Dotfiles

Personal macOS configuration managed with GNU Stow.

Included Packages

• zsh - Zsh configuration with oh-my-zsh
• starship - Starship prompt with Catppuccin Powerline preset
• nvim - Neovim configuration
• ghostty - Ghostty terminal configuration
• zed - Zed editor configuration
• ripgrep - ripgrep configuration (~/.ripgreprc)
• linearmouse - LinearMouse configuration
• brew - Brewfile for application management
• scripts - Custom shell scripts (~/.local/bin)
• flameshot - Flameshot configuration
• topgrade - Topgrade configuration
• sketchybar - Floating island status bar with yabai integration
• cron - Automated task scheduling

Quick Installation

On a New Machine

# Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/mrcalexandre/dotfiles.git ~/Code/dotfiles
cd ~/Code/dotfiles
# Run automatic installation
./install.sh

The install.sh script will:

1. Install Homebrew if needed
2. Install GNU Stow
3. Install oh-my-zsh and its plugins
4. Backup my existing files
5. Create symlinks with Stow
6. Install all applications from Brewfile

On an Existing Machine (Migration)

cd ~/Code/dotfiles
# 1. First commit all my files in the repo
git add .
git commit -m "Add initial dotfiles"
git push
# 2. Create symlinks (automatic backup of my current files)
./setup-symlinks.sh

How Does It Work?

GNU Stow creates symlinks from this repository to my home directory. The .stowrc file sets --target=~ so every package is stowed with a single command regardless of whether it targets ~/ or ~/.config/:

~/Code/dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc → ~/.zshrc
~/Code/dotfiles/starship/.config/starship.toml → ~/.config/starship.toml
~/Code/dotfiles/nvim/.config/nvim/init.lua → ~/.config/nvim/init.lua
~/Code/dotfiles/ghostty/.config/ghostty/config → ~/.config/ghostty/config

Advantage: When I modify ~/.zshrc or ~/.config/nvim/init.lua, I am actually modifying files in the repo — changes are automatically versioned and easy to sync between machines via Git.

Sync on Another Machine

cd ~/Code/dotfiles
git pull
stow zsh starship nvim ghostty zed sketchybar

Adding a New Package

1. Create the directory structure inside the repo, mirroring the path relative to ~:

# For a file that lives at ~/.config/bat/config
mkdir -p bat/.config/bat

2. Move the existing config file into it:

mv ~/.config/bat/config bat/.config/bat/config

3. Stow the package:

stow bat

Stow will refuse if a file already exists at the target path — move or delete the original first (step 2 handles this).

Useful Commands

# Stow a package
stow zsh
stow nvim
stow ghostty
# Stow all packages
stow zsh starship brew scripts nvim flameshot topgrade ghostty zed ripgrep linearmouse sketchybar
# Unstow (remove symlinks)
stow -D zsh
stow -D nvim
# Re-stow (useful after modifications)
stow -R zsh
stow -R nvim
# Simulate without doing anything (dry-run)
stow -n -v zsh
stow -n -v nvim

Zsh Configuration

My Zsh configuration uses:

• oh-my-zsh - Zsh framework
• Starship - Cross-shell prompt with Catppuccin Powerline preset
• zsh-autosuggestions - History-based suggestions
• zsh-syntax-highlighting - Syntax highlighting
• you-should-use - Available alias reminders

Plugins

• git - Git aliases
• zoxide - Smart navigation (replaces cd)

Installed Applications

See the brew/.Brewfile file for the complete list.

Troubleshooting

Conflicts During Stow

# Error: "File already exists"
# Solution: remove the existing file or make a backup
mv ~/.zshrc ~/.zshrc.backup
stow zsh

Check Symlinks

# See where a symlink points
ls -la ~/.zshrc
# Expected result:
# ~/.zshrc -> /Users/alexandre/Code/dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc

Restore a Backup

# Backups are in ~/.dotfiles_backup_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS/
ls -la ~/.dotfiles_backup_*
# Restore
cp ~/.dotfiles_backup_20241022_163000/.zshrc ~/