dotfiles

My Linux setup (Ghostty terminal, themed Tokyo Night). install.sh is distro-aware — it works on Arch/CachyOS (pacman) and Debian/Pop!_OS (apt), under KDE Plasma or COSMIC. Clone it on a new machine, run ./install.sh, and the terminal looks and works the same everywhere.

Install

git clone git@github.com:datcal/dotfiles.git ~/project/dotfiles
cd ~/project/dotfiles
./install.sh

This installs the packages, links all the config files into $HOME, installs the terminal tools, and sets zsh as the default shell. Open a new terminal afterwards.

If you already had real config files (e.g. ~/.bashrc), they're backed up to *_bak before being replaced with a symlink — nothing is lost.

Day to day

• Change a config — edit the file here in the repo. It's symlinked, so the change is live immediately. Commit when you're happy with it.
• Pull on another machine — git pull && ./update.sh re-links anything new.
• Check everything is linked — ./scripts/doctor.sh. It also tells you which tools are installed.

What's in here

File	What it's for
.zshrc / .zshenv / .zprofile	zsh shell (plugins, prompt, tool setup)
.bashrc / .profile	bash (kept as a fallback shell)
.aliases	git/navigation shortcuts, shared by both shells
.tmux.conf	tmux — terminal splits and saved sessions
.config/nvim/	Neovim (LazyVim)
.config/starship.toml	the prompt
.config/ghostty/config	Ghostty (main terminal): theme, quick-terminal, copy/paste
.config/terminator/config	Terminator: copy-on-select, Ctrl+V paste
.local/share/konsole/, .local/share/kxmlgui5/konsole/	Konsole/Yakuake profile + Ctrl+V / Ctrl+Shift+V paste
.gitconfig / .gitignore	git
.config/atuin, .config/bat	history search, prettier cat
packages/	list of installed apt/flatpak packages
scripts/	install helpers, daily snapshot, and setup-kde.sh (KDE settings)

Everything is themed Tokyo Night.

The tools

Tool	What you get
zsh	autosuggestions, syntax highlighting, tab completion
starship	prompt that shows the git branch + status when you're in a repo
tmux	Ctrl-a then | / - to split, sessions survive reboots
Neovim	run nvim, LazyVim sets itself up on first launch
fzf	Ctrl-R fuzzy-search history, Ctrl-T find files
zoxide	z foo jumps to a folder you visit often
eza	nicer ls (icons, colors)
bat	cat with syntax highlighting
delta	colored, readable git diff
atuin	better shell history (Ctrl-R)

Neovim cheat sheet

Neovim has modes: you start in Normal mode (navigate + commands), press i to type (Insert), and Esc to go back. The leader key is Space.

Open the file explorer: Ctrl-n jumps your cursor into the file tree (opening it if needed, but never closing it), while Space e toggles the tree open/closed. In the tree, Enter opens a file and Ctrl-w l (or just click the file) jumps back to your code. Space Space fuzzy-finds a file by name. Dotfiles (.gitignore, .env, …) are always shown in the tree here.

In the file tree (the Snacks explorer):

Keys	Action
Enter / l	open file / expand folder
h	collapse the folder (Z collapses everything)
H / I	toggle dotfiles / git-ignored files (both shown by default here)
a / r / d	add file / rename / delete
c / m	copy / move the file to a new path
y / p	yank (copy) / paste the file within the tree
P	preview the file
Space /	search (grep) inside the tree's folder

Move around:

Keys	Moves
h j k l	left, down, up, right
w / b / e	next word / previous word / end of word
0 / ^ / $	start of line / first non-blank / end of line
gg / G	top / bottom of file
42G or :42	go to line 42
{ / }	previous / next blank line (paragraph block)
[{ / ]} / %	start / end / matching brace of the current { } block
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	half page down / up
H M L	top / middle / bottom of the screen

Select a block (Visual mode) — v char, V whole lines, Ctrl-v column. Then text objects (i = inside, a = around): vip paragraph, vi{ braces block, vi( parens, vi" quotes, viw word.

