Dotfiles

My personal dev environment setup for macOS (M4) and Windows (WIP).

Prerequisites (Fresh Mac Setup)

If you are on a brand new Mac, you need the Apple Command Line Tools to get git before you can clone this repository. Open your terminal and run:

xcode-select --install

Installation

Once you have git installed, clone the repository and run the setup script:

git clone https://github.com/nicolasmarino/dotfiles.git ~/Documents/git/personal/dotfiles
cd ~/Documents/git/personal/dotfiles
./install.sh

Note: The install.sh script is completely idempotent. This means it is safe to run it multiple times. You can run it again in the future to sync changes or install newly added packages without breaking your current setup.

This will install Homebrew, packages from the Brewfile, Oh My Zsh with plugins, and create symlinks to your home directory. It can also apply some macOS defaults if you want.

What's in here

Shell (zsh)

• Oh My Zsh with autosuggestions and syntax highlighting
• Custom aliases and functions
• fzf integration for fuzzy search (CTRL-T, CTRL-R, ALT-C)
• direnv for per-directory environment variables
• zoxide for smarter directory navigation
• Modern CLI tools (bat, ripgrep, fd, eza, delta)

Git

• Aliases and configuration
• Conditional configs for work/personal projects
• Global gitignore
• delta for syntax-highlighted diffs

Editor (VS Code)

• Font configuration (Fira Code with ligatures)
• Recommended extensions via extensions.txt
• Pre-configured settings.json symlinked automatically

Homebrew

• Brewfile with common dev tools (git, docker, etc.)

Claude Code

• Global PreToolUse guard hooks (secret scanning, destructive-command blocking) merged into ~/.claude/settings.json — see claude/README.md

Installing a new tool

vim brew/Brewfile  # Add the package
brew bundle --file=brew/Brewfile
git commit -am "add new package"

Node.js

• fnm for version management
• Auto-switches versions based on .nvmrc and .node-version

Windows (WIP)

• PowerShell profile with similar aliases
• Chocolatey package manager
• Shares git configs with macOS

How it works

Everything uses symlinks, so you edit files in this repo and changes apply immediately. No need to copy files around.

~/.zshrc -> ~/Documents/git/personal/dotfiles/zsh/.zshrc
~/.gitconfig -> ~/Documents/git/personal/dotfiles/git/.gitconfig
~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json -> ~/Documents/git/personal/dotfiles/vscode/settings.json

Useful stuff

Git aliases:

gs    # git status
ga    # git add
gc    # git commit
gp    # git push
gl    # git pull
glog  # pretty git log
gcof  # checkout branch with fzf picker

Functions:

mkcd mydir          # make directory and cd into it
extract file.zip    # extract any archive
whoisport 3000      # see what's running on port 3000
killport 3000       # kill process on that port

fzf shortcuts:

• CTRL-T - fuzzy find files
• CTRL-R - search command history
• ALT-C - fuzzy find directories and cd

Git work/personal setup

The .gitconfig uses conditional includes to automatically use different emails/SSH keys based on where you clone repos:

~/Documents/git/          # uses .gitconfig.work
~/Documents/git/personal/ # uses .gitconfig.personal (overrides the line above)

Order matters: the broader ~/Documents/git/ include comes first, and the narrower personal/ one overrides it. A new scope must be appended after the broader one to win.

Copy the sample files and edit them:

cp git/.gitconfig.work.sample git/.gitconfig.work
cp git/.gitconfig.personal.sample git/.gitconfig.personal
vim git/.gitconfig.work
vim git/.gitconfig.personal

See docs/GIT_CONFIG_GUIDE.md for more details.

Customization

Just edit files in this repo:

vim zsh/aliases.zsh    # add your own aliases
vim brew/Brewfile      # add packages
git commit -am "update"

Your name, email and signing key live in git/.gitconfig.personal and git/.gitconfig.work — both gitignored. The tracked git/.gitconfig holds only shared settings.

For anything that is specific to one machine rather than to an identity (host credential helpers, a corporate proxy), use git/.gitconfig.local:

cp git/.gitconfig.local.sample git/.gitconfig.local

It is gitignored and loaded last, so it overrides everything above it.

Backups & Rollback

Your original configs get backed up to ~/.dotfiles_backup/ before anything is changed during installation.

If you ever need to restore your old setup, you can copy everything back from the backup folder: Each backup is timestamped, and nested paths are flattened with _ (Library_Application_Support_Code_User_settings.json.20260820-193000), so restore the specific file you want rather than copying the folder wholesale:

eza -la ~/.dotfiles_backup/
cp ~/.dotfiles_backup/.zshrc.20260820-193000 ~/.zshrc

Windows

There's a PowerShell version in the windows/ folder. Still a work in progress but has the basics. See windows/README.md.

License

MIT