dotfiles

My personal dotfiles, managed with GNU Stow.

Profiles

Two profiles are available, each built on a shared common package:

• server (common + server) - Minimal bash+vim setup for remote machines. No zsh, no brew dependencies beyond stow itself.
• personal (common + personal) - Full desktop setup with zsh, neovim, wezterm, tmux plugins, oh-my-posh, and more.

Package Contents

Package	Files
common	.aliases, .gitconfig, .dir-colors, .vimrc, .vim/
server	.bashrc, .bash_profile, .tmux.conf
personal	.bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, .zprofile, .zsh_plugins.txt, .tmux.conf, .tmux/, .config/nvim/, .wezterm.lua

Setup

Server Profile

The server profile only requires GNU Stow (and only at install time to create symlinks):

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install stow

# Fedora
sudo dnf install stow

git clone <repo-url> ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles
./install.sh server

Personal Profile (macOS)

The personal profile assumes macOS with Homebrew. On a fresh machine:

1. Install Homebrew (if not already installed):

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2. Clone and install dependencies:

   git clone <repo-url> ~/dotfiles
   cd ~/dotfiles
   brew bundle          # Installs everything from Brewfile

3. Install dotfile symlinks:

   ./install.sh personal

4. Set zsh as default shell (if not already):

   chsh -s $(which zsh)

5. Initialize tmux plugins (first time): Open tmux, then press prefix + I to install plugins via TPM.

Key Dependencies (Personal)

These are installed via brew bundle from the Brewfile:

Dependency	Used By
stow	Symlink management
antidote	Zsh plugin manager (loaded in .zshrc)
oh-my-posh	Zsh prompt theme
neovim	Editor (LazyVim config in .config/nvim/)
wezterm	Terminal emulator
tmux	Terminal multiplexer
git-delta	Git pager (configured in .gitconfig)
fzf	Fuzzy finder
coreutils	GNU ls, dircolors (used by .dir-colors)
gnu-sed	GNU sed
grep	GNU grep
gnupg + pinentry-mac	GPG commit signing (YubiKey)
granted	AWS role assumption (assume function)

Migrating from the old makesymlinks.sh

./cleanup-legacy.sh   # Remove old symlinks safely
./install.sh personal # Install new stow-based symlinks

Updating After Changes

The install script is idempotent — safe to re-run at any time:

./install.sh personal

When you need to re-run: only when a new file is added to a stow package (e.g. adding personal/.sometool). The new file needs a new symlink.

When you don't need to re-run: editing existing files. Since stow creates symlinks, changes to files in the repo are picked up immediately.

Uninstall

./uninstall.sh personal  # Remove personal profile symlinks
./uninstall.sh server    # Remove server profile symlinks
./uninstall.sh all       # Remove all stow-managed symlinks

Non-Stowed Files

These files live at the repo root and are referenced by path rather than symlinked:

File	Purpose
oh-my-posh/	Prompt themes (referenced by .zshrc)
scripts/	Utility scripts
Brewfile	Homebrew dependencies (brew bundle)
themes.gitconfig	Git delta themes (included by .gitconfig)
neofetch.conf	Neofetch config (referenced by alias)
.git-autocomplete.sh	Bash git completion (sourced by .bash_profile)
ascii/	ASCII art
iterm/	Legacy iTerm color schemes
terminatorThemes/	Legacy Terminator themes

PGP Commit Signing

Setup using the following guide: YubiKey-Guide

Shell Configuration

The personal profile uses a layered approach to shell configuration:

File Roles

• ~/.profile: Shared environment sourced by .zshenv, .zprofile, and .bash_profile. Contains PATH, Homebrew init, environment variables (EDITOR, GOPATH, GPG_TTY). This is the single source of truth for environment setup — every shell gets identical PATH and variables. Safe to source more than once: the PATH block hard-resets PATH before rebuilding it, so the result is deterministic rather than cumulative.

• ~/.zshenv: Runs for every zsh — login, interactive, and non-interactive (scripts, cron, and editor-spawned shells like Windsurf's Cascade terminal). Sources .profile so PATH exists even when no login or interactive file runs. See "Why PATH is sourced in more than one place" below.

• ~/.zprofile: Zsh login wrapper. Sources .profile.

• ~/.bash_profile: Bash login wrapper. Sources .profile, then adds bash-specific bits (bash-completion, dircolors, git-autocomplete).

• ~/.zshrc: Runs for every interactive zsh. Aliases, functions, keybindings, completion, plugins, prompt.

• ~/.bashrc: Runs for every interactive bash. Aliases, PS1, history.

How to Modify Your PATH

All PATH modifications should be made in personal/.profile. This keeps PATH consistent across both zsh and bash, and prevents it from growing incorrectly with every new terminal window.

# From `brew install my-new-tool`
# This tool needs its bin directory in the PATH.
[ -d "/path/to/my-new-tool/bin" ] && export PATH="/path/to/my-new-tool/bin:$PATH"

Why PATH is sourced in more than one place

.profile is sourced from both .zshenv and .zprofile. This looks like duplication but each call solves a distinct macOS quirk — removing either one reintroduces a real bug:

1. .zshenv → guarantees PATH exists at all. zsh only reads .zshenv for non-login, non-interactive shells. Editors that spawn commands in a bare shell — notably Windsurf's Cascade terminal, but also cron and plain scripts — never run .zprofile or .zshrc. Without sourcing .profile here, /usr/local/bin is missing and tools installed there (e.g. the 1Password op CLI) silently fail to resolve.

2. .zprofile → re-asserts PATH ordering after path_helper. macOS's /etc/zprofile runs path_helper, which rebuilds PATH from /etc/paths and runs after .zshenv. It shoves the system /usr/bin ahead of our Homebrew GNU tools (coreutils, gnu-sed, grep), so sed/grep/ls would resolve to the BSD versions. Re-sourcing .profile from .zprofile (which runs after path_helper) restores the intended ordering.

The only single-source alternative is disabling path_helper by editing the system file /etc/zprofile — more invasive and lost on OS updates, so we keep the two-source approach instead.

Note: ~/.zshenv is currently a plain file in $HOME, not yet a stowed file in personal/. To make the .zshenv → .profile source survive a fresh install, move it into the personal package and re-run ./install.sh personal.

WezTerm Configuration

Key Bindings

All custom keybindings use the leader key (Ctrl+Space) followed by another key:

• Leader + \: Split horizontally (new pane to the right)
• Leader + -: Split vertically (new pane below)
• Leader + h/j/k/l: Navigate between panes (vim-style)
• Leader + r: Enter resize mode (then use h/j/k/l to resize)
• Leader + c: Close current pane (with confirmation)
• Leader + p: Open project picker (fuzzy search through ~/code directory)
• Leader + f: Show workspace fuzzy finder

Project Management

The configuration automatically discovers projects in the ~/code directory and allows quick switching between them. Each project opens in its own workspace.