Dotfiles

These are my dotfiles. There are many like them but these ones are mine.

Built up over a few decades of Unix use, starting with zsh in 1995.

Stack

Layer	Tool	Purpose
Dotfiles	chezmoi	Manage dotfiles across machines
System	nix-darwin	Declarative macOS configuration
Packages	Home Manager	User environment via Nix
Shell	zsh + Zim	Fast, minimal zsh framework
Prompt	Starship	Cross-shell prompt

Quick Start

# Install chezmoi and apply dotfiles
sh -c "$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)" -- init --apply ijcd

# Nix setup (if not already installed)
curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh

# Apply nix-darwin + Home Manager
darwin-rebuild switch --flake ~/.config/nix

Organization

~/.local/share/chezmoi/
├── dot_config/
│   ├── nix/              # nix-darwin + Home Manager flake
│   ├── zsh/              # zsh config (zshrc, aliases, functions)
│   └── starship.toml     # prompt config
├── dot_local/
│   └── bin/              # personal scripts (~/.local/bin)
├── dot_gitconfig         # git configuration
├── dot_tmux.conf         # tmux configuration
└── archive/              # historical configs (preserved for posterity)

Scripts

Scripts live in ~/.local/bin with namespaced prefixes:

Prefix	Domain
git-*	Git extensions (callable as git foo)
docker-*	Docker helpers
term-*	Terminal utilities
macos-*	macOS-specific tools

Key Files

File	Purpose
dot_config/zsh/zshrc	Main zsh config
dot_config/zsh/aliases.zsh	Shell aliases
dot_config/zsh/functions/	Autoloaded functions
dot_gitconfig	Git config with aliases
dot_config/nix/flake.nix	Nix system configuration

Useful Commands

# Chezmoi
chezmoi apply           # Apply changes
chezmoi diff            # See pending changes
chezmoi edit <file>     # Edit a managed file
chezmoi cd              # cd to chezmoi source dir

# Nix
darwin-rebuild switch --flake ~/.config/nix   # Rebuild system
nix flake update                               # Update flake inputs

# Zim
zimfw update            # Update Zim modules
zimfw compile           # Recompile for speed

Tips

• zmv: zmv '(*).txt' '$1.md' - powerful bulk rename
• fzf: ctrl-r history, ctrl-t files
• git aliases: See git config --get-regexp alias or dot_gitconfig

History

I've been using zsh since 1995. The dotfiles have evolved through many incarnations:

1. 1995-2000s: Scattered .rc files, MIT Athena influence
2. 2000s: Custom module system with symlinks
3. 2010s: zgen + oh-my-zsh + prezto modules
4. 2024+: chezmoi + nix-darwin + Home Manager + Zim

See archive/ for historical configs preserved for posterity, including my 1995 MIT Xresources, 2000s email infrastructure, and 2010s Ruby setup.