diff --git a/layers/+distribution/spacemacs-base/packages.el b/layers/+distribution/spacemacs-base/packages.el
index 87e496656..a99effa82 100644
--- a/layers/+distribution/spacemacs-base/packages.el
+++ b/layers/+distribution/spacemacs-base/packages.el
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
         subword
         undo-tree
         (uniquify :location built-in)
+        url
         use-package
         which-key
         whitespace
@@ -1330,6 +1331,14 @@ ARG non nil means that the editing style is `vim'."
         ;; don't screw special buffers
         uniquify-ignore-buffers-re "^\\*"))
 
+;; gravatars from magit use this to store their cache
+(defun spacemacs-base/init-url ()
+  (use-package url
+    :defer t
+    :init
+    (setq url-configuration-directory
+          (concat spacemacs-cache-directory "url"))))
+
 (defun spacemacs-base/init-use-package ())
 
 (defun spacemacs-base/init-which-key ()