Dotfiles

My personal dotfiles managed with GNU Stow.

Structure

Each directory represents a "package" that can be independently stowed. Files are organized as they would appear from ~:

dotfiles/
├── emacs/
│   └── .emacs.d/          # → ~/.emacs.d/
├── nvim/
│   └── .config/
│       └── nvim/          # → ~/.config/nvim/
├── zsh/
│   ├── .zshrc            # → ~/.zshrc
│   └── .zprofile         # → ~/.zprofile
├── kitty/
│   └── .config/
│       └── kitty/         # → ~/.config/kitty/
└── ... (other packages)

Installation

Prerequisites

# Install GNU Stow
brew install stow

Setup

1. Clone this repository:

git clone git@github.com:abaj8494/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles

2. Initialize submodules (for tmux plugins):

git submodule update --init --recursive

3. Stow the packages you want:

# Stow individual packages
stow emacs
stow nvim
stow zsh
stow kitty
stow alacritty
stow tmux
stow aerospace
stow karabiner

# Or stow everything at once
stow */

Usage

Stowing a Package

From the ~/dotfiles directory:

stow <package-name>

This creates symlinks from ~ to the files in ~/dotfiles/<package-name>/.

Unstowing a Package

stow -D <package-name>

This removes the symlinks created by stow.

Restowing a Package

If you've made changes and want to refresh the symlinks:

stow -R <package-name>

Adopting Existing Files

If you have existing config files that aren't yet in your dotfiles:

stow --adopt <package-name>

This will move the existing files into your dotfiles repo and create symlinks.

Packages

• emacs: Emacs configuration with custom elisp modules
• nvim: Neovim configuration with Lua
• zsh: Zsh shell configuration
• kitty: Kitty terminal emulator
• alacritty: Alacritty terminal emulator
• tmux: Tmux configuration with plugins
• aerospace: AeroSpace window manager
• karabiner: Karabiner-Elements keyboard customization
• lf: lf file manager
• htop: htop system monitor
• neofetch: Neofetch system info
• gh: GitHub CLI
• zathura: Zathura PDF viewer
• xournalpp: Xournal++ note-taking
• rstudio: RStudio preferences
• bettertouchtool: BetterTouchTool presets
• iterm2: iTerm2 configuration
• pistol: Pistol file previewer
• ctpv: ctpv file previewer
• stpv: stpv file previewer

Notes

• The .stow-local-ignore file tells stow which files to ignore (git files, README, etc.)
• Stow works by creating symlinks, so any changes you make to the files in ~ will be reflected in the git repo
• Remember to commit and push your changes regularly!
• Some packages (like fish) may have permission issues - fix with sudo chown -R $(whoami):staff <package>/

Tips

• Always run stow commands from the ~/dotfiles directory
• Use stow -n -v <package> to do a dry run and see what would happen
• If you get conflicts, you can use stow --adopt to pull existing files into your repo
• Keep sensitive files (like .zsh_history, .z) in .gitignore

Git Workflow

cd ~/dotfiles

# Check status
git status

# Add changes
git add .

# Commit
git commit -m "Update configs"

# Push to remote
git push origin macos