diff --git a/channels.d/metznet.scm b/channels.d/metznet.scm
index 9bcd3b0..6d5d313 100644
--- a/channels.d/metznet.scm
+++ b/channels.d/metznet.scm
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-;; See channels.scm for why this needs an explicit import.
-(use-modules (guix channels))
+;; See channels.scm for why this needs a real define-module.
+(define-module (channels.d metznet)
+  #:use-module (guix channels))
 
 (channel
         (name 'metznet-channel)
diff --git a/channels.d/nonguix.scm b/channels.d/nonguix.scm
index 95520f5..108d749 100644
--- a/channels.d/nonguix.scm
+++ b/channels.d/nonguix.scm
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-;; See channels.scm for why this needs an explicit import.
-(use-modules (guix channels))
+;; See channels.scm for why this needs a real define-module.
+(define-module (channels.d nonguix)
+  #:use-module (guix channels))
 
 (channel
   (name 'nonguix)
diff --git a/channels.d/nonguixgames.scm b/channels.d/nonguixgames.scm
index ce1c6ba..544b787 100644
--- a/channels.d/nonguixgames.scm
+++ b/channels.d/nonguixgames.scm
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-;; See channels.scm for why this needs an explicit import.
-(use-modules (guix channels))
+;; See channels.scm for why this needs a real define-module.
+(define-module (channels.d nonguixgames)
+  #:use-module (guix channels))
 
 (channel
         (name 'guix-gaming-games)
diff --git a/channels.scm b/channels.scm
index 47e82ff..d37ae87 100644
--- a/channels.scm
+++ b/channels.scm
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 ;; channels.scm -- reads the channels.d dir to get a list of channel objects
-
-;; guix pull -C pre-imports (guix channels) into the file's environment
-;; (see load-channels/make-user-module in guix/scripts/pull.scm), which is
-;; why this worked without an explicit import. But `guix pull` also
-;; compiles every .scm file under this channel's own checkout as an
-;; ordinary package module (see standard-module-derivation), and that
-;; environment does NOT pre-import it -- so `channel` (a macro from (guix
-;; channels), used in channels.d/*.scm) and %default-channels come up
-;; unbound there unless imported explicitly.
-(use-modules (gnu) (guix channels) ((ice-9 ftw) #:select (scandir)))
+;;
+;; `guix pull` also compiles every .scm file under this channel's own
+;; checkout as an ordinary package module (see standard-module-derivation)
+;; and then loads each by its path-derived module name (e.g. this file as
+;; (channels)) to build the package cache -- so, like metznet/machines/*.scm,
+;; this needs a real define-module matching its path, not just a bare
+;; script relying on guix pull -C's implicit (guix channels) import.
+(define-module (channels)
+  #:use-module (gnu)
+  #:use-module (guix channels)
+  #:use-module ((ice-9 ftw) #:select (scandir)))
 
 (define channel-files
   (scandir "./channels.d"