A TypeScript-based dotfiles manager for syncing configuration files across macOS machines.

This tool helps you:

• Back up dotfiles to a git repository
• Sync dotfiles across multiple machines
• Manage symlinks automatically

• Deno 2 (optional, only needed for development)
• Git

1. On your first machine (where you have existing dotfiles):

   # Clone this repo
   git clone <your-repo-url> ~/.dotfiles
   cd ~/.dotfiles
   
   # Copy existing dotfiles and create symlinks
   ./dotfiles copy
   
   # Commit and push
   git add .
   git commit -m "Initial dotfiles backup"
   git push

2. On additional machines:

   # Clone the repo
   git clone <your-repo-url> ~/.dotfiles
   cd ~/.dotfiles
   
   # Create symlinks to dotfiles
   ./dotfiles link

Copies dotfiles from your home directory to ~/.dotfiles and creates symlinks.

./dotfiles copy

Use this for:

• Initial setup on your first machine
• Adding new dotfiles to track

Creates symlinks from your home directory to files in ~/.dotfiles.

./dotfiles link

Use this for:

• Setting up a new machine after cloning the repo
• Restoring symlinks if they get broken

Pulls and pushes changes to/from the git repository.

./dotfiles sync

Use this for:

• Syncing changes between machines
• After manually editing dotfiles

The managed dotfiles are defined in dotfiles.ts:

const DEFAULT_CONFIG: DotfilesConfig = {
  dotfiles_dir: `${Deno.env.get("HOME")}/.dotfiles`,
  paths: [
    ".gitconfig",
    ".zshrc",
    ".claude",
    ".vscode",
    ".nvm",
  ],
  ignore_patterns: [
    ".DS_Store",
    "node_modules",
    "*.log",
    "cache",
    "tmp",
    "*.swp",
  ],
};

To add more dotfiles, edit the DEFAULT_CONFIG and recompile.

The following patterns are automatically excluded:

• .DS_Store
• node_modules
• *.log
• cache
• tmp
• *.swp

If you modify dotfiles.ts, recompile the binary:

deno compile \
  --allow-read \
  --allow-write \
  --allow-run \
  --allow-env \
  --output dotfiles \
  dotfiles.ts

Then commit the updated binary.

# Edit your dotfiles normally
vim ~/.zshrc

# Sync when ready
cd ~/.dotfiles
./dotfiles sync

# Pull changes
cd ~/.dotfiles
./dotfiles sync

# Your ~/.zshrc is automatically updated (via symlink)

If you see "Error: file already exists", manually resolve the conflict:

# Check what exists
ls -la ~/.<file>

# Back it up if needed
mv ~/.<file> ~/.<file>.backup

# Try again
./dotfiles link

Re-run the link command:

./dotfiles link

Handle manually:

cd ~/.dotfiles
git status
# resolve conflicts
git add .
git commit
./dotfiles sync

MIT