Modern Dotfiles

Cross-platform dotfile management using GNU Stow with Claude Code integration.

Quick Start

git clone <your-repo-url> ~/code/shell
cd ~/code/shell

# Optional — set git user info (will prompt if not set)
export GIT_USER_NAME="Your Name"
export GIT_USER_EMAIL="your.email@example.com"

make setup

Restart your shell after setup completes.

How It Works

This repo uses two strategies for managing config:

Strategy	What	How
GNU Stow	Shell configs, git, ccstatusline	src/home/ → symlinked into $HOME
Direct symlinks	Claude Code config	src/claude/ → symlinked into ~/.claude/

Stow handles standard dotfiles (src/home/ maps 1:1 to $HOME). Claude Code config is managed separately because ~/.claude/ contains runtime data that shouldn't be version-controlled.

Project Structure

.
├── Makefile                # Management commands
├── setup.sh                # Installation orchestrator
├── agent.yaml              # GitAgent-style manifest (documentation)
├── AGENTS.md               # Cursor / agent fallback instructions
├── RULES.md                # Hard constraints (GitAgent)
├── SOUL.md                 # Identity / tone (GitAgent)
├── DUTIES.md               # Scope boundaries (GitAgent)
├── skills/                 # GitAgent skills slot (see README inside)
├── tools/                  # Optional MCP registry examples + README
├── .cursor/
│   └── rules/              # Cursor project rules (.mdc)
├── scripts/
│   ├── setup-common.sh     # Shared functions (install/configure Claude Code + Cursor skills & rules)
│   ├── setup-macos.sh      # macOS installer
│   └── setup-linux.sh      # Linux installer
├── src/
│   ├── home/               # Stow package → $HOME
│   │   ├── .zshrc
│   │   ├── .bashrc
│   │   ├── .gitconfig
│   │   └── .config/
│   │       └── ccstatusline/settings.json
│   ├── claude/             # Claude Code config → ~/.claude/ (direct symlinks)
│   │   ├── CLAUDE.md       # Global instructions
│   │   ├── RTK.md          # Rust Token Killer config
│   │   ├── settings.json   # Hooks, plugins, permissions
│   │   ├── agents/         # Subagent definitions
│   │   ├── commands/       # Slash commands
│   │   ├── hooks/          # Event hooks
│   │   ├── skills/         # User-level skills (TDD, debugging, etc.)
│   │   ├── templates/      # Spec/task templates
│   │   └── config/         # Notification states, etc.
│   ├── .vscode/            # VS Code settings
│   └── installers/         # Platform packages (Brewfile)
└── spec/               # Spec workflow definitions

Make Commands

make help        # Show all commands
make setup       # Complete initial setup
make deploy      # Backup conflicts + stow in one step
make stow        # Apply dotfile symlinks (excludes Claude Code)
make restow      # Re-apply symlinks
make dry-run     # Preview stow changes
make diff        # Show repo vs home differences
make doctor      # Check system health and CLI tools

Cursor + GitAgent (this repo)

This repository uses a GitAgent-style layout at the repo root for tools that read AGENTS.md (Cursor, etc.):

Path	Role
AGENTS.md	Repo-level agent instructions for Cursor
RULES.md / SOUL.md / DUTIES.md	Split constraints, tone, and scope
agent.yaml	Manifest pointer (not read natively by editors)
.cursor/rules/*.mdc	Always-on / scoped Cursor rules
skills/README.md	Notes; canonical skills live in src/claude/skills/
tools/	Optional MCP registry example + scripts/generate-mcp-config.sh stub

Dual source: Claude Code still uses src/claude/CLAUDE.md → ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md. That file is not auto-linked from AGENTS.md; keep policies in sync manually when they should match.

Cursor user rules (~/.cursor/rules)

configure_cursor() also symlinks files from .cursor/rules/*.md and *.mdc into ~/.cursor/rules/, using the same basename when it already starts with dotfiles-, otherwise prefixing dotfiles- (so you can tell dotfiles-owned rules apart from hand-made ones).

