Dotfiles 🔧

This project provides comprehensive dotfiles templates, automation scripts, and development environment configurations for macOS and Debian-based systems.

Overview

This project aims to:

• Standardize development environments across macOS and Debian-based systems
• Automate installation of common tools and packages
• Provide backup solutions to preserve your configuration
• Enhance shell experience with powerful plugins and custom functions
• Support multiple development profiles (DevOps, SecOps, AI, Go, JavaScript, etc.)

What are Dotfiles?

Dotfiles are configuration files in Unix-like systems that start with a dot (.), making them hidden by default. They control the behavior of various programs and tools, including:

• Shell configuration (.zshrc)
• Git settings (.gitconfig)
• Editor preferences (.vscode/settings.json)
• Application configs (.config/)

Key Features

Profile-Based Installation

Choose from multiple installation profiles to match your workflow:

• Base - Essential development tools
• AI - AI coding assistants and their tooling (Claude Code, Copilot CLI, Ollama, rtk, direnv)
• DevOps - Container orchestration, CI/CD, infrastructure as code
• SecOps - Security scanning, secret management, compliance tools
• Go - Go language development environment
• JavaScript - Node.js, npm, Bun, pnpm, Yarn and modern JS tooling
• Extras - Personal productivity applications (macOS only)

Automated Setup

• One script per platform installs your entire development environment from a clone of the repository
• Lite mode for minimal installations
• Dry run (-n) to preview the resolved settings without installing anything
• Profiles run in a fixed order, and those based on mise install it when it is missing
• Package installation from multiple sources (Homebrew, apt, mise, uv, npm, etc.)

Backup & Restore

Dedicated backup scripts copy your dotfiles and configurations into a private local directory (backup_<timestamp>). The result is not encrypted, see Backup & Restore.

Custom Utilities

• Shell functions for common tasks
• Integration with external tool repositories
• Auto-completion support
• GitHub Copilot instructions for better AI-assisted development

Supported Platforms

• macOS - Full support with Homebrew integration
• Debian/Ubuntu - apt for system packages, mise for CLI tooling

Package sources differ per platform by design:

• macOS - Homebrew is the package manager for CLI tools and GUI apps.
• Debian/Ubuntu - apt covers system packages (shared libraries, daemons, man infrastructure); mise covers portable CLI binaries.
• Both - mise manages language runtimes (node, go, bun, pnpm, yarn).

Project Structure

dotfiles/
├── backup/          # Backup scripts for different platforms
├── dotfiles/        # Template configuration files
├── setup/           # Installation scripts, helpers and profiles
└── docs/            # Documentation (you are here!)

Quick Start

The setup scripts read their profiles and dotfiles from the repository, so clone it first, then run the script for your platform with the flags you want:

git clone https://github.com/this-is-tobi/dotfiles.git
cd dotfiles

For macOS:

./setup/setup-osx.sh -p base,devops -d -c

For Debian/Ubuntu:

./setup/setup-debian.sh -p base,devops -d -c

-p selects the profiles, -d copies the dotfiles and -c installs the CLI completions. The scripts cannot be piped into bash (curl ... | bash): they look for their helpers, profiles and dotfiles next to themselves and stop immediately otherwise. See the Installation Guide for prerequisites, every flag and the environment overrides.