# Updating my dotfiles

> For the first time in nearly a decade, I updated my dotfiles blog post.

- Canonical: https://www.russ.cloud/2024/04/02/updating-my-dotfiles/
- Published: 2024-04-02
- Author: Russ McKendrick
- Tags: macos, code, life

---

I decided to spring clean my [Dotfiles repo](https://github.com/russmckendrick/dotfiles), as it had been a while. Then I noticed that the last time I mentioned them on the blog was [nearly ten years ago](/2014/08/10/dotfiles/), so I wanted to give a quick update. The most significant change is that I have moved to using [Zsh](https://www.zsh.org/ "Zsh") and [Oh My Zsh](https://ohmyz.sh/) since Zsh became the default Shell in macOS.

<WarningCallout title="Warning">
This is all VERY customised to my requirements, and there are a lot of hard-coded bits in there. You probably don't want to blindly copy and paste any of the commands below as things will break!!!
</WarningCallout>

## Install everything needed for the dotfiles

The commands below assume you are starting from a clean installation, which I do at least once a year. The first thing is to install Oh MyZsh:

```text frame="terminal" title="Installing Oh My ZSH"
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
```


Once installed, we can download and install the Fonts and Theme I use:

```text frame="terminal" title="Installing the fonts and theme"
brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts
brew install font-hack-nerd-font
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k
```


There are some other tools called by the dot files, so lets install those too.

```text frame="terminal" title="Installing and configuring the other bits"
brew install tree pygments ffmpeg yt-dlp visual-studio-code drawio thefuck stow zoxide gh
gh extension install github/gh-copilot # enable the gh-copilot  extension
gh copilot alias -- zsh # run one and accept the t&cs
```


## Pulling and setting up the dotfiles

First, we need to pull [my dotfiles repo](https://github.com/russmckendrick/dotfiles/):

```text frame="terminal" title="Some Command"
git clone git@github.com:russmckendrick/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
```


Then, create backups of all of the existing files:

```text frame="terminal" title="Backup some files"
mv ~/.zprofile ~/.dotfiles/backups/
mv ~/.zshrc ~/.dotfiles/backups/
mv ~/.gitconfig ~/.dotfiles/backups/
```


Now we can create symbolic links to load contents from our `~/.dotfiles` folder using `stow`:

```text frame="terminal" title="Create the Symbolic Links"
cd ~/.dotfiles
stow .
```


## What does it look like?

Below are some screens of what my current terminal looks like:

<LightGallery
  layout={{
    imgs: [
      { src: "/assets/2024-04-02-updating-my-dotfiles/images/01.png" },
      { src: "/assets/2024-04-02-updating-my-dotfiles/images/02.png" },
      { src: "/assets/2024-04-02-updating-my-dotfiles/images/03.png" },
      { src: "/assets/2024-04-02-updating-my-dotfiles/images/04.png" },
    ],
  }}
  options={{
    thumbnail: true,
  }}
/>

You can also click on the link below to see it in action:

{/* RAW HTML START */}

<a href="https://asciinema.org/a/PTUqbpxikms7nFWNs4R7OhMQR" target="_blank"><img src="https://asciinema.org/a/PTUqbpxikms7nFWNs4R7OhMQR.svg" class="no-zoom" alt="See what my terminal is like" /></a>

{/* RAW HTML END */}


## Conclusion

In this blog post, we walked through updating my dotfiles repository and setting up your development environment on a fresh macOS installation. I created a highly personalised and efficient terminal setup by using tools like Oh My Zsh, custom fonts, and a custom theme. While these dotfiles are tailored to my specific needs and may not be suitable for everyone to copy directly, they provide a great example of how to customize and streamline your development workflow. Keeping your dotfiles up to date and versioned in a repository is a great way to maintain consistency across your machines and make setting up new environments a breeze.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.