Dotfiles

macOS setup via Nix flakes, nix-darwin, and home-manager.

Layout

Path	Purpose
flake.nix	Flake inputs/outputs (darwinConfigurations.ava, homeConfigurations.ava)
darwin.nix	System: Homebrew casks, fonts, system.defaults
home.nix	User: shell, CLI, programs.* configs
.config/nvim	LazyVim, mutable symlink into ~/.config/nvim
.config/htop	htoprc dir, mutable symlink into ~/.config/htop
.config/sketchybar	Status bar config, mutable symlink into ~/.config/sketchybar
.config/karabiner	Manually-synced backup (see below)
.config/bat/themes	TokyoNight theme read by programs.bat
.p10k.zsh	Powerlevel10k config, linked to ~/.p10k.zsh

First-time setup

1. Nix

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install

2. Homebrew

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

3. Clone

git clone https://github.com/<you>/dotfiles ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles

4. Move colliding files aside

home-manager won't clobber existing files. Either delete them or:

for f in ~/.zshrc ~/.p10k.zsh ~/.config/ghostty/config ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf \
         ~/.config/bat/config ~/.config/yazi/yazi.toml ~/.config/aerospace/aerospace.toml \
         ~/.config/git/config ~/.config/git/ignore ~/.config/gh/config.yml; do
  [ -e "$f" ] && [ ! -L "$f" ] && mv "$f" "$f.pre-nix"
done
for d in ~/.config/nvim ~/.config/htop ~/.config/sketchybar; do
  [ -e "$d" ] && [ ! -L "$d" ] && mv "$d" "$d.pre-nix"
done

Or pass -b backup to the switch command to auto-rename.

5. First switch

nix run nix-darwin/master#darwin-rebuild -- switch --flake ~/dotfiles#ava

No sudo — darwin-rebuild escalates internally.

6. Manual steps

• Grant Accessibility/Input Monitoring to: Karabiner, AeroSpace, Homerow
• Grant Screen Recording to: OBS
• gh auth login

Ongoing

darwin-rebuild switch --flake ~/dotfiles#ava        # after any edit
home-manager switch --flake ~/dotfiles#ava          # user-only, faster
nix flake update && darwin-rebuild switch --flake ~/dotfiles#ava   # update inputs
darwin-rebuild switch --flake ~/dotfiles#ava --rollback             # undo

Adding things

• CLI or darwin-packaged GUI → home.packages in home.nix
• .app-only GUI → homebrew.casks in darwin.nix
• macOS setting → system.defaults in darwin.nix
• Shell alias → programs.zsh.shellAliases in home.nix
• Raw config file → home.file / xdg.configFile
• Mutable in-repo config dir → add to linkMutableConfigDirs in home.nix

Tool notes

• LazyVim: .config/nvim is a mutable symlink back to this repo. lazy-lock.json is committed — let LazyVim update it, then commit.
• Karabiner: rewrites karabiner.json atomically, which breaks symlinks, so it's not auto-linked. After meaningful changes, cp ~/.config/karabiner/karabiner.json ~/dotfiles/.config/karabiner/. On a fresh Mac, reverse the copy with Karabiner quit.
• Ghostty: Homebrew cask (nixpkgs build is Linux-only); config via programs.ghostty.
• Sketchybar: .config/sketchybar is a mutable symlink back to this repo (like nvim). Installed as a brew from the FelixKratz/formulae tap (auto-trusted via ~/.homebrew/trust.json, seeded in darwin.nix) and started by AeroSpace on login (brew services start sketchybar). If the bar doesn't appear, run that manually or sketchybar --reload.
• Node: fnm with --use-on-cd, honors .nvmrc.