Lev's dotfiles

I use macOS, Visual Studio Code, Codex, Ghostty, Fish, and mise.

Notable places

• home/.config/mise/config.toml — global tools, environment, packages, dotfiles, macOS defaults, and sync tasks
• bin — reusable commands
• home — files linked into $HOME
• home/Library/Application Support/Code (VS Code)
• home/.config/git

Migrate this Mac

Once this version is checked out at ~/code/gh/vrslev/dotfiles, migrate the existing installation with:

mise bootstrap --yes

Bootstrap is the migration. It installs anything missing, replaces the old linker with mise-managed symlinks, applies macOS defaults, configures Fish, and verifies the resulting state. It is safe to re-run.

Restart the Mac after the first successful migration so applications reload the managed defaults.

Set up a new Mac

Install Homebrew:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Clone this repository:

mkdir -p ~/code/gh/vrslev
git clone https://github.com/vrslev/dotfiles ~/code/gh/vrslev/dotfiles
cd ~/code/gh/vrslev/dotfiles

Install mise:

eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
brew install mise

Bootstrap from the global config source before it has been linked into place:

MISE_GLOBAL_CONFIG_FILE="$PWD/home/.config/mise/config.toml" \
  mise bootstrap --yes

The config is global once ~/.config/mise points to home/.config/mise; there is no project-local mise.toml. Restart the computer after the first bootstrap.

Maintenance

The routine command to remember is:

mise run dotfiles:sync

It fast-forwards the repository, re-applies links, and synchronizes tools and packages.

Available tasks and read-only bootstrap status are discoverable:

mise tasks
mise bootstrap status

Use mise directly to manage dotfiles:

mise bootstrap dotfiles add --global ~/.example
mise bootstrap dotfiles apply --yes

Caveats

• dotfiles:sync uses git pull --ff-only; it stops instead of rebasing a divergent checkout.
• Removing a package from [bootstrap.packages] does not uninstall it. Prune packages only when removal is intentional.
• Removing a [dotfiles] entry does not remove its existing target. Delete obsolete targets explicitly.
• Mise refuses conflicting dotfile targets by default. Inspect the conflict instead of reaching for --force.
• The config assumes this repository lives at ~/code/gh/vrslev/dotfiles, and most versions are latest, so a fresh bootstrap can resolve newer software.
• Safari defaults and VS Code extensions are intentionally unmanaged.
• The official ChatGPT cask currently owns the same /Applications/ChatGPT.app used by Codex. An identical existing bundle can be adopted; a different bundle at that path blocks installation rather than being overwritten.

Codex projects

See project reconciliation for product folders, separate package projects, and automatic additions after repository sync.