Dotfiles

My personal configuration for macOS — terminal, editors, apps, and packages.

What's tracked

App / Tool	What's stored	How
zsh	.zshrc	Symlink
tmux	.tmux.conf	Symlink
git	.gitconfig	Symlink
iTerm2	Preferences plist + profile	Copied on sync
Alfred	Full Alfred.alfredpreferences	Symlink
VS Code	settings.json, keybindings.json, extension list	Symlink + list
Positron	settings.json	Symlink
Zotero	user.js preferences + 4 plugins (.xpi)	Copied on sync/install
Pandoc	All templates in ~/.local/share/pandoc/templates/	Symlink (whole dir)
Homebrew	Brewfile (formulae + casks)	Generated on sync
oh-my-zsh	Plugins + Dracula theme	Git submodules

Symlinked files are live — edits in the app instantly update the git repo with no copying needed.

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Quick setup on a new machine

git clone --recursive https://github.com/kinelhu/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
./install.sh

install.sh will:

1. Install oh-my-zsh if missing
2. Initialize git submodules (zsh plugins + Dracula theme)
3. Create all symlinks
4. Run brew bundle install to restore all Homebrew packages and casks
5. Install VS Code extensions
6. Copy Zotero plugins and user.js into the active Zotero profile

After install: open Zotero and download Better BibTeX manually (too large to store in git). Also update the machine-specific paths in ~/.dotfiles/zotero/user.js.

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Syncing changes (day-to-day)

One command captures everything and pushes to GitHub:

~/.dotfiles/sync.sh

This will automatically refresh:

• Brewfile (new/removed packages)
• VS Code extension list
• iTerm2 preferences
• Zotero plugin files

Then shows a diff, asks for a commit message, and pushes.

To pull on another machine:

cd ~/.dotfiles && git pull
source ~/.zshrc

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Structure

~/.dotfiles/
├── install.sh                   # Bootstrap for new machines
├── sync.sh                      # One-command sync & push
├── Brewfile                     # Homebrew formulae + casks
├── .zshrc                       # zsh config → ~/.zshrc
├── .tmux.conf                   # tmux config → ~/.tmux.conf
├── .gitconfig                   # git config → ~/.gitconfig
├── alfred/
│   └── Alfred.alfredpreferences/  # → ~/Library/Application Support/Alfred/
├── vscode/
│   ├── settings.json            # → ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/
│   ├── keybindings.json         # → ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/
│   └── extensions.txt           # Installed via `code --install-extension`
├── positron/
│   └── settings.json            # → ~/Library/Application Support/Positron/User/
├── zotero/
│   ├── user.js                  # Preferences (copied to Zotero profile)
│   └── extensions/              # .xpi plugins (Better BibTeX excluded — see above)
├── iterm2/
│   ├── profile.plist            # Readable preferences
│   └── com.googlecode.iterm2.plist
├── pandoc/
│   └── templates/               # → ~/.local/share/pandoc/templates/ (whole dir)
└── oh-my-zsh-custom/
    ├── plugins/
    │   ├── zsh-autosuggestions/     (submodule)
    │   ├── zsh-syntax-highlighting/ (submodule)
    │   └── fzf-tab/                 (submodule)
    └── themes/
        └── dracula/                 (submodule)

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iTerm2

The iTerm2 profile is copied (not symlinked) because iTerm2 doesn't support symlinked plists reliably.

To import on a new machine:

cp ~/.dotfiles/iterm2/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist

Then restart iTerm2.

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Troubleshooting

Plugins not loading

cd ~/.dotfiles && git submodule update --init --recursive

Symlinks not set up correctly

ls -la ~ | grep "\->"
ls -la ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/

Zotero preferences not applying Make sure user.js is in the right profile directory. Zotero applies it at every startup:

find ~/Library/Application\ Support/Zotero/Profiles -name "*.default" -type d
# copy user.js into that directory

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License

MIT — feel free to use and adapt.