Feature Request: Full dotfile lifecycle management (auto-setup, reset, change, install)

[grave0x]

Summary

Add comprehensive lifecycle management for dotfiles — auto-setup on a new machine, detect and apply changes, reset to clean state, and auto-install all dependencies. Inspired by full dotfile ecosystems like the Spelljinxer/hyprdots setup pattern where a single clone + script gets everything running.

Workflow

dwell deploy                   # One-command full system setup
dwell deploy --dry-run          # Preview before touching anything
dwell deploy --fast             # Skip non-essential steps

dwell status                    # Current state (exists)
dwell diff                      # Changes vs source (exists)

dwell reset <file>              # Reset a single dotfile to source
dwell reset --all               # Reset ALL deployed files to source state
dwell reset --stray             # Remove files deployed by dwell but no longer in source

dwell watch --auto-sync         # Watch + auto-commit on changes (extends existing watch)

dwell deploy — the full setup pipeline

The dwell deploy command should orchestrate everything in sequence:

dwell deploy
  ├── 1. deps scan              # Auto-detect dependencies
  ├── 2. deps install           # Install required packages
  ├── 3. setup restore          # Restore captured packages
  ├── 4. diff --check           # Preview what will change
  ├── 5. apply                  # Deploy dotfiles
  ├── 6. sync                   # Commit initial state
  └── done: "System ready."

A single command to go from bare OS to fully configured system.

dwell reset — revert to source state

dwell reset ~/.bashrc            # Overwrite ~/.bashrc with source version
dwell reset --all                # Reset all tracked files
dwell reset --stray              # Delete targets not in source (cleanup)
dwell reset --staged             # Unstage git changes only
dwell reset --dry-run            # Preview without modifying

Reset should:

• Single file: read the source entry, re-render template, write to target
• All: iterate all source entries, re-apply clean versions
• Stray: find targets in state.json that no longer have corresponding source entries, offer to delete
• Template changes: re-render with current template data (hostname, os, etc.)

dwell change — auto-detect and suggest

dwell change                     # Scan for unmanaged changes, suggest action
dwell change --track <path>      # Start tracking a new file
dwell change --auto              # Auto-add all detected changes

Detects:

• Files modified on disk but not in source → suggest dwell add
• Files deleted on disk but still in source → suggest dwell remove / dwell reset
• New programs in PATH not in deps.toml → suggest dwell deps scan
• New config files in ~/.config/ that look managed → suggest dwell add

Auto-install from README dependency table

Parse a README-style dependency table (like the Spelljinxer dotfiles README) and auto-install listed programs:

| Component | Program |
|-----------|---------|
| WM        | hyprland |
| Terminal  | kitty |
| Shell     | zsh |

dwell setup capture --from-readme README.md would parse this table and install all listed tools via the available package manager.

Implementation notes

• dwell deploy is an orchestration wrapper, not new logic — chains existing commands
• dwell reset reuses the Deployer with a "force overwrite from source" mode
• dwell change combines diff + deps scan + filesystem watcher data
• --stray detection compares state.json entries against source directory entries
• README table parsing: simple markdown table regex, column 2 = package name
• All commands support --dry-run

Acceptance criteria

• dwell deploy chains existing commands with progress output
• dwell reset --all restores all targets to source state
• dwell reset --stray finds and removes orphaned targets
• dwell change scans for unmanaged changes
• dwell deploy is a single command for fresh-machine setup
• README dependency table parsing works on common formats
• Integration tests cover deploy → change → reset cycle