dotfiles

My personal dotfiles. Linux desktop + Hetzner servers. Bash, tmux, vim, git, claude-workflow.

Nothing fancy. Pragmatic over clever. Comments where it matters.

Install

git clone https://github.com/danielwesseling/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
./install.sh

The installer creates symlinks from ~/ to the files in this repo. Existing files get backed up to ~/.dotfiles-backup-<timestamp>/.

What's in here

.
├── bash/         — .bashrc, aliases, prompt
├── git/          — .gitconfig, commit template
├── tmux/         — .tmux.conf
├── vim/          — .vimrc (minimal, no plugins)
├── claude/       — Claude/AI agent workflow conventions
├── scripts/      — useful one-off shell scripts
└── install.sh    — symlink installer

Highlights

Bash aliases I actually use daily

alias ll='ls -lah --color=auto'
alias gst='git status -sb'
alias gco='git checkout'
alias gd='git diff'
alias serve='python3 -m http.server 8000'
alias myip='curl -4 ifconfig.me; echo'
alias ports='ss -tulpn'

Full list in bash/aliases.sh.

Git commit message convention

I use a small set of prefixes for commit messages — kept in git/commit-template:

Fix:      bug fix or production incident resolution
Feat:     new feature for the user (or AI agent)
Refactor: code change without behavior change
Style:    formatting, whitespace, no logic change
Docs:     README, comments, inline documentation
Content:  copy/text changes on a website
Deploy:   release-only changes (config, env, secrets template)
Config:   tool/env config (CI, linter, gitignore)

Activated via git config --global commit.template git/commit-template.

tmux survival prefix

Ctrl-a is easier to hit than the default Ctrl-b, and matches GNU screen. Plus mouse support and a 10000-line scrollback. See tmux/.tmux.conf.

Vim without plugins

vim/.vimrc is 60 lines, no plugin manager, no LSP. For real coding I use VS Code or my IDE — vim is for quick edits on remote servers where I refuse to install anything.

claude/

How I structure work with AI coding agents (Claude, Codex, Cursor). See the dedicated repo danielwesseling/ai-agent-conventions for the full pattern.

The claude/ folder here is just the minimum needed at the dotfile level:

• claude/.clauderc — environment defaults
• claude/aliases.sh — shortcuts for common Claude API calls

Compatibility

Tested on:

• Ubuntu 24.04 (server + desktop)
• macOS (with brew + GNU coreutils — some aliases assume ls --color)

License

Unlicense — public domain. Take what you want, no attribution needed.

Who

Daniel Wesseling — IT-Manufaktur in Gronau (Westfalen), Germany.