diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Change log for esqueleto text search 
 
 
+## Version 1.1.5
++ enable tests in CI
++ allow setting of weights in tsquery
+
 ## Version 1.1.4
 + link to new homepage
 + add better documentation. rexport important stuff in the main module explicetly
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,6 +6,20 @@
 in performance for search as elastic search, without having 
 to deal with elastic search.
 
+## Hacking
+install [nix](https://nixos.org/download) (the package manager).
+Enter the nix shell.
+```
+nix develop
+cabal build
+```
+
+running the tests with nix:
+```
+nix check
+```
+
+
 ## Tutorial
 
 1. decide which fields you want to search for,
diff --git a/esqueleto-textsearch.cabal b/esqueleto-textsearch.cabal
--- a/esqueleto-textsearch.cabal
+++ b/esqueleto-textsearch.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+cabal-version:      3.0
 name:               esqueleto-textsearch
-version:            1.1.4
+version:            1.1.5
 synopsis:           PostgreSQL full text search for Esqueleto
 description:        PostgreSQL text search functions for Esqueleto.
 homepage:           https://github.com/jappeace/esqueleto-textsearch
@@ -11,8 +12,8 @@
 category:           Database
 build-type:         Simple
 extra-source-files: README.md
-                    Changelog.md
-cabal-version:      >=1.10
+extra-doc-files:
+    Changelog.md
 
 source-repository head
   type: git
diff --git a/src/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearch/Language.hs b/src/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearch/Language.hs
--- a/src/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearch/Language.hs
+++ b/src/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearch/Language.hs
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE DerivingStrategies #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE GeneralisedNewtypeDeriving #-}
 
 module Database.Esqueleto.TextSearch.Language
   ( (@@.)
   , prefixAndQuery
   , toSearchTerm
+  , toSearchTermWeighted
   , SearchTerm
   , to_tsvector
   , to_tsquery
@@ -17,10 +20,11 @@
 
 import Data.String (IsString)
 import Data.Text (Text)
-import Database.Esqueleto (SqlExpr, Value, val)
 #if MIN_VERSION_esqueleto(3,5,0)
 import Database.Esqueleto.Internal.Internal (unsafeSqlBinOp, unsafeSqlFunction)
+import Database.Esqueleto.Experimental (SqlExpr, Value, val)
 #else
+import Database.Esqueleto (SqlExpr, Value, val)
 import Database.Esqueleto.Internal.Sql (unsafeSqlBinOp, unsafeSqlFunction)
 #endif
 import Database.Esqueleto.TextSearch.Types
@@ -127,13 +131,14 @@
 prefixAndQueryLang :: RegConfig -> SearchTerm -> SqlExpr (Value (TsQuery Lexemes))
 prefixAndQueryLang language (SearchTerm ts) =
   foldr1 tsquery_and
-  $ map (to_tsquery (val language) . val . Word Prefix []) $ toList ts
+  $ map (to_tsquery (val language) . val) $ toList ts
 
 
 -- | A valid search term.
 --   created with 'toSearchTerm'.
-newtype SearchTerm = SearchTerm { unQuery :: NonEmpty Text }
-  deriving (Show)
+newtype SearchTerm = SearchTerm { unQuery :: NonEmpty (TsQuery Words) }
+  deriving stock Show
+  deriving newtype Semigroup
 
 -- | Constructs a valid search query, removes a bunch of illegal
 --   characters and splits the terms for better results.
@@ -142,7 +147,17 @@
 --   using a search term is optional, but it's probably what you want.
 --   all underlying primitives are exposed.
 toSearchTerm :: Text -> Maybe SearchTerm
-toSearchTerm q = SearchTerm <$> nonEmpty qs
+toSearchTerm = toSearchTermWeighted []
+
+-- | create a search term with some weight, this allows tweaking of priority of certain terms.
+--   for example if you want to do some post processing on user input.
+--   where they insist on typing dashes,
+--   you split on the dash and concatinate the search term with lower
+--   priority splitted strings on the dash.
+--   so the full string is high priority, substrings lower.
+--   use the semigroup instance on search term to combine these.
+toSearchTermWeighted :: [Weight] -> Text -> Maybe SearchTerm
+toSearchTermWeighted weights q = SearchTerm .  fmap (Word Prefix weights) <$> nonEmpty qs
   -- We disallow whitespace, \ and ' for the sake of producing a Text
   -- that can fit postgresql's requirements for to_tsquery's text
   -- argument. Note that this is not done nor needed for security reasons
diff --git a/src/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearch/Types.hs b/src/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearch/Types.hs
--- a/src/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearch/Types.hs
+++ b/src/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearch/Types.hs
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@
   sqlType = const (SqlOther "float4[4]")
 
 data QueryType = Words | Lexemes
+  deriving Show
 type Lexemes = 'Lexemes
 type Words = 'Words
 
diff --git a/test/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearchSpec.hs b/test/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearchSpec.hs
--- a/test/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearchSpec.hs
+++ b/test/Database/Esqueleto/TextSearchSpec.hs
@@ -96,22 +96,22 @@
 spec = do
   describe "TsVector" $ do
     it "can be persisted and retrieved" $ run $ do
-      let article = Article "some title" "some content" def
+      let article = Article "some title" "some content" defaultTsVector
       arId <- insert article
       update  $ \a -> do
         set a [ArticleTextsearch =. to_etsvector (a^.ArticleContent)]
       ret <- fromJust <$> get arId
-      liftIO $ articleTextsearch ret /= def `shouldBe` True
+      liftIO $ articleTextsearch ret /= defaultTsVector `shouldBe` True
 
     it "can be persisted and retrieved with weight" $ run $ do
-      let article = Article "some title" "some content" def
+      let article = Article "some title" "some content" defaultTsVector
       arId <- insert article
       update  $ \a -> do
         set a [  ArticleTextsearch
               =. setweight (to_etsvector (a^.ArticleContent)) (val Highest)
               ]
       ret <- fromJust <$> get arId
-      liftIO $ articleTextsearch ret /= def `shouldBe` True
+      liftIO $ articleTextsearch ret /= defaultTsVector `shouldBe` True
 
   describe "Weight" $ do
     it "can be persisted and retrieved" $ run $ do
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@
 
   describe "@@" $ do
     it "works as expected" $ run $ do
-      let article = Article "some title" "some content" def
+      let article = Article "some title" "some content" defaultTsVector
       arId <- insert article
       update  $ \a -> do
         set a [ArticleTextsearch =. to_etsvector (a^.ArticleContent)]
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@
           content = "content" :: Text
           query   = to_tsquery (val "english") (val "content")
           norm    = val []
-      ret <- select $ return $ ts_rank_cd (val def) vector query norm
+      ret <- select $ return $ ts_rank_cd (val defaultWeights) vector query norm
       liftIO $ map unValue ret `shouldBe` [0.1]
 
   describe "ts_rank" $ do
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@
           content = "content" :: Text
           query   = to_tsquery (val "english") (val "content")
           norm    = val []
-      ret <- select $ return $ ts_rank (val def) vector query norm
+      ret <- select $ return $ ts_rank (val defaultWeights) vector query norm
       liftIO $ unValue (head ret) `shouldBe` 6.079271e-2
 
   describe "NormalizationOption" $ do