dotfiles-management

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.