Pete's dotfiles

I've been continually refining these dotfiles since 2010. They do 80% of the work of setting up a Mac the way I like it:

xcode-select --install
git clone https://github.com/notahat/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
export DOTFILES_ENV=home # or "work"
./install

I keep them lean. Anything I stop using, I delete. What's here is what I actually run every day.

Highlights worth stealing

• A tiny install you can actually read. ./install runs plain-bash steps from steps/. No framework, no DSL, no magic. It symlinks config into place and is fully idempotent, so I re-run it constantly and it never rots. If a config file already exists, it warns and skips rather than clobbering it.
• A clear rule for Homebrew vs. Mise. Homebrew installs anything I always want at the latest version (apps, CLI tools, even Mac App Store apps). Mise manages anything I need pinned to a particular version, like language runtimes. Two tools, one easy mental model.
• Zsh that starts in ~100ms. None of the Oh My Zsh bloat: just a Pure prompt, fzf-tab completion, and syntax highlighting, wired up by hand in config/zsh.
• Neovim that starts in under 100ms. Modern IDE features (LSP, Treesitter, fuzzy finding) with a deliberately minimal UI, so the code stays front-and-centre. It's heavily commented and has its own README.
• One command to update everything. ./upgrade bumps Homebrew packages, Mise tools, and Neovim plugins in a single run.
• A version-controlled Claude Code setup. Custom skills, hooks, and a statusline live in config/claude.

How it works

./install runs the steps in steps/, each a small bash script that installs a tool and symlinks its config. Run them all, or just one:

./install         # everything
./install zsh     # just the zsh step
./install -h      # usage, and the list of steps

The pieces:

• config/: every config file, symlinked into ~ and ~/.config by the steps. Edit it in place here.
• environments/: separate Brewfiles and mise.tomls for my home and work machines, selected by DOTFILES_ENV.
• project-templates/: drop-in editor and tooling config for new Rails and Vite projects.

Borrow freely

Take whatever's useful, whether a whole config, a single alias, or just an idea. Everything here is MIT licensed.

A couple of the Claude skills aren't mine. The install fetches them from their sources rather than bundling them: doc-coauthoring by Anthropic, and grill-me by Matt Pocock.