dotfiles

Sahid's dotfiles, managed with mise (dotfiles + dev tools) and Homebrew (system packages).

How it works

• The repo mirrors $HOME — e.g. repo/.config/ghostty/config maps to ~/.config/ghostty/config
• mise dot apply reads [dotfiles] in .config/mise/config.toml and creates the symlinks (symlink-each walks each source dir recursively, linking every leaf file into the target)
• The same config declares macOS preferences under [bootstrap.macos]
• Homebrew packages live in .config/homebrew/Brewfile and install via brew bundle --global
• mise.toml defines a few small tasks scoped to this repo, and .config/mise/tasks/ holds global tasks that run from anywhere

mise dot is the short spelling of mise dotfiles / mise bootstrap dotfiles.

Prerequisites

brew install mise

Setup on a new machine

git clone https://github.com/sahidvelji/dotfiles.git ~/repos/dotfiles
cd ~/repos/dotfiles
mise trust                 # required: mise refuses to load an untrusted config
mise run brew-install      # install Homebrew packages
mise bootstrap             # dotfiles, macOS defaults, login shell, tools

Order matters: the declared Dock layout names applications by path, and mise refuses to apply a layout naming an app that is not installed yet.

If a real file in $HOME conflicts with a symlink mise wants to create, mise dot apply --force will replace it. Move the original aside first if you want to keep it.

Tracking a new dotfile

mise dot add ~/.config/ghostty/config

mise dot add copies the live file under the dotfiles root and adds an explicit [dotfiles] entry. For directory-scoped entries that are already declared (e.g. ~/.config), just drop the new file under the matching repo path and re-run mise dot apply.

Checking state

mise bootstrap status            # dotfiles, preferences, login shell, tools
mise bootstrap status --missing  # same listing, exit 1 if anything drifted
mise dot status                  # dotfile entries only, plus history state
mise dot apply --dry-run         # what an apply would change (add --verbose)

Day-to-day workflow

Your dotfiles are symlinked, so editing ~/.config/ghostty/config edits the repo copy directly.

Untracking a dotfile

mise dot unapply ~/.config/ghostty/config

unapply removes the symlink but leaves anything mise cannot identify as managed; modified copies and templates need --force. Then remove the entry from [dotfiles] in .config/mise/config.toml, or delete the source from the repo, so it is not re-applied.

macOS settings

Preferences live in .config/mise/config.toml alongside the dotfile entries, in three spellings: friendly sections ([bootstrap.macos.dock], .finder, .keyboard, .trackpad) for common settings; raw domains ([bootstrap.macos.defaults."<domain>"]) for everything else, third-party apps included; and [[bootstrap.macos.defaults_entries]] for defaults -currentHost preferences, which are scoped to one machine rather than the user account.

mise bootstrap macos defaults status     # set / differs / unset per key
mise bootstrap macos defaults apply --dry-run
mise bootstrap macos defaults apply

Only values that differ from stock macOS are recorded. mise never deletes a default, so declaring one cannot change a machine — it only buries the settings that carry real intent.

Values are strictly typed: an integer 1 does not satisfy a declared true, nor a plist real a declared integer.

There is no capture command — nothing plays brew bundle dump to brew bundle. Going the other way is hand-editing, with defaults read <domain> <key> and defaults read-type for the value and its plist type.

App preferences belong here rather than as symlinked .plist files under ~/Library/Preferences, which cfprefsd caches — a running app can hold a newer value than the one on disk.

Dock changes need a relaunch: [bootstrap.hooks.post-defaults] runs killall Dock after every mise bootstrap; after a standalone apply, run it yourself.

Brewfile

The Brewfile tracks installed Homebrew packages (taps, formulae, casks). It lives at .config/homebrew/Brewfile and is symlinked to ~/.config/homebrew/Brewfile (the XDG location brew bundle --global reads).

mise run brew-dump      # update Brewfile with currently installed packages
mise run brew-install   # install packages from Brewfile

Run mise run brew-dump before committing to capture any new brew packages.

Tasks

mise.toml at the repo root holds tasks scoped to this repo (brew-dump, brew-install); they are only visible from inside it. .config/mise/tasks/ holds global file tasks, symlinked into ~/.config/mise/tasks/, so they run from any directory.

mise run repos-tidy                       # tidy the repo you are standing in
mise run repos-tidy --all                 # every repo under ~/repos
mise run repos-tidy hk pklr               # only these, named by directory
mise run repos-tidy --all --jobs 8        # ...eight at a time
mise run repos-tidy --all --dry-run       # report only; touches nothing
mise run repos-tidy --all --force-closed  # also prune unmerged closed PR branches

For each repo it fetches every remote with --prune, then fast-forwards the default branch — skipping the pull when the worktree is dirty, and updating the branch without a checkout when the repo is sitting on a feature branch. Local-branch pruning is delegated to gh-poi, which deletes branches whose pull request has merged.

Two details worth knowing:

• gh-poi will not delete the branch that is checked out, so a repo left sitting on a branch whose PR has already merged would never be pruned. repos-tidy switches back to the default branch first, but only when the worktree is clean and nothing is still open for the same head.
• --dry-run skips the fetch as well as every write, so the "behind by N" counts it reports come from the last real run rather than from the remote.

Repos with a detached HEAD are reported and skipped. The default branch is refreshed from whatever it actually tracks, which in a fork is upstream rather than the fork's own origin.

A new task file needs mise dot apply before it is runnable from elsewhere.

Claude Code config

.claude/ is a managed entry like any other: symlink-each links each leaf into ~/.claude/, leaving Claude Code's runtime state (projects/, sessions/, history.jsonl) untouched because those paths have no source in the repo.

• .claude/CLAUDE.md — global instructions that apply in every project (PR and commit conventions, task-runner preferences, markdown style)
• .claude/settings.json — model, permission mode, editor mode, status line
• .claude/statusline-command.sh — the status line renderer that settings.json points at

Editing any of these takes effect in the next session, since their ~/.claude counterparts are symlinks. Adding a new file under .claude/ needs mise dot apply before Claude Code will see it.