Dotfiles - macOS

Starting from scratch

1. Go through the installation wizard.
2. Log in with Apple ID, log into App Store.

xcode-select --install

# Install Homebrew
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users/sglavoie/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

# Install Ansible
brew install ansible

# Clone dotfiles
git clone git@github.com:sglavoie/dotfiles-mac.git ~/dotfiles

# Run the Ansible playbook
cd ~/dotfiles
just ansible

Re-running parts of the setup

Each task file is tagged, so you can re-run specific parts with --tags:

cd ~/dotfiles/ansible

# Run only Homebrew packages and casks
ansible-playbook main.yml -K --tags homebrew

# Run only npm packages
ansible-playbook main.yml -K --tags npm

# Run only macOS system defaults
ansible-playbook main.yml -K --tags mac

# Combine multiple tags
ansible-playbook main.yml -K --tags "homebrew,npm"

Available tags: ansible-playbook main.yml --list-tags.

Dotfiles usage

brew install stow  # if not already installed
git clone git@github.com:sglavoie/dotfiles-mac.git ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles
just

Update/recreate dotfiles

just all

Remove all dotfiles symlinks

just delete

Detect drift between dotfiles and installed packages

just drift
just drift --no-color  # for piping to a file

This compares brew formulae, casks, fonts, npm packages, and VS Code extensions defined in ansible/ against what's actually installed on the system.

External dependencies

Some configuration lives outside this repo:

• ~/scripts — custom scripts, launch agents (com.sglavoie.* plists), and ~/.local/bin/ symlinks
• ~/Documents/21_programming/git/gitconfig-sglavoie — private git identity (included by .gitconfig)
• ~/Documents/21_programming/zsh/environ.variables — private shell variables (sourced by .zshrc)
• ~/Documents/21_programming/fonts/ — custom fonts installed by Ansible
• SSH config (~/.ssh/config) — tracked in ~/scripts repo (contains host-specific info)