dotfiles

My dotfiles for Mac and Ubuntu setup.

Highlights

Minimal efforts to install everything, using a Makefile
Mostly based around Homebrew, Caskroom and Node.js, latest Bash + GNU Utils
Fast and colored prompt
Updated macOS defaults (including Caps Lock → Control remap for tmux)
Well-organized and easy to customize
The installation and runcom setup is tested weekly on real Ubuntu and macOS machines using a GitHub Action

Packages Overview

Homebrew (packages: Brewfile)
homebrew-cask (packages: Caskfile)
Node.js + npm LTS (packages: npmfile)
Latest Git, Bash 4, Python 3, GNU coreutils, curl, Ruby
Mackup (sync application settings)
$EDITOR (and Git editor) is GNU nano

Installation

macOS

On a sparkling fresh installation of macOS:

sudo softwareupdate -i -a
xcode-select --install

The Xcode Command Line Tools includes git and make (not available on stock macOS). Now there are two options:

Install this repo with curl available:

bash -c "`curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/daniel-trevino/dotfiles/master/remote-install.sh`"

This will clone or download, this repo to ~/.dotfiles depending on the availability of git, curl or wget.

Alternatively, clone manually into the desired location:

git clone https://github.com/daniel-trevino/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles

Use the Makefile to install everything listed above, and symlink runcom and config (using stow):

cd ~/.dotfiles
make

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

On a fresh Ubuntu installation, git and make are needed first:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y git make

Then clone and install:

git clone https://github.com/daniel-trevino/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
make

This will install system packages via apt, set up Homebrew for Linux, install all Brewfile packages (macOS-only packages are skipped automatically), Node.js, Oh My Zsh, Zinit, Rust/Cargo, Atuin, Vim, and switch the default shell to Zsh.

Note: GUI cask apps are not installed on Linux. A few Brewfile formulae (dockutil, terminal-notifier, wifi-password) are macOS-only and will be skipped.

Installation Profiles

Running make will prompt you to choose between two profiles:

	Full (default)	Light
Shell config (zsh, oh-my-zsh, zinit, starship)	Yes	Yes
Core CLI tools (~23 packages)	Yes	Yes
Dev runtimes (Node.js, Python, Go, Rust)	Yes	Yes
Claude Code and Codex CLI	Yes	Yes
Cloud CLIs, databases, GUI apps, extras	Yes	No

To skip the prompt, use the shortcut targets:

make light-macos   # Light profile on macOS
make light-linux   # Light profile on Linux

Or pass the PROFILE variable directly:

make macos PROFILE=light
make linux PROFILE=full   # (default)

The installation process in the Makefile is tested on every push and every week in this GitHub Action.

Quick Package Updates

After the initial installation, you can quickly install or update individual package lists without running the full setup:

make brewfile   # Install/update Homebrew packages from Brewfile
make caskfile   # Install/update cask apps from Caskfile
make npmfile    # Install/update npm packages from npmfile

This is useful when you've added new packages to the install files and want to apply just those changes.

Post-Installation

Close that terminal that you are using and open a new one. Then you can run the following commands
Compile zinit via zinit self-update

dotfiles dock (set Dock items)
dotfiles macos (set macOS defaults, including Caps Lock → Control remap for tmux)
Mackup
- Log in to Dropbox (and wait until synced)
- ln -s ~/.config/mackup/.mackup.cfg ~ (until #632 is fixed)
- mackup restore
Remove Spotlight and add setup Alfred command
Set Aerial screen saver. Open System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver -> Screen Saver

The `dotfiles` command

$ dotfiles help
Usage: dotfiles <command>

Commands:
    clean            Clean up caches (brew, npm, gem, rvm)
    dock             Apply macOS Dock settings
    edit             Open dotfiles in IDE (code) and Git GUI (stree)
    help             This help message
    macos            Apply macOS system defaults
    test             Run tests
    update           Update packages and pkg managers (OS, brew, npm, gem)

Customize

You can put your custom settings, such as Git credentials in the system/.custom file which will be sourced from .bash_profile automatically. This file is in .gitignore.

Alternatively, you can have an additional, personal dotfiles repo at ~/.extra. The runcom .bash_profile sources all ~/.extra/runcom/*.sh files.

