Personal dotfiles for macOS development environment. Originally forked from @holman/dotfiles, now restructured for better organization and ~/.config support.

• Topic-based organization - Configuration grouped by application/tool
• Per-host configuration - Different packages for different machines
• ~/.config support - Sync XDG-compliant app configs (Zed, etc.)
• Dry-run mode - Preview changes before applying
• Automatic backups - Existing files are backed up before replacing

git clone https://github.com/lukecartledge/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
script/bootstrap

You can clone the repo anywhere; bootstrap will symlink it to ~/.dotfiles.

.dotfiles/
├── bin/ # Executable utilities (added to $PATH)
│ ├── dot # Update script - run periodically
│ ├── host # Returns current hostname
│ └── ...
├── home/ # User configuration organized by app
│ ├── git/
│ │ ├── gitconfig # → ~/.gitconfig
│ │ ├── gitignore # → ~/.gitignore
│ │ ├── *.zsh # Shell configuration (auto-sourced)
│ │ ├── install.bash # Setup script (e.g., prompt for credentials)
│ │ └── link.bash # Symlink definitions
│ ├── zsh/
│ │ ├── zshrc # → ~/.zshrc
│ │ └── *.zsh # Additional shell config
│ ├── zed/
│ │ ├── config/ # → ~/.config/zed/
│ │ └── link.bash
│ └── ...
├── hosts/ # Per-machine package configuration
│ └── {hostname}.bash # Defines PACKAGES array for each machine
├── macos/ # macOS system preferences
├── homebrew/ # Homebrew installation
├── script/
│ ├── bootstrap # Initial setup script
│ ├── run # Main installation script
│ └── common.bash # Shared functions
└── Brewfile # Homebrew packages

Each machine has a configuration file in hosts/{hostname}.bash that defines which packages to install:

# hosts/My-MacBook-Pro.bash
export SYSTEM="macos"
export PACKAGES=(
 system
 zsh
 git
 vim
 zed
 tmux
 ruby
)

Find your hostname with: hostname -s

Each package in home/ can contain:

Link scripts define where files should be symlinked:

# home/git/link.bash
link_home "$HOME_DIR/git/gitconfig" "gitconfig" # → ~/.gitconfig
link_home "$HOME_DIR/git/gitignore" "gitignore" # → ~/.gitignore

For ~/.config directories:

# home/zed/link.bash
link "$HOME_DIR/zed/config/settings.json" "$HOME/.config/zed/settings.json"

script/bootstrap

Sets up everything: creates symlinks, installs Homebrew, runs package scripts.

dot

Pulls latest changes, updates Homebrew, sets macOS defaults, and runs script/run.

Preview what would happen without making changes:

script/run --dry
# or
dot --dry

dot --edit

Opens the dotfiles directory in your editor.

1. Create a directory in home/:

   mkdir -p home/myapp/config

2. Add configuration files

3. Create link.bash:

   # home/myapp/link.bash
   link_home "$HOME_DIR/myapp/config" "myapprc"
   # or for ~/.config:
   link "$HOME_DIR/myapp/config" "$HOME/.config/myapp"

4. Add to your host configuration:

   # hosts/{hostname}.bash
   export PACKAGES=(
    ...
    myapp
   )

5. Run script/run to apply

1. Find your hostname:

   hostname -s

2. Create host configuration:

   cp hosts/Luke-Cartledge-MacBookPro.bash hosts/{your-hostname}.bash

3. Edit the packages list for your machine

4. Run bootstrap:

   script/bootstrap

Files containing API tokens or secrets should use the .local pattern:

• settings.json - Tracked in git (no secrets)
• settings.local.json - Git-ignored (contains tokens)

Example files are provided with .example suffix:

cp home/zed/config/settings.local.json.example home/zed/config/settings.local.json
# Edit and add your tokens

System preferences are set via macos/set-defaults.sh. These are applied when running dot or script/bootstrap.

Changes may require logout/restart to take effect.

Create a host file for your machine:

hostname -s # Get your hostname
cp hosts/Luke-Cartledge-MacBookPro.bash hosts/{your-hostname}.bash

Existing files are automatically backed up with a timestamp:

~/.gitconfig.backup.20240131120000

To restore:

mv ~/.gitconfig.backup.20240131120000 ~/.gitconfig

Source your zshrc:

source ~/.zshrc

Or restart your terminal.

MIT