Chezmoi Dotfiles Management

This skill helps manage dotfiles using chezmoi in this repository.

Repository Location

All dotfiles are managed in

~/.local/share/chezmoi

which is a git repository synced to GitHub at

https://github.com/craigtkhill/dotfiles.git

.

Critical Workflow

When creating or modifying dotfiles, you MUST follow this exact order:

1. Navigate to chezmoi source directory

   cd ~/.local/share/chezmoi
   

2. Create or edit files using chezmoi naming conventions

   • Use

     dot_

     prefix for dotfiles (e.g.,

     dot_gitconfig

     →

     ~/.gitconfig

     )
   • Preserve directory structure (e.g.,

     dot_config/fish/functions/

     →

     ~/.config/fish/functions/

     )
   • You can edit directly in

     ~/.local/share/chezmoi

     or use

     chezmoi edit <target-path>

3. Apply changes to home directory

   chezmoi apply
   # or for specific file:
   chezmoi apply ~/.config/fish/functions/myfile.fish
   

4. Commit and push to GitHub

   cd ~/.local/share/chezmoi
   git add .
   git commit -m "your message"
   git push origin main
   

5. Verify it's managed

   chezmoi managed | grep myfile
   

Common Commands

• chezmoi status

  - Show what has changed

• chezmoi diff

  - Show detailed differences

• chezmoi managed

  - List all managed files

• chezmoi apply

  - Apply changes from dotfiles to home directory

• chezmoi apply --force

  - Force apply, overriding conflicts

• chezmoi add <file>

  - Add a file to chezmoi tracking

• chezmoi re-add <file>

  - Re-add a tracked file

Fish Shell Specifics

Fish automatically loads functions from

~/.config/fish/functions/

. Each function must be in its own file named

functionname.fish

.

After adding new fish functions:

1. Copy to

   ~/.config/fish/functions/

2. Functions are immediately available (fish auto-loads them)
3. No need to source or reload

Adding Existing Files to Chezmoi

If you want to add an existing file from your home directory to chezmoi:

chezmoi add ~/.config/fish/functions/myfile.fish

This will copy the file to

~/.local/share/chezmoi

with proper naming and make it managed.

Common Mistakes

❌ DON'T: Edit files directly in

~/.config/fish/

without updating chezmoi

• Changes will be lost when chezmoi applies source files

❌ DON'T: Forget to commit and push changes to GitHub

• Your dotfiles won't be backed up or available on other machines

✅ DO: Edit in

~/.local/share/chezmoi

→ Apply → Commit → Push