Agent CLI secrets

codex/.codex/config.toml is the only Codex configuration source. make link-macos and make link-linux symlink ~/.codex/config.toml to that tracked file, so changes made by Codex update the dotfiles source directly. Orca keeps an app-managed runtime mirror under its own $CODEX_HOME; that generated file is deliberately not symlinked because Orca rewrites it atomically when syncing settings and managed hooks.

There are two separate brain MCP servers:

work-brain is the personal brain at brain-dtb.lovable.app/mcp.
company-brain is Lovable's Company Brain at brain.lovable.app/api/public/mcp.

Both use OAuth; no bearer token is loaded from the local agent secret cache. Codex uses mcp-remote for work-brain OAuth discovery and native HTTP for company-brain. Claude keeps native, user-scoped HTTP configurations. Each client keeps its own OAuth sessions.

Authenticate once after linking the dotfiles or adding the servers to Claude:

codex mcp login company-brain
claude mcp login work-brain
claude mcp login company-brain

work-brain opens its browser consent page automatically the first time Codex connects. To authenticate or test it directly, run:

npx -y -p mcp-remote@0.1.38 mcp-remote-client \
  https://brain-dtb.lovable.app/mcp --transport http-only

The codex and claude aliases load secrets from the local, Git-ignored agent-config/secrets/env.cache. Create or update it explicitly:

agent-secrets refresh

The cache is optional. When it is absent, the aliases still start Codex and Claude, but disable their configured MCP servers for that session. This is the default path for light installations and servers without the 1Password CLI. If a cache exists but is invalid, unresolved, or has unsafe permissions, the launch still fails closed instead of silently ignoring it.

When testing from a worktree before it has become the active dotfiles checkout, invoke the utility by path instead:

./bin/agent-secrets refresh

It reads the template from that worktree but stores the ignored cache under the active $DOTFILES_DIR, so the cache remains available after the worktree is merged or removed.

The refresh command resolves the references in agent-config/secrets/env.1password with the 1Password CLI. It is the only operation that contacts 1Password, so normal agent launches do not require an approval. Run it again whenever a secret rotates.

The cache is plaintext local state. Its directory is restricted to mode 0700 and the cache to 0600; full-disk encryption and the local user account provide the remaining at-rest protection. The cache must contain single-line dotenv values. It is written atomically, and a failed refresh leaves the previous cache intact.

Useful commands:

agent-secrets status  # Show cache metadata without values
agent-secrets clear   # Remove the cached secrets

To add a secret, put a NAME={{ op://vault/item/field }} reference in the tracked template and configure the relevant MCP server to read NAME from its environment. An invalid, unresolved, or overly permissive cache prevents Codex and Claude from starting and directs you to refresh it. Refreshing requires 1Password's Developer setting for CLI integration.

Additional Resources

FAQ

* existing target is not owned by stow: .bash_profile You might have done the make command without having this repository on ~/.dotfiles location. To fix it you have to move this repository to ~/.dotfiles and manually remove the symlinks for those files that have that error using rm -f symlink_to_dir/. Then run make again.
warning: setlocale: LC_CTYPE: cannot change locale (UTF-8): No such file or directory You might have spelled the locale wrong. Check how the format of the locale is supposed to be written.
How to add new mac software? Add the name of it on /install/Caskfile. Look at the names at: Homebrew Cask

Credits

Many thanks to the dotfiles community. Code structure and inspiration by: webpro

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
.husky		.husky
agent-config		agent-config
bin		bin
claude/.claude		claude/.claude
codex/.codex		codex/.codex
config		config
install		install
macos		macos
runcom		runcom
test		test
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitignore		.gitignore
.nvmrc		.nvmrc
.releaserc.json		.releaserc.json
.tool-versions		.tool-versions
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
remote-install.sh		remote-install.sh

Navigation Menu

Repository files navigation

dotfiles

Highlights

Packages Overview

Installation

macOS

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Installation Profiles

Quick Package Updates

Post-Installation

The `dotfiles` command

Customize

Agent CLI secrets

Additional Resources

FAQ

Credits

About

Releases

Packages

Used by

Contributors

Languages

Latest commit

History

Folders and files

Repository files navigation

dotfiles

Highlights

Packages Overview

Installation

macOS

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Installation Profiles

Quick Package Updates

Post-Installation

The dotfiles command

Customize

Agent CLI secrets

Additional Resources

FAQ

Credits

About

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Used by

Contributors

Languages

The `dotfiles` command