Awesome Dotfiles Overview
A curated list of dotfiles resources.
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Awesome Dotfiles 
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!
Articles
Introductions
- Getting started with dotfiles, Lars Kappert
- Getting started with dotfiles, Dries Vints
- Managing your dotfiles, Lars Kappert
- Dotfiles Are Meant to Be Forked, Zach Holman
- Dotfile discovery, Wynn Netherland
- I do Dotfiles!, Jogendra
Tutorials
- 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
- 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
- Dotfiles Management
Shell startup
Using specific tools
- Using GNU Stow to manage your dotfiles
- Managing Dotfile Symlinks with GNU Stow
- Dotfiles and dev tools provisioned by Ansible
Find dotfiles repos
There are many great dotfiles repos out there, each containing their own inspiration and gems. One way to go through them is to search GitHub for "dotfiles".
Also see:
- Google for "dotfiles"
- Archlinux collection
- Tip: search for a filename on GitHub, e.g. path:**/.gitconfig.
Example dotfiles repos
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 some include scripts to manage dotfiles and plugins.
Bash
| Title | Description | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| [Bash it][31] | Community bash framework. | Autocompletion, themes, aliases, custom functions. Well-structured framework |
| [Mathias’s dotfiles][32] | Sensible hacker defaults for macOS | 🔧 .files, including ~/.macos — sensible hacker defaults for macOS |
| [webpro's dotfiles][33] | macOS dotfiles | Bash, Homebrew, Brew Cask, Git, Node.js, Hammerspoon. |
| [rootbeersoup's dotfiles][34] | Effortless Bash, Vim and macOS configuration | A curl | sh installer and a Makefile offer portable and effortless setup for either permanent or temporary configuration. |
Zsh
| Title | Description | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| [Nick Khan's dotfiles][35] | Personal dotfiles for configuring macOS environment with Zsh and Homebrew. No fluff, only the stuff I actually use. | Zsh, Git (w/ aliases), Visual Studio Code, Ghostty, shell aliases, sensible macOS defaults, custom CLI script, etc. |
| [thoughtbot dotfiles][36] | Set of vim, zsh, git, and tmux configuration files | Zsh, vim, tmux, git, homebrew. Uses [rcm][37]. |
| [oh-my-zsh][38] | Community-driven framework for managing your zsh configuration. | Oh My Zsh is an open source, community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration |
| [Prezto][39] | The configuration framework for Zsh. | Enriches the command line interface environment with sane defaults, aliases, functions, auto completion, and prompt themes. |
| [Dries's dotfiles][40] | Simplified approach to dotfiles for macOS | Zsh, Oh My Zsh, macOS, Homebrew, Mackup |
| [sobolevn's dotfiles][41] | Dotfiles for the developer happiness | macOS, zsh, brew, vscode, codespaces, python, node, elixir |
| [yutkat's dotfiles][42] | Well-maintained dotfiles that use CI to test and measure startup speeds. | Zsh, Neovim, Wezterm, swaywm working on Arch/Ubuntu/Fedora Linux. |
| [Luke's voidrice][43] | My dotfiles (deployed by LARBS) | Zsh, vim/nvim, zsf |
| [2KAbhishek's dots2k][44] | Passionately crafted, extensible dotfiles with multi platform support | CLI tools at core, with extensions for different platforms (windows/mac/android), editors and window managers |
| [Zim][45] | Modular, customizable, and blazing fast Zsh framework | Zim is a Zsh configuration framework that bundles a plugin manager, useful modules, and a wide variety of themes, without compromising on speed. |
Fish
| Title | Description | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| [oh-my-fish][46] | The Fish Shell Framework | Core infrastructure to allow you to install packages to extend/modify your shell |
| [Paul's dotfiles][47] | paul's fish, bash, git, etc config files. good stuff. | Fish, macOS, Homebrew, Custom Shell functions |
Ansible
| Title | Description | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| [.dots][48] | New and upgraded dotfiles, now with Ansible! | Completely automated desktop setup, configuration and maintenance using Ansible |
| [Mac Dev Playbook][49] | Mac setup and configuration via Ansible | Full macOS dev machine setup including Homebrew, dotfiles, apps, and OS config |
| [sloria's dotfiles][50] | sloria's dotfiles as Ansible roles | Sets up a full local development environment with a single command |
Tools
- Ansible - Radically simple configuration-management, application deployment, task-execution, and multinode orchestration engine.
- chezmoi - Manage your dotfiles securely across multiple machines.
- comtrya - Configuration management for localhost, written in Rust, for Linux, BSD, macOS, and Windows.
- dotbot - Tool that bootstraps your dotfiles.
- dotdrop - Save your dotfiles once, deploy them everywhere.
- dotter - A dotfile manager and templater written in Rust.
- dots - Opinionated dotfiles generator that allows quick configuration of different window managers in multiple OSs!
- 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.
- home-manager - Manage a user environment using Nix.
- homeshick - Git dotfile synchronizer written in Bash.
- lnk - Git-native dotfiles management without extra config.
- mackup - Keep your application settings in sync (macOS/Linux).
- OpenBoot - Mac dev environment manager that captures and restores Homebrew packages, dotfiles, shell configuration, and macOS preferences via interactive TUI.
- rcm - rc file (dotfile) management.
- rotz - Fully cross-platform dotfile manager and dev environment bootstrapper written in Rust.
- themer - Manage and generate themes across your development tools from within your dotfiles.
- toml-bombadil - Templatize and manage your dotfiles.
- xdg-ninja - A shell script which checks your $HOME for unwanted files and directories.
- yadm - Tool for managing a collection of files across multiple computers, using a shared Git repository and some additional features.
- yolk - Dotfile manager with inline templating via comments, so files stay valid even un-deployed.
macOS
Miscellaneous
- dotfiles.github.io - Your unofficial guide to dotfiles on GitHub.
- 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+).
Related Lists
- 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.
Archive/abandoned projects
- antigen
- bashdot
- Bashstrap
- battleschool
- Bork
- Cider
- dev-setup
- dotbare
- dotfiles
- dotstow
- Eduardo's dotfiles
- ellipsis
- emplace
- holman does dotfiles
- homesick
- Kevin's dotfiles
- kody
- macOS Defaults
- osxc
- Pearl
- rkalis's dotfiles
- vcsh (article, article)
- YADR
- Zero.sh
License
To the extent possible under law, Lars Kappert has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.