A curated list of dotfiles resources. Inspired by the awesome list thing. Note that some articles or tools may look old or old-fashioned, but this usually means they're battle-tested and mature (like dotfiles themselves). Feel free to propose new articles, projects or tools!
- Getting started with dotfiles (L. Kappert)
- Getting started with dotfiles (D. Vints)
- Managing your dotfiles
- Dotfiles Are Meant to Be Forked
- Dotfile discovery
- Setting up a new (OS X) development machine: Part 3 - Dotfiles and custom SSH config
- Setting Up a Mac Dev Machine From Zero to Hero With Dotfiles; Part 2
- Using Git and GitHub to manage your dotfiles
- conf.d like directories for zsh/bash dotfiles
- Managing your dotfiles
- The best way to store your dotfiles: A bare Git repository
- Using GNU Stow to manage your dotfiles
- Managing Dotfile Symlinks with GNU Stow
- Dotfiles and dev tools provisioned by Ansible
- Manage a development machine with Ansible
There are many great dotfiles repos out there, each containing their own inspiration and gems. I think one of the best ways to go through them is by searching GitHub for "dotfiles".
Also see:
- Google for "dotfiles"
- Archlinux collection
- Tip: search for a filename on GitHub, e.g. in:path .gitconfig.
A collection of the most popular, well-maintained, and collaborative dotfiles repositories & frameworks. Some projects contain just the dotfiles. Others go further by allowing you to easily add your own custom dotfiles, and/or including scripts to manage dotfiles/plugins.
| Title | Description | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Bash it | Community bash framework. | Autocompletion, themes, aliases, custom functions. Well-structured framework. |
| Mathias’s dotfiles | Sensible hacker defaults for macOS | Lots of goodness here, great collaborative community effort. |
| Maximum Awesome | Config files for vim and tmux | Vim, tmux. Built for Mac OS X. |
| webpro's dotfiles | macOS dotfiles | Bash, Homebrew, Brew Cask, Git, Node.js, Hammerspoon. |
| rootbeersoup's dotfiles | Effortless Bash, Vim and macOS configuration | A curl | sh installer and a Makefile offer portable and effortless setup for either permanent or temporary configuration. |
| Luke's voidrice | Arch linux dotfile bootstrap | Bloatless, often suckless software. Vim config for editing documents in markdown or latex |
| Title | Description | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| thoughtbot dotfiles | Set of vim, zsh, git, and tmux configuration files | Zsh, vim, tmux, git, homebrew. Uses rcm. |
| oh-my-zsh | Community-driven framework for managing your zsh configuration. | Includes 200+ optional plugins (rails, git, OSX, hub, capistrano, brew, ant, php, python, etc), over 140 themes to spice up your morning, and an auto-update tool. |
| Prezto | The configuration framework for Zsh. | Enriches the command line interface environment with sane defaults, aliases, functions, auto completion, and prompt themes. |
| YADR | The best vim, git, zsh plugins and the cleanest vimrc you've ever seen | Homebrew, zsh, git, vim, and more. Active repository. |
| antigen | Plugin manager for zsh, inspired by oh-my-zsh and vundle. | Antigen is a small set of functions that help you easily manage your shell (zsh) plugins. Antigen is to zsh, what Vundle is to vim. |
| Dries's dotfiles | Simplified approach to dotfiles for macOS | Zsh, Oh My Zsh, macOS, Homebrew, Mackup |
| sobolevn's dotfiles | Dotfiles for the developer happiness | Zsh, Brew, Sublime, Python, Node, Elixir |
| Title | Description | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| oh-my-fish | Community Fish framework. | Includes many plugins and themes, with installation, auto-update, and scaffolding tools. |
| Paul's dotfiles | Abundant dotfiles with a plethora of cool custom functions | Fish, macOS, Homebrew, Custom Shell functions |
| rkalis's dotfiles | Well-maintained dotfiles featuring Fish, repository management and Hammerspoon | Fish, macOS, Homebrew, Repository management, Hammerspoon |
| Title | Description | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| .dots | New and upgraded dotfiles, now with Ansible! | Completely automated desktop setup, configuration and maintenance using Ansible |
| sloria's dotfiles | sloria's dotfiles as Ansible roles | Sets up a full local development environment with a single command |
- Ansible - Radically simple configuration-management, application deployment, task-execution, and multinode orchestration engine.
- bashdot - Minimalist dotfile management framework written entirely in bash.
- chezmoi - Manage your dotfiles securely across multiple machines.
- dotbare - Manage dotfiles interactively with fzf.
- dotbot - Tool that bootstraps your dotfiles.
- dotdrop - Save your dotfiles once, deploy them everywhere.
- dotstow - Manage dotfiles with stow.
- emplace - Synchronize installed packages on multiple machines using a dotfiles repository.
- Fisher - A package manager for Fish
- fresh - Keep your dotfiles fresh. Fresh is a tool to source shell configuration (aliases, functions, etc) from others into your own configuration files.
- GNU Stow - Symlink farm manager which takes distinct packages of software and/or data located in separate directories on the filesystem, and makes them appear to be installed in the same place.
- homeshick - Git dotfile synchronizer written in Bash.
- homesick - Your home directory is your castle. Don't leave your dotfiles behind (article).
- mackup - Keep your application settings in sync (OS X/Linux).
- Pearl - Package manager that allows to control, sync, share dotfiles as packages automatically activated during shells or editors startup. There is a wide range of packages already available in the Official Pearl Hub (for Linux and OSX).
- rcm - rc file (dotfile) management.
- themer - Manage and generate themes across your development tools from within your dotfiles.
- yadm - Tool for managing a collection of files across multiple computers, using a shared Git repository and some additional features.
- dockutil - Command line tool for managing dock items
- mas - Mac App Store command line interface
- zero - Radically simple personal bootstrapping tool for macOS.
- dotfiles.github.io - Your unofficial guide to dotfiles on GitHub.
- OS X Defaults - Centralized place for the awesome work started by @mathiasbynens on .macos.
- Filesystem Hierarchy Standard - Directory structure and directory contents in Linux distributions.
- XDG Base Directory Specification - Summary
- A lesson in shortcuts - How the idea of "hidden" or "dot" files was born, by Rob Pike (originally posted on Google+)
- Awesome Dev Env - Curated list of awesome tools, resources and workflow tips making an awesome development environment.
- Awesome Fish - Curated list of packages, prompts, and resources for the fish shell.
- Awesome Shell - Curated list of awesome command-line frameworks, toolkits, guides and gizmos.
- Awesome Sysadmin - A curated list of amazingly awesome open source sysadmin resources.
- Awesome Zsh Plugins - List of Zsh plugins suitable for use with oh-my-zsh, antigen & Prezto.
- Terminals Are Sexy - A curated list of Terminal frameworks, plugins & resources for CLI lovers.
- Bashstrap
- battleschool
- Bork
- Cider
- dev-setup
- dotfiles
- Eduardo's dotfiles
- ellipsis
- holman does dotfiles
- Kevin's dotfiles
- kody
- osxc
- vcsh (article, article)
To the extent possible under law, Lars Kappert has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.