dotfiles

Personal dotfiles for macOS. Clean, minimal, and optimized for productivity.

✨ What's Included

Tool	Description
Zsh	Shell with Oh My Zsh + Powerlevel10k
Neovim	LazyVim setup for a modern editing experience
WezTerm	GPU-accelerated terminal with iTerm2-style keybindings
Karabiner	Caps Lock → Hyper Key (⌘⌃⌥⇧)
Git	Global config with sensible defaults
Lazygit	Terminal UI for git commands
Lazydocker	Terminal UI for Docker management
VS Code	Minimal, distraction-free UI settings

🚀 Quick Start

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/nicowenterodt/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles

# Run the install script
cd ~/dotfiles && ./install.sh

The install script is idempotent — safe to run multiple times without breaking your setup.

What the Install Script Does

• Installs Oh My Zsh if not present
• Creates symlinks for all configuration files
• Automatically backs up existing configs to ~/.dotfiles_backup/YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS/
• Installs Homebrew packages from Brewfile
• Validates installation and reports status
• Detects script location (doesn't have to be in ~/dotfiles)

All backups are kept indefinitely - you can manually clean them up when needed.

⌨️ Key Bindings

WezTerm

Shortcut	Action
⌘ D	Split pane horizontally
⌘ ⇧ D	Split pane vertically
⌘ W	Close pane
⌘ ⌥ ←↑↓→	Navigate between panes
⌘ ⌥ h/j/k/l	or with vim motions

Karabiner Elements

Two profiles configured for different keyboard types:

Profile	Keyboard Type	Description
default	ANSI	For MacBook built-in keyboard
external	ISO	For mechanical external keyboards

Both profiles include:

Shortcut	Action
Caps Lock	Hyper Key (⌘⌃⌥⇧)

Switching profiles: Open Karabiner-Elements preferences → Select "Profiles" tab → Choose your profile

📁 Structure

dotfiles/
├── install.sh          # Symlink setup script
├── Brewfile            # Homebrew packages
├── git/                # Git configuration
├── karabiner/          # Keyboard customization
├── nvim/               # Neovim (LazyVim)
├── vscode/             # VS Code settings
├── wezterm/            # Terminal configuration
└── zsh/                # Shell configuration

🍺 Homebrew Packages

Managed via Brewfile:

• CLI: git, lazygit, lazydocker, neovim, powerlevel10k
• Apps: Rectangle, Karabiner Elements
• Fonts: Hack Nerd Font

🎨 Theme

• Terminal: Catppuccin Mocha
• Font: Hack Nerd Font (14pt)
• VS Code: Night Owl

⚙️ Post-Install

1. Set up Git profile:

   nvim ~/dotfiles/git/.gitconfig.local

   Add your name and email:

   [user]
       name = Your Name
       email = your.email@example.com

2. Select Karabiner profile:

   • Open Karabiner-Elements
   • Go to Profiles tab
   • Select "default" for MacBook keyboard or "external" for ISO mechanical keyboard

3. Install Homebrew (if not installed):

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

4. Restart your terminal to apply all changes.

🔧 Troubleshooting

Symlinks not working

The install script validates all symlinks. If you see errors, check:

ls -la ~/.zshrc
ls -la ~/.config/nvim

Symlinks should point to your dotfiles directory.

Backups location

All backups are stored in ~/.dotfiles_backup/ with timestamps:

ls -la ~/.dotfiles_backup/

VS Code settings not applied

The script symlinks both settings.json and keybindings.json (if present):

• Settings: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json
• Keybindings: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/keybindings.json

If VS Code is running, restart it after installation.

Re-running the install script

Safe to run multiple times! The script:

• Skips if symlinks already point to dotfiles
• Only backs up files that aren't already symlinks to dotfiles
• Won't reinstall Oh My Zsh if it exists