dotfiles

Personal config files managed with chezmoi.

Structure

dot_config/
  wezterm/          → ~/.config/wezterm/
  zed/              → ~/.config/zed/
  Code/User/        → ~/.config/Code/User/
  nushell/          → ~/.config/nushell/
dot_ideavimrc       → ~/.ideavimrc
.stylua.toml        → ~/.stylua.toml
run_once_windows_setup.ps1   (creates AppData junctions on Windows)
run_once_macos_setup.sh      (creates ~/Library symlink for nushell on macOS)

On macOS/Linux, chezmoi places files directly into ~/.config/.
On Windows, most apps read from %APPDATA%\ — a one-time junction setup redirects those paths to ~/.config/ so everything stays in sync.

WezTerm is the exception: it natively reads ~/.config/wezterm/ on all platforms, so no junction is needed.

Windows junction map

App	Windows reads from	Chezmoi writes to
Zed	%APPDATA%\Zed	~/.config/zed
VSCode	%APPDATA%\Code\User	~/.config/Code/User
Nushell	%APPDATA%\nushell	~/.config/nushell
WezTerm	(reads ~/.config/wezterm natively)	~/.config/wezterm

macOS symlink

Nushell on macOS looks in ~/Library/Application Support/nushell instead of ~/.config/nushell. The setup script creates a symlink so both point to the same place.

First-time setup

1. Install chezmoi

# Windows
winget install twpayne.chezmoi

# macOS
brew install chezmoi

2. Install WezTerm

⚠️ WezTerm nightly is required. The last stable release (20240203, Feb 2024) has a reedline repaint bug with modern Nushell: each keystroke pushes the prompt down, leaving blank lines in the scrollback. This is fixed only in nightly builds. winget/brew install the stable channel, so on Windows you must install the nightly manually.

# Windows — install the NIGHTLY (winget only tracks stable, which is too old)
$exe = "$env:TEMP\WezTerm-nightly-setup.exe"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/wezterm/wezterm/releases/download/nightly/WezTerm-nightly-setup.exe" -OutFile $exe
& $exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /CLOSEAPPLICATIONS

# macOS — nightly
brew install --cask wezterm@nightly

To upgrade WezTerm later on Windows, re-run the download-and-install command above (winget will report "no upgrade" because nightly is off-channel).

3. Configure chezmoi source

# Clone the repo
git clone git@github.com:DawenYang/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles

# Point chezmoi at it (one-time, per machine)
# Windows — write chezmoi.toml manually (no [chezmoi] section wrapper):
echo 'sourceDir = "C:/Dev/dotfiles"' > ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml

# macOS/Linux
echo 'sourceDir = "~/dotfiles"' > ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml

Windows note: chezmoi init --source <path> does NOT persist the source path. Write chezmoi.toml manually using flat TOML (no [chezmoi] section).

4. Apply

chezmoi apply

This places all config files and runs the platform setup script once:

• Windows — run_once_windows_setup.ps1: creates %APPDATA% junctions for Zed, VSCode, and Nushell.
• macOS — run_once_macos_setup.sh: symlinks ~/Library/Application Support/nushell → ~/.config/nushell.

If an AppData directory already exists (app was previously installed), the Windows script will warn instead of overwriting. In that case:

1. Close the app
2. Move its contents to the corresponding ~/.config/<app> directory
3. Delete the original AppData directory
4. Re-run: chezmoi apply

Daily sync

Pull remote changes → local

chezmoi update

Push local changes → remote

chezmoi manages two locations:

• Source — the repo (dot_config/zed/settings.json, etc.)
• Target — the actual config files placed at ~/.config/

When you edit a config file directly in the repo (source), commit and push:

czpush "describe your change"

When an app (e.g. Zed) modifies its config via the GUI, it writes to the target. The source (repo) won't know about it until you sync back:

czr                       # copies target → source (re-adds changed files)
czd                       # preview what changed
czpush "describe your change"

How the sync path works on Windows:

repo (source)  →[chezmoi apply]→   ~/.config/zed/  ←[junction]←  %APPDATA%\Zed\
repo (source)  ←[chezmoi re-add]←  ~/.config/zed/

The junction makes %APPDATA%\Zed and ~/.config/zed/ the same directory. chezmoi re-add is still required to propagate GUI-driven changes back to the repo.

Adding a new app

Windows (needs junction)

Add an entry to $Mappings in run_once_windows_setup.ps1:

@{
    Name   = "AppName"
    Source = "$env:APPDATA\AppName"               # where Windows looks
    Target = "$env:USERPROFILE\.config\appname"   # where chezmoi puts it
}

Then add the config files under dot_config/appname/ in the repo.

Any platform (no junction needed)

If the app natively respects ~/.config/<app> (like WezTerm), just add the config files under dot_config/<appname>/ — no script changes required.