return {
  -- better vim.notify
  {
    "rcarriga/nvim-notify",
    event = "VeryLazy",
    config = function()
      vim.notify = require("notify")
    end,
  },

  -- better vim.ui
  {
    "stevearc/dressing.nvim",
    event = "VeryLazy",
    config = true,
  },

  -- bufferline
  {
    "akinsho/nvim-bufferline.lua",
    event = "BufAdd",
    config = true,
  },

  -- statusline
  {
    "nvim-lualine/lualine.nvim",
    event = "VeryLazy",
    config = {
      options = {
        globalstatus = true,
      },
    },
  },

  -- indent guides for Neovim
  {
    "lukas-reineke/indent-blankline.nvim",
    event = "BufReadPre",
    config = {
      char = "▏",
    },
  },

  -- dashboard
  {
    "goolord/alpha-nvim",
    lazy = false,
    config = function()
      local dashboard = require("alpha.themes.dashboard")
      local logo = [[
             ██╗      █████╗ ███████╗██╗   ██╗██╗   ██╗██╗███╗   ███╗          Z
             ██║     ██╔══██╗╚══███╔╝╚██╗ ██╔╝██║   ██║██║████╗ ████║      Z    
             ██║     ███████║  ███╔╝  ╚████╔╝ ██║   ██║██║██╔████╔██║   z       
             ██║     ██╔══██║ ███╔╝    ╚██╔╝  ╚██╗ ██╔╝██║██║╚██╔╝██║ z         
             ███████╗██║  ██║███████╗   ██║    ╚████╔╝ ██║██║ ╚═╝ ██║
             ╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝╚══════╝   ╚═╝     ╚═══╝  ╚═╝╚═╝     ╚═╝
]]

      dashboard.section.header.val = vim.split(logo, "\n")
      dashboard.section.buttons.val = {
        dashboard.button("f", " " .. " Find file", ":Telescope find_files <CR>"),
        dashboard.button("n", " " .. " New file", ":ene <BAR> startinsert <CR>"),
        dashboard.button("r", " " .. " Recent files", ":Telescope oldfiles <CR>"),
        dashboard.button("g", " " .. " Find text", ":Telescope live_grep <CR>"),
        dashboard.button("c", " " .. " Config", ":e $MYVIMRC <CR>"),
        dashboard.button("q", " " .. " Quit", ":qa<CR>"),
      }
      dashboard.section.footer.opts.hl = "Type"
      dashboard.section.header.opts.hl = "Include"
      dashboard.section.buttons.opts.hl = "Keyword"
      dashboard.opts.opts.noautocmd = true

      require("alpha").setup(dashboard.opts)

      vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("User", {
        pattern = "LazyVimStarted",
        callback = function()
          local stats = require("lazy").stats()
          local ms = (math.floor(stats.startuptime * 100 + 0.5) / 100)
          dashboard.section.footer.val = "🎉 Neovim loaded " .. stats.count .. " plugins in " .. ms .. "ms"
          pcall(vim.cmd.AlphaRedraw)
        end,
      })
    end,
  },
}