Jamie ❤ ~/

Dotfiles are all those files beginning with a "." in your user directory and make your system (particularly anything to do with the command line) work and look the way you want it.

Installation

Using Git and the bootstrap script

You can clone the repository wherever you want. (I like to keep it in ~/.dotfiles).

The installation step requires the XCode Command Line Tools, although you should be prompted to install these if you don't have them installed already.

Backups

Fair warning: The bootstrap script attempts to backup existing dotfiles in your HOME directory, but to be safe you should probably make your own copy...

git clone https://github.com/jppferguson/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
src/script/bootstrap

This will symlink the appropriate files in .dotfiles to your home directory. Everything is configured and tweaked within ~/.dotfiles.

The main file you'll want to change right off the bat is zsh/zshrc.symlink, which sets up a few paths that'll be different on your particular machine.

dot is the main command for managing your dotfiles environment. You can find this script in src/bin/. Run dot help to see all available commands.

dot command reference

• dot cd - Navigate into the dotfiles directory
• dot clean - Clean up caches (brew)
• dot claude {cmd} - Manage Claude Code configuration (install|status|diff|sync|backup)
• dot dock - Apply macOS Dock settings
• dot duti - Set default apps for file types (UTI)
• dot edit - Open dotfiles in your IDE and Git GUI
• dot help - Show all available commands
• dot install {pkg} - Install a specific package/topic
• dot macos - Apply macOS system defaults
• dot reload - Reload shell configuration
• dot symlink - Re-run bootstrap to create/update symlinks
• dot test - Run tests
• dot update - Update all packages via topgrade

Git-free install

To install these dotfiles without Git:

cd; curl -#L https://github.com/jppferguson/dotfiles/tarball/master | tar -xzv --strip-components 1 --exclude={README.md}
src/script/bootstrap

Additional Commands

Git Helpers

The repository includes several custom git commands in src/topics/git/:

• git-all - Stage all unstaged files
• git-amend - Amend commits easily
• git-nuke - Remove branches locally and remotely
• git-switcheroo - Switch between branches quickly
• git-track - Track remote branches
• git-undo - Undo the last commit
• git-unpushed - Show unpushed commits
• git-wtf - Show the current git status in detail

Other Utilities

Additional commands available in src/bin/:

• e - Quick edit command
• gitgui - Open git GUI
• search - Search for files
• todo - Show TODO items in code

Topical

Everything's built around topic areas. If you're adding a new area to your forked dotfiles — say, "Java" — you can simply add a java directory under src/topics/ and put files in there. Anything with an extension of .zsh will get automatically included into your shell. Anything with an extension of .symlink will get symlinked without extension into $HOME when you run src/script/bootstrap.

Key Topics Included

• asdf - Version manager for Node.js, Ruby, and other tools
• bash - Bash shell configuration
• duti - Default application settings for file types on macOS
• ghostty - Ghostty terminal configuration
• git - Git configuration and custom commands
• hammerspoon - macOS automation and window management
• herdr - Herdr terminal workspace manager configuration
• homebrew - Package management via Brewfile
• macos - macOS system defaults (YAML-based configuration)
• node - Node.js configuration and global packages
• prezto - Zsh framework configuration
• topgrade - Tool for updating all package managers at once
• vs-code - Visual Studio Code settings and keybindings
• zsh - Zsh shell configuration

AI Agent Configuration

Two topics manage AI coding agent configuration, wired into place with per-item symlinks so every tweak is tracked in git:

• src/topics/agentrc.symlink/ (symlinked to ~/.agentrc) - agent-agnostic config shared by Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and OpenCode: global instructions (AGENTS.md), skills and standards. See its README.
• src/topics/claude/ - Claude Code specifics: settings.json, statusline.sh and subagents (agents/).

How it's wired

src/topics/claude/install.sh symlinks individual items into ~/.claude (never the whole directory, which holds runtime state):

• ~/.claude/settings.json, statusline.sh, agents/ → src/topics/claude/
• ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, ~/.codex/AGENTS.md, ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md, ~/.config/opencode/AGENTS.md → src/topics/agentrc.symlink/AGENTS.md
• ~/.claude/skills/<name> → src/topics/agentrc.symlink/skills/<name> (individual links; the skills directory itself stays real because other tools install skills there too)

Commands

• dot claude status - Check symlink health
• dot claude sync - Repair symlinks (pre-existing real files are backed up to ~/.claude/backups/)
• dot claude backup - Create a manual backup of the linked config

Workflow

Edit files in the repo (or in ~/.claude - symlinks write through), then commit from the dotfiles repo. Changes apply to new agent sessions immediately; no sync step needed.

Components

There's a few special files in the hierarchy.

• src/bin/: Anything in src/bin/ will get added to your $PATH and be made available everywhere.
• src/functions/: Shell functions that get loaded into your environment.
• src/script/: Installation and maintenance scripts (bootstrap, install, test, etc.).
• src/topics/*/*.zsh: Any files ending in .zsh get loaded into your environment.
• src/topics/*/path.zsh: Any file named path.zsh is loaded first and is expected to setup $PATH or similar.
• src/topics/*/completion.zsh: Any file named completion.zsh is loaded last and is expected to setup autocomplete.
• src/topics/*/*.symlink: Any files ending in *.symlink get symlinked into your $HOME. This is so you can keep all of those versioned in your dotfiles but still keep those autoloaded files in your home directory. These get symlinked in when you run src/script/bootstrap.

Thanks

Largely based off @holman's awesome repo, but also with some help/ideas/blatent pilfering from these fantastic people:

• @holman
• @mathiasbyens
• @paulirish