dotfiles

Personal and work shell configuration, synced across machines.

Setup

1. Clone the repo

   git clone git@github.com:armanmikoyan/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles

2. Run the install script

   cd ~/dotfiles
   ./install.sh

   This installs Homebrew, iTerm2, Cursor, VS Code, nvm, and wires up ~/.zshrc automatically.

3. Open a new terminal — Oh My Zsh, plugins, symlinks, and iTerm2 preferences are set up on first shell load.

4. Generate SSH key and add to GitHub (see keygen and pubkey in personal/config/functions.sh)

5. Create personal/secrets/.env from .env.sample

6. Create work/secrets/.env from .env.sample

7. Create ~/.gitconfig.local with your identity for this machine

   git config --file ~/.gitconfig.local user.name "Your Name"
   git config --file ~/.gitconfig.local user.email "you@example.com"

8. Run sync-dotfiles to install all extensions in Cursor, VS Code, and Antigravity IDE (when installed)

Git config

Shared settings (colors, rerere, pull rebase) live in personal/config/.gitconfig, symlinked to ~/.gitconfig on first terminal open.

Machine-specific identity lives in ~/.gitconfig.local (not synced). This lets you use different name/email on work vs personal machines. A warning is shown on shell startup if the file is missing.

What install.sh does

Idempotent — safe to re-run. Skips anything already installed.

Step	What	How
1	Homebrew	Official install script
2	iTerm2	brew install --cask iterm2
3	Cursor	brew install --cask cursor
4	VS Code	brew install --cask visual-studio-code
5	nvm	curl install from GitHub
6	~/.zshrc	Appends source ~/dotfiles/init.sh

What happens on first shell load

Handled automatically by the dotfiles config scripts:

• Oh My Zsh — installed if missing (personal/config/omz.sh)
• Plugins — zsh-autosuggestions and zsh-syntax-highlighting cloned if missing
• Git config — symlinked to ~/.gitconfig
• Cursor settings — symlinked to Cursor's settings path
• VS Code settings — symlinked to VS Code's settings path (same settings.json)
• iTerm2 preferences — configured to load/save from personal/config/iterm2/

Oh My Zsh

Configured in personal/config/omz.sh. Used only as a plugin manager — the custom prompt in prompt.sh is preserved (ZSH_THEME="").

Plugins:

• zsh-autosuggestions — suggests commands as you type (right arrow to accept)
• zsh-syntax-highlighting — colors valid commands green, invalid red

iTerm2

Preferences are stored in personal/config/iterm2/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist. iTerm2 is configured via defaults write (in personal/config/iterm2/setup.sh) to read/write preferences from this folder. Changes made in iTerm2 are saved to the dotfiles on quit.

Symlinks

Managed in personal/config/symlinks.sh, created automatically on first terminal open:

• personal/config/.gitconfig → ~/.gitconfig
• personal/config/editor/settings.json → ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/settings.json
• personal/config/editor/settings.json → ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json

Existing files are backed up to .bak before symlinking.

Automation

Daily sync (sync.sh)

Runs daily at 7pm via cron (self-installs on first terminal open). Run manually anytime with the sync-dotfiles alias.

1. Stashes local changes to preserve uncommitted edits
2. Resets local main to match remote (remote is source of truth)
3. Re-applies stashed changes on top of clean remote state
4. Runs extension sync (see below)
5. Stages all changes across the repo
6. Pushes a sync/ branch with conventional commit message
7. GitHub Actions creates a PR with your review requested
8. Merges branch into local main so changes reflect immediately

If a PR is rejected, the next sync resets to remote (changes gone from local commits), but local file edits still exist on disk so they'll be picked up again. To truly discard, undo the file edits.

Extension sync (personal/config/editor/sync.sh)

extensions.txt is the single source of truth. One extension id per line. A trailing # remove marker queues an uninstall.

eamodio.gitlens
prisma.prisma
xabikos.javascriptsnippets # remove

Each sync-dotfiles run:

1. Uninstalls every # remove line from every configured editor. If a dependency blocks the uninstall, the script prints ! ext (cannot uninstall from <editor>; blocked by 'X' — mark its line with # remove too). When you mark the blocker too, the next sync uninstalls them in dependency order automatically.
2. Installs every plain line into any editor missing it. Marketplace mismatches (e.g. Cursor-only extensions in VS Code or Antigravity IDE) are silently skipped per editor.
3. Drops the line from extensions.txt for each # remove extension that is no longer installed in any editor. If something is still blocked, the line stays so future syncs keep retrying.
4. Auto-detects newly-installed extensions in any editor and appends them to the file.

Adding an extension

Install it via the editor UI. Next sync appends it to extensions.txt and installs it in the other editors.

Removing an extension

Append # remove to its line:

xabikos.javascriptsnippets # remove

Next sync uninstalls it from every editor and drops the line. If a dependency blocks the uninstall, mark the blocker too and run again.

Uninstalling directly from an editor (without the # remove marker) is ignored — extensions.txt still has it as a plain line, so it gets reinstalled across editors on the next sync.

All configured editors are supported — runs against whichever of cursor, code, and antigravity-ide are available (antigravity-ide is picked up from /Applications/Antigravity IDE.app/.../bin when present). If only some are installed, propagation is partial but extensions.txt stays current.

Settings sync

settings.json is symlinked into both Cursor and VS Code on first terminal open. Same file, both editors read it. Edit it in the dotfiles repo and both editors pick it up immediately.