Dotfiles

by Alex Stone

Inspired by Craig Little

Installation

git clone https://github.com/alex-stone/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
script/bootstrap

script/bootstrap installs Homebrew dependencies, symlinks the *.symlink files into $HOME, switches your shell to zsh, and creates the machine-local secret/ files (see below) if they don't already exist.

Secrets & machine-local config

The secret/ directory holds everything that is machine-specific, sensitive, or organization-specific — credentials, identity, and any config that shouldn't live in a public repo. It is gitignored (/secret in .gitignore) and never committed, so each machine keeps its own copy. script/bootstrap creates skeleton versions of these files on a fresh machine; fill them in with real values.

The tracked *.symlink files stay generic and each conditionally loads its counterpart from secret/:

• secret/env — environment variables & secrets. Sourced early by zsh/zshrc.symlink. Pure export statements only (API keys, tokens, org-specific vars like GOPROXY/GH_HOST, etc.).

• secret/zshrc — interactive shell aliases & functions. Sourced near the end of zsh/zshrc.symlink, after PATH/tool setup, so everything registers in the right order.

• secret/.gitconfig — git identity, signing, and org URL rewrites. Included from git/gitconfig.symlink (user.*, commit.gpgsign, url.insteadOf).

• secret/vimrc — machine-local vim settings. Sourced from vim/vimrc.symlink if present.

Anything sensitive, machine-specific, or organization-specific belongs in secret/, not in the tracked *.symlink files.