity.resources);
@@ -182,6 +189,12 @@ in
             packages = with lib; map (p: "${p.pname}") operator.packages;
             extraGroups = operator.extraGroups;
           };
+        deployment = {
+          inherit (result) _type;
+          deploymentFunction = lib.isFunction result.deploymentFunction;
+          # XXX(@fricklerhandwerk): evaluating the derivation takes a bit, we may want to stop at `isFunction` here
+          getProviders = lib.isDerivation (result.getProviders { system = builtins.currentSystem; });
+        };
       };
     expected = {
       number-of-resources = 2;
@@ -197,6 +210,11 @@ in
         packages = [ "hello" ];
         extraGroups = [ ];
       };
+      deployment = {
+        _type = "nixops4Deployment";
+        deploymentFunction = true;
+        getProviders = true;
+      };
     };
   };
 }
diff --git a/deployment/data-model.nix b/deployment/data-model.nix
index cb82346a..10256d30 100644
--- a/deployment/data-model.nix
+++ b/deployment/data-model.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ let
     attrsOf
     attrTag
     deferredModuleWith
-    submoduleWith
     submodule
     optionType
     functionTo
@@ -159,7 +158,7 @@ in
             };
             deployment = mkOption {
               description = "Generate a deployment from a configuration";
-              type = functionTo (submodule environment.config.resource-mapping.output-type);
+              type = functionTo (environment.config.resource-mapping.output-type);
               readOnly = true;
               default =
                 cfg: