| name | dotfiles-management |
| description | Guidelines and rules for managing the user's dotfiles repository, config files, and installation scripts. |
Dotfiles Management Skill
Use this skill when modifying system configurations, shell profiles, editor settings, or the installer scripts within the dotfiles repository.
Repository Location
The dotfiles repository is stored at:
/Users/rodydavis/dev/git/dotfiles
Rules
- When updating or modifying configuration files (like
.zshrc, .gitconfig, .gitignore_global, or Zed settings), always make changes inside the dotfiles repository rather than directly editing files in the home directory (~).
- After modifying configurations, run the
./install.sh script to link/sync them.
- Always run the installer in dry-run mode (
./install.sh --dry-run or -d) first to verify changes.
Bootstrapping & Installation Guidelines
1. SSH & Git Clones
- When cloning private repositories in the background, check if the host is in
~/.ssh/known_hosts first. Use ssh-keyscan to populate it before running git clone to prevent the task from being suspended on interactive host key prompts.
2. Homebrew Bundle & Tap Trust
- Tap Trust: Modern Homebrew requires explicit tap trust approval. When running
brew bundle in unattended background scripts, prepend HOMEBREW_NO_REQUIRE_TAP_TRUST=1 to bypass interactive prompts.
- Sudo Casks: Avoid including casks that require administrative (
sudo) privileges (e.g. basictex) in unattended installations. Comment them out in the Brewfile and instruct the user to install them manually in their terminal.
- Deprecated/Private Taps: Keep the
Brewfile clean of deprecated taps (like homebrew/cask-fonts) or private/unauthorized taps (like robotsandpencils/made) to avoid failing the entire bundle installation.
3. Node.js/NPM Runtime
- Installing
nvm via Homebrew does not install a Node runtime. Before executing global NPM package installations, initialize nvm and run nvm install --lts to verify a node/npm binary is active.
4. Java & Android SDK Configuration
- Homebrew's
openjdk is keg-only. To ensure Java is detected by Android CLI and Flutter tools, configure .zshrc to export /opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk/bin in the PATH and set JAVA_HOME to the Homebrew JDK path.