On current Cursor builds, Agent (chat) often loads rules from that directory in addition to Cursor Settings → Rules, Commands. After make setup, open Settings → Rules and confirm your symlinked rules show up; if they do not, paste the same content into User Rules or use a Remote rule from this repo — Cursor’s storage model has shifted across versions.

Note: Rules under ~/.cursor/rules apply across workspaces; project .cursor/rules in other repos still apply when those folders are open.

Claude Code Setup

make setup runs Claude Code install/configure and Cursor skill symlinks:

1. install_claude_code() — verifies the claude binary and creates a ~/.local/bin/claude symlink
2. configure_claude_code() — creates symlinks from src/claude/ into ~/.claude/ and pre-caches ccstatusline
3. configure_cursor() — symlinks src/claude/skills/* → ~/.cursor/skills-cursor/, and .cursor/rules/*.md(c) → ~/.cursor/rules/ (user-wide rules; see note below)

What Gets Symlinked

Source	Target	Type
src/claude/CLAUDE.md	~/.claude/CLAUDE.md	File
src/claude/RTK.md	~/.claude/RTK.md	File
src/claude/settings.json	~/.claude/settings.json	File
src/claude/hookify.*.local.md	~/.claude/hookify.*.local.md	Files
src/claude/agents/	~/.claude/agents/	Directory
src/claude/hooks/	~/.claude/hooks/	Directory
src/claude/skills/	~/.claude/skills/	Directory
src/claude/skills/*	~/.cursor/skills-cursor/*	Per-skill dir (via configure_cursor())
.cursor/rules/*.md(c)	~/.cursor/rules/*	User-wide rule symlinks (dotfiles- prefix unless name already starts with dotfiles-)
src/claude/templates/	~/.claude/templates/	Directory
src/claude/config/	~/.claude/config/	Directory

Hooks

Event	Hook	Purpose
PreToolUse (Bash)	bash-safety-guard.sh, spec-adherence-check.sh, rtk-rewrite.sh	Safety + RTK token savings
PreToolUse (Write|Edit)	worktree-boundary.sh, protected-files.sh	Boundary enforcement
PostToolUse (Write|Edit)	auto-format.sh	Prettier + typecheck
Notification	smart-notify.sh	macOS notifications
Stop	loop-detector.sh	Loop detection
SubagentStart	subagent-task-context.sh	Context injection
SubagentStop	subagent-gate.sh	Output validation
SessionEnd	session-reflect.sh	Post-session reflection

Commands

Command	Purpose
/specify <description>	Create Spec change + worktree + Linear ticket
/implement <feature-id>	Execute tasks with auto-commit per phase
/complete-feature <feature-id>	Archive + merge to main + cleanup
/continue-feature <feature-id>	Load Spec context into session
/commit-group	Create commits in logical groups
/release-prep	Prepare release with changelog and git tag
/diagnose	Analyze error patterns
/reflect	Review session mistakes and extract learnings
/diagram	Generate visual diagrams via draw.io
/telemetry	Show session telemetry and workflow health
/opsx:propose /opsx:apply /opsx:archive /opsx:explore	Spec workflow

Statusline

ccstatusline provides a two-line status bar:

• Line 1: Model | Context bar | Reset timer | Session usage | Output style
• Line 2: CWD | Git branch | Git changes

Widget config: src/home/.config/ccstatusline/settings.json (stowed to ~/.config/ccstatusline/)

Development Tools

Installed via Brewfile (src/installers/mac/Brewfile):

• Shell: zsh + oh-my-zsh + starship prompt
• Editor: VS Code with project-based extensions
• CLI: eza, bat, ripgrep, fd, fzf, zoxide, jq, glow, fx
• Git: git-delta for diffs
• AI: Claude Code CLI, Claude Desktop

Troubleshooting

Run make doctor to check system health. See TROUBLESHOOTING.md for common issues.

Resources

• GNU Stow
• Claude Code Docs
• ccstatusline
• Homebrew