Dotfiles: An Environment That Travels

Dotfiles are the hidden config files (.*) in your home directory — .bashrc, .gitconfig, .vimrc, .ssh/config. Versioned in a git repo, they turn a new machine into your machine in minutes.

What belongs in dotfiles

• Shell config — aliases, PATH additions, exported vars, prompt customization.
• Git config — user.name, user.email, aliases (git st, git lg), core.editor, pull.rebase.
• Editor config — .vimrc/init.vim, VS Code settings.json for the keybindings and extensions you rely on.
• Tool configs — .tmux.conf, .zshrc, .inputrc, .gitignore_global.

The structure

~/dotfiles/
  .bashrc
  .gitconfig
  .vimrc
  .tmux.conf
  install.sh        # symlink everything into ~

#!/usr/bin/env bash
for file in ~/dotfiles/.*; do
  ln -sf "$file" ~/
done

Symlinks keep the repo as the source of truth — git pull updates the config on every machine instantly.

Field notes

• .bashrc vs .bash_profile vs .zshrc — login shells read profile, interactive non-login shells read rc. On most Linux distros they source each other; on macOS (zsh) it's .zprofile + .zshrc.
• chezmoi/stow/dotbot are the mature tools for templated dotfiles — when you need per-machine variations (work vs personal), a template variable beats a if [ "$(hostname)" = ... ] shell branch.
• Never commit secrets — .env files, API keys, SSH private keys. Dotfiles are for configuration, not credentials.