update-dotfiles

name	update-dotfiles
description	Syncs dotfiles configuration from system state. Updates skills.yaml from installed skills and analyzes Brewfile against brew history. Keeps your dotfiles repo in sync with what's actually installed.

Update Dotfiles

This skill maintains your dotfiles by automatically syncing configuration files with your actual system state.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• You've installed/uninstalled packages or skills and want to update manifests
• You're auditing what's changed since your last dotfiles commit
• You want to sync before pushing dotfiles to version control
• You're preparing a new machine setup and need current state

What This Skill Does

1. Syncs Skills (skills.yaml)

• Reads currently installed skills from npx skills list -g
• Updates skills.yaml with all installed skills
• Creates timestamped backup of previous manifest

2. Analyzes Brewfile

• Extracts brew install and brew uninstall from atuin history
• Shows packages installed but not in Brewfile (suggests additions)
• Shows packages uninstalled but still in Brewfile (suggests removals)
• Provides dry-run analysis for manual review

How It Works

The skill runs two sync scripts:

1. Skills sync: Reads actual installed skills from npx skills list
2. Brewfile analysis: Parses atuin history for brew commands (exit code 0 only)

Both operations are safe and create backups before making changes.

Usage

Invoke this skill to sync everything:

# From Copilot CLI
@update-dotfiles

Or run scripts individually:

cd ~/.local/share/chezmoi

# Update skills only
./scripts/sync-skills.sh

# Analyze Brewfile only  
./scripts/sync-brewfile.sh

Files Modified

• skills.yaml - Updated with currently installed skills
• Brewfile - Not modified (shows analysis for manual review)

Example Output

Skills Sync

✓ Successfully updated skills.yaml with 23 skills
  - find-skills
  - update-dotfiles
  - jj-workflow
  ...

Brewfile Analysis

Packages in history but not in Brewfile:
  + k9s
  + copilot-cli
  + cursor

Packages uninstalled but still in Brewfile:
  - terraform
  - httpie

Workflow

1. Run @update-dotfiles to sync state
2. Review the changes shown
3. Manually update Brewfile if needed
4. Commit and push dotfiles:

   cd ~/.local/share/chezmoi
   git add skills.yaml Brewfile
   git commit -m "sync: update from system state"
   git push
   

Requirements

• npx and skills CLI
• atuin - For brew history analysis
• bash - Shell scripting
• Access to ~/.local/share/chezmoi dotfiles repo