Dotfiles

A dotfiles management system using Chezmoi for orchestration and best-in-class tools (mise, homebrew) for package management.

Overview

This dotfiles repository provides a way for managing my development environment across multiple machines with a focus on:

• Lightweight operation: Everything runs on-demand, no background daemons
• Modular design: Clean separation of concerns with specialized tools
• Cross-platform compatibility: Works on macOS and Linux with OS-specific settings
• Reproducibility: Version-controlled configurations

Core Components

Chezmoi: The Orchestrator

Chezmoi serves as the central orchestrator for the entire dotfiles ecosystem:

• Manages configuration files with templating support
• Runs scripts in a controlled, ordered manner
• Handles machine-specific differences
• Provides a consistent way to update configurations

Tool Management

The repository integrates several specialized tools:

• Mise: Manages language SDKs, runtimes, and CLI binaries

  • Handles multiple versions of languages (Rust, Go, Node, Python, etc.)
  • Manages global tool installations via pipx, npm, etc.
  • Manages checksum-verified CLI binaries (kubectl, helm, etc.) via its aqua: backend, with a checked-in mise.lock for supply-chain integrity
  • Packages: .config/mise/config.toml

• Homebrew: Manages system packages (Linux/MacOS) and GUI apps (macOS)

  • Uses Brewfile for reproducible installations
  • Handles GUI applications via Casks
  • Packages:
    • System: MacOS | Linux
    • Docker: Brewfile.docker
    • GUI: Brewfile.gui

• Krew: Manages kubectl plugins (ctx, ns, stern, etc.)

  • Uses a simple text file listing required plugins
  • Packages: krew-plugins.txt

Getting Started

Initial Setup

Install Chezmoi and initialize with this repository:

sh -c "$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)" -- init --apply ppat/dotfiles

Chezmoi will:

• Install required tools (Homebrew, Mise)
• Set up environment files
• Configure your shell and environment

Ongoing updates

To update system/environment with latest version from git,

chezmoi update

Chezmoi will:

• Fetch latest from git
• Apply all the updates

More

• DESIGN.md — why this repo is structured the way it is: the three-package-manager split, how the mise install/upgrade scripts straddle the render phase, secrets handling, and CI/Renovate design.
• TESTING.md — how a change here is actually verified before merging.
• CLAUDE.md — command reference and conventions for AI coding assistants working in this repo.