Paschi's dotfiles

Your dotfiles are how you personalize your system. These are mine. They are basically forked from Holman' great dotfiles. See the description for detailed infos.

Fresh Mac Setup

Setting up a brand-new Mac with nothing installed (no Git, Homebrew, 1Password, SSH key…)? Follow the full, step-by-step guide:

👉 FRESH-MAC-SETUP.md

The short version (assumes you're already signed in to the Mac App Store, which mas requires):

# Toolchain
xcode-select --install
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

# Dotfiles
git clone https://github.com/derpaschi/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
script/bootstrap

# Restore identity, secrets & app settings (interactive)
mac-restore

Set the default shell to zsh (Homebrew version):

# Add Homebrew's zsh to allowed shells
# Apple Silicon: /opt/homebrew/bin/zsh
# Intel Mac:     /usr/local/bin/zsh
$ sudo vim /etc/shells
# Change the default shell
$ chsh -s /opt/homebrew/bin/zsh

Switching Between Macs

When leaving a Mac:

mac-backup

When arriving on a Mac:

mac-sync

Regular Updates

dot

Commands

Everything in bin/ is on your $PATH, so the scripts below are runnable from anywhere as bare commands.

Mac setup & maintenance

Command	Purpose
dot	Main maintenance command: git pull the dotfiles, apply macOS defaults & hostname, install/update Homebrew, run brew bundle, and run every topic's install.sh. Run it periodically. dot -e opens the dotfiles dir in your editor.
mac-snapshot	Regenerate the Brewfile from what's actually installed (brew bundle dump — brews, casks, mas, editor extensions, npm globals), show the diff, and offer to commit it. -y commits without prompting. Keeps the repo a faithful snapshot of the machine.
mac-backup	Back up GUI app settings to Dropbox via mackup (copy mode). Run before leaving a Mac.
mac-sync	Pull latest dotfiles, install dependencies, then restore app settings via mackup. Run when arriving on a Mac. Quits the relevant apps first so they don't overwrite the restored settings.
mac-restore	Interactive restore assistant for a fresh Mac. Walks through Dropbox & 1Password sign-in, GPG key import, ~/.localrc creation, mackup restore, and switching the dotfiles remote to SSH.
gpg-backup	Export your GPG keys (private, public, ownertrust) to a temp dir and open Finder so you can drag them into 1Password. Files auto-delete after you're done.
set-defaults	Apply the macOS system defaults (macos/set-defaults.sh). Also run automatically by dot.
dns-flush	Flush the macOS DNS cache (killall -HUP mDNSResponder).

Git helpers

Command	Purpose
branch [name]	Switch to an existing branch or create a new one, automatically setting up remote tracking if a matching remote branch exists (prefers origin). With no argument, lists all local & remote branches.
merge <branch>	Merge <branch> into the current branch. Rebases local-only branches onto the current branch first; refuses to rewrite history for branches that exist remotely.
push [args…]	git push with upstream tracking, then copy a GitHub compare URL to your clipboard. Extra args pass through (e.g. push -f).
pull	Pull with --rebase, safely stashing/re-applying local changes and updating submodules. Then auto-installs dependencies if the relevant lockfile changed (Bundler, Yarn, npm, Bower, Composer).
git-unpushed	Show the diff of everything on the current branch not yet pushed to its remote.
git-wtf	Readable, scannable summary of how a branch relates to its remote and to integration/feature branches. Also available as git wtf.

Utilities

Command	Purpose
e [path]	Open a directory (current dir by default) in the editor — currently Cursor.
search <string>	Quick case-insensitive search in the current directory tree via ack / ack-grep.
headers <url>	Show only the HTTP response headers for a URL (curl).
back-me-up	rsync personal folders to network/external storage (paths configured inside the script).
nyan	Print a little Nyan Cat. 🐱

Thanks

Inspired by the dotfiles of:

Zach Holman

Paul Millr

Pascal Birchler