Note: This dotfiles setup is optimized for zsh (the default shell on macOS since Catalina). Legacy bash configuration files are available in the legacy/ directory if needed.
You can clone the repository wherever you want. (I like to keep it in ~/Projects/dotfiles, with ~/dotfiles as a symlink.) The bootstrapper script will pull in the latest version and copy the files to your home folder.
git clone https://github.com/tshelburne/dotfiles.git cd dotfiles cp .env.example .env # and then update the file ./setup.sh source bootstrap.sh
To update, cd into your local dotfiles repository and then:
source bootstrap.shAlternatively, to update while avoiding the confirmation prompt:
set -- -f; source bootstrap.sh
This repository is organized into focused directories:
dotfiles/
├── shell/ # Zsh configuration (.zshrc, .aliases, .functions, etc.)
├── git/ # Git configuration and helpers
├── config/ # Application configs (vim, editors, terminal, tools)
├── scripts/ # Utility scripts (.osx, httpcompression, marks)
├── setup/ # Modular installation scripts
│ ├── brew/ # Homebrew package installers by category
│ ├── packages/ # Package manager lists (gems, npm via volta, uv tools)
│ └── launchagents/ # macOS background service setup
├── legacy/ # Deprecated bash configs (for reference)
├── docs/ # Documentation for each directory
├── bootstrap.sh # Symlinks dotfiles to home directory
└── setup.sh # Main setup script (runs all installations)
See docs/structure.md for detailed documentation.
To install these dotfiles without Git:
cd; curl -#L https://github.com/tshelburne/dotfiles/tarball/master | tar -xzv --strip-components 1 --exclude={README.md,bootstrap.sh,LICENSE-MIT.txt}
To update later on, just run that command again.
Create shell/.extra for local settings you don't want to commit:
# Git credentials GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="Your Name" git config --global user.name "$GIT_AUTHOR_NAME" GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="you@example.com" git config --global user.email "$GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL"
If ~/.path exists, it will be sourced to extend $PATH:
export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
See the docs/ directory for detailed information:
shell.md- Shell configurationgit.md- Git setupconfig.md- Application configsscripts.md- Utility scriptssetup.md- Installation & packagesstructure.md- Repository organization
When setting up a new Mac, you may want to set some sensible OS X defaults:
./scripts/.osx
When setting up a new Mac, run the main setup script to install all Homebrew packages, LaunchAgents, and package manager tools:
./setup.sh
This will automatically install everything from:
setup/brew/*.sh- Homebrew packages (coreutils, shell tools, dev tools, security tools, languages)setup/launchagents/*.sh- Background servicessetup/packages/install.sh- Ruby gems, npm packages (via volta), Python tools (via uv)
Suggestions/improvements welcome!