dotfiles-setup

Dotfiles Setup

Puts machine configuration under version control and makes it restorable on the next Mac — without the classic failure modes: clobbering live config during adopt/deploy, and committing secrets on day one.

When NOT to use

• The content of .zshrc → zsh-setup; of .gitconfig → git-ssh-identity
• Generating/refreshing the Brewfile → homebrew-setup (this skill only tracks that file)
• Whole-machine setup → macos-dev-setup
• Backups of data → Time Machine, out of scope

Safety rails

• Never overwrite live config. Deploying onto a machine with existing files: diff first, back up collisions (mv X X.bak), then link — every time, no exceptions.
• Secrets scan before first commit (and before publishing an existing repo): grep the candidate set for keys/tokens; ~/.ssh/, ~/.aws/, ~/.kube/, .env*, *history, .netrc never go in. Treat the repo as public even if private.
• Bootstrap scripts are idempotent and fail-fast. They check for core prerequisites (Homebrew) and stop if missing; they may install their own tooling (stow) and delegate packages to brew bundle — they never bootstrap Homebrew itself.

Choose a manager (once)

	Best for	Model
chezmoi (default)	most setups: multi-machine, work/personal templating, secrets via 1Password/Keychain, one-command restore	source state + chezmoi apply (dry-run diffs built in)
GNU Stow	one machine, want dead-simple symlinks	symlink farm: ~/dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc → ~/.zshrc
bare git	no extra tool, comfortable with git plumbing	git --git-dir=~/.dotfiles.git --work-tree=$HOME

Default to chezmoi unless the user already has a Stow repo or asks for simplicity; an existing manager always stays.

Workflow — create (chezmoi default)

brew install chezmoi
chezmoi init                          # creates ~/.local/share/chezmoi as a git repo
chezmoi add ~/.zshrc ~/.zprofile ~/.gitconfig ~/.config/starship.toml 2>/dev/null
chezmoi add ~/Brewfile 2>/dev/null    # track the Brewfile (generated via homebrew-setup)
chezmoi cd                            # inspect; then run the secrets scan below before committing

chezmoi copies files into its source state (originals stay in place) — edits go via chezmoi edit <file> + chezmoi apply, or chezmoi re-add after editing live files; chezmoi diff previews every change before apply. Machine-specific bits use its templates ({{ .chezmoi.hostname }}), and secrets stay out via its 1Password/ Keychain template functions instead of committed values. Restore on the next Mac is one command: chezmoi init --apply <repo-url> (run chezmoi diff first on a non-fresh machine).

Workflow — create (Stow variant, on request)

# A non-empty ~/dotfiles means someone already has a repo there - STOP and
# switch to the restore/merge flow instead of initializing over it:
[ -e ~/dotfiles ] && { ls -la ~/dotfiles; echo "exists - use restore flow"; }

mkdir -p ~/dotfiles/{zsh,git,config}
cd ~/dotfiles && git init

# ADOPT existing files: move real file in, link back out - per file, after
# showing the plan, and only when the repo slot is empty (no silent clobber):
[ ! -e ~/dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc ] && mv ~/.zshrc ~/dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc
[ ! -e ~/dotfiles/git/.gitconfig ] && mv ~/.gitconfig ~/dotfiles/git/.gitconfig
mkdir -p ~/dotfiles/config/.config
[ -f ~/.config/starship.toml ] && [ ! -e ~/dotfiles/config/.config/starship.toml ] && \
  mv ~/.config/starship.toml ~/dotfiles/config/.config/

brew install stow
cd ~/dotfiles && stow --simulate -v --target="$HOME" zsh git config  # preflight - read the plan
cd ~/dotfiles && stow --target="$HOME" zsh git config                # then link for real

# Track the Brewfile (generated via homebrew-setup's dump workflow)
[ -f ~/Brewfile ] && [ ! -e ~/dotfiles/Brewfile ] && cp ~/Brewfile ~/dotfiles/Brewfile

Layout that scales:

dotfiles/
├── Brewfile            # tracked; regenerated via homebrew-setup
├── bootstrap.sh
├── zsh/.zshrc  ·  zsh/.zprofile
├── git/.gitconfig  ·  git/.gitignore_global
└── config/.config/starship.toml  (mirrors ~/.config)

Secrets pass before the first commit — use a real scanner (pattern greps miss modern token formats and a grep error looks like "clean"):

brew install gitleaks
gitleaks dir ~/dotfiles --no-banner       # non-zero exit = findings OR failure; read the output
printf '%s\n' '.env*' '*.pem' '*_history' >> ~/dotfiles/.gitignore

Then make it a repository the user can actually restore from (the user runs these — commits are theirs):

git -C ~/dotfiles add -A && git -C ~/dotfiles commit -m "initial dotfiles"
git -C ~/dotfiles remote add origin <their-new-private-repo-url> && git -C ~/dotfiles push -u origin main

Bare-git variant (no tool, higher foot-gun factor — $HOME is the work tree, so hide untracked noise or git status becomes useless):

git init --bare ~/.dotfiles.git
alias dot='git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles.git --work-tree=$HOME'
dot config status.showUntrackedFiles no
dot add ~/.zshrc ~/.gitconfig && dot commit -m "initial"

Workflow — restore on a new machine

git clone <repo-url> ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles && stow --simulate -v --target="$HOME" zsh git config   # preflight: lists every collision
# For EVERY collision the simulate run reports: diff, then timestamped backup
diff ~/.zshrc ~/dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc 2>/dev/null
[ -f ~/.zshrc ] && [ ! -L ~/.zshrc ] && mv ~/.zshrc ~/.zshrc.bak.$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)
cd ~/dotfiles && stow --target="$HOME" zsh git config
brew bundle install --file=~/dotfiles/Brewfile      # packages back

chezmoi one-liner equivalent: chezmoi init --apply <repo-url> — but run chezmoi diff first on a non-fresh machine.

Bootstrap script (tracked as bootstrap.sh)

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
command -v brew >/dev/null || { echo "Homebrew missing - run homebrew-setup first"; exit 1; }
command -v stow >/dev/null || brew install stow
for pkg in zsh git config; do
  # stow REFUSES to overwrite real files (its safety feature) and set -e
  # stops us there - back the collision up by hand, then re-run.
  stow --target="$HOME" --restow "$pkg"   # --restow = idempotent re-runs
done
[ -f Brewfile ] && brew bundle install --file=Brewfile
echo "dotfiles applied - open a new terminal"

Verify

Links resolve (ls -l ~/.zshrc shows -> dotfiles/...), a new shell starts clean, git -C ~/dotfiles status is clean, and the secrets grep reports nothing.

Output spec

Done means: repo exists with the layout above, live files replaced by links only after diff+backup, secrets scan clean, Brewfile tracked, bootstrap re-runs without changes. Report the link map (file → repo path).

Gotchas

• Stow refuses to overwrite real files ("existing target is not owned by stow") — that's the safety feature working; adopt (mv in) or back up, don't --override.
• Symlinked .zshrc + Oh My Zsh installer: OMZ moves the link aside on reinstall — re-stow afterwards.
• stow --restow prunes stale links on re-runs; plain repeat runs are no-ops. Deleted a file from the repo? --restow cleans its dead link.
• Machine-specific bits (work proxy, different email) don't fork the repo: source an untracked ~/.zshrc.local at the end of .zshrc, or graduate to chezmoi templates.
• chezmoi copies (not links) by design — edits go via chezmoi edit/re-add or they drift; that's the price of its templating power.