Edit — y copy, d cut, p/P paste after/before, u undo, Ctrl-r redo:

Keys	Action
yy / dd	copy / cut the line
y / d in Visual	copy / cut the selection
Alt-j / Alt-k	move the line (or selection) down / up
ci" da( yi{	change-inside-quotes / delete-around-parens / yank-inside-braces

Search (the / mode) — search inside the file you're editing:

Keys	Action
/foo then Enter	search forward for foo (highlights as you type)
?foo then Enter	search backward
n / N	jump to next / previous match
* / #	search for the word under the cursor (forward / back)
Esc	clear the search highlight
Space /	search across all files in the project (live grep)

Quick terminal — a small terminal at the bottom of the window, for a one-off command without leaving Neovim or switching tmux windows:

Keys	Action
Ctrl-/	open / close the horizontal terminal (works from inside it too)
Ctrl-\ Ctrl-n	leave terminal typing → Normal mode (then Ctrl-/ to close)
Space f t	a floating terminal instead

Bigger / smaller text — the font is the terminal's job, so this is Ghostty (not a Neovim setting), and it affects everything on screen: Ctrl-+ grows the text, Ctrl-- shrinks it, Ctrl-0 resets to the default size.

Save and quit — :w save, :q quit, :wq save+quit, :q! quit without saving. Switch between open files with Shift-h / Shift-l.

If you ever see a No parser for language "..." error, run :TSInstall <lang> (e.g. :TSInstall bash) once to install that language's syntax highlighting.

Languages — Go is set up out of the box (LSP gopls, autocomplete, jump to definition with gd, hover docs with K, and auto-format + organize imports on save). The first time you open a .go file, Neovim downloads the tools in the background — give it a moment, or watch progress with :Mason. Other languages work the same way; add one with :LazyExtras (then pick e.g. lang.python).

Git (the leader is Space):

Keys	Action
Space g g	open lazygit (stage, commit, push, branches)
Space g l	git log (commits)
Space g s	git status
Space g b	blame the current line
]h / [h	jump to next / previous changed hunk
Space g h s / Space g h r	stage / reset the hunk under the cursor

tmux cheat sheet

The prefix is Ctrl-a. Press it, release, then the key:

Keys	Action
Ctrl-a then | / -	split pane vertically / horizontally
Ctrl-a then h j k l	move between panes
Ctrl-a then c	new window (tab)
Ctrl-a then I	install plugins (first launch)
Ctrl-a then d	detach — the session keeps running
tmux attach	reattach to it later

Sessions auto-save, so they come back after a reboot.

Packages

Installed packages are snapshotted to packages/ every day by a systemd timer, so the list stays current and a fresh install can recreate it: apt-manual.txt (Debian/Pop), pacman-explicit.txt + pacman-aur.txt (Arch/CachyOS), flatpaks.txt, snaps.txt. Snapshot by hand any time with ./scripts/snapshot-packages.sh.

KDE Plasma settings

Some desktop settings can't be symlinked — Plasma rewrites and atomically replaces its own ~/.config/*rc files, which would clobber a repo symlink. So scripts/setup-kde.sh applies them declaratively (and idempotently) instead:

• Super (Meta) tap → KRunner (Spotlight), not the application launcher.
• Default Konsole profile → the copy-on-select Main.profile.

install.sh runs it automatically; it's a no-op on non-KDE sessions (e.g. COSMIC). Re-run any time with ./scripts/setup-kde.sh, and add new Plasma tweaks there as more kwriteconfig lines.

Terminal copy/paste (all terminals): select to copy (automatic), Ctrl+Shift+C to copy explicitly, Ctrl+V and Ctrl+Shift+V to paste. Ctrl+C stays as interrupt. (Terminator allows only one paste key → Ctrl+V.)

Spotlight launcher (TODO — decide once on CachyOS)

Goal: a good-looking, themeable, Mac-style Spotlight opened with the Super key. Options, most → least customizable:

• Ulauncher (current lean) — most themeable (swap/edit themes: colours, fonts, layout) + a big extension marketplace (emoji, translate, clipboard, calculator, web search…). Install: paru -S ulauncher.
• Albert — the truest Spotlight clone, Qt (cleanest on KDE/Wayland), very fast, Python plugins. paru -S albert. Theming via QML (a touch more technical).
• KRunner (built-in) — feature-rich via plugins, looks good with a Global Theme + centred position, zero install; but you can't redesign its layout.

Binding it to Super: on Wayland a third-party launcher can't grab Super itself, so use the same KWin modifier-only D-Bus trick setup-kde.sh already uses. For Ulauncher: find its toggle method (busctl --user introspect io.ulauncher.Ulauncher /io/ulauncher/Ulauncher) and point kwinrc → [ModifierOnlyShortcuts] Meta at that D-Bus call. (setup-kde.sh currently maps Super → KWin Overview; swap that one line for the chosen launcher.)

First launch notes

• Open a new terminal so zsh and the prompt take effect.
• In tmux, press Ctrl-a then I once to install its plugins.
• Run nvim once and let LazyVim download its plugins. After that, commit the generated .config/nvim/lazy-lock.json to pin the versions.