dotfiles

Configurations for Neovim, kitty, git, and other various developer tools.

TypeScript Tooling

This repo includes a pnpm + Vite+ monorepo for TypeScript tools.

Workspace structure

tools/scripts     # Standalone TS scripts (linear-edit)
tests/e2e         # Terminal e2e tests (kitty, nvim)

Development

vp install          # install dependencies
vp check            # format + lint + typecheck
vp test             # run tests
vp run build -r     # build all packages

Setup

1. Install Xcode CLI tools

xcode-select --install

2. Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/pattobrien/dotfiles.git ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles

3. Run dotbot install script

NOTE: dotbot is a utility app that supports syncing the settings of various applications to dotfiles (e.g. kitty, skhd).

# symlink dotfiles into ~ and create ~/dev
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install

# essential installs and setups
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install homebrew
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install essentials
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install 1password
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install macos
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install mise
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install xcode

# optional installs (personal, work, runner, server)
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install personal

# VS Code extensions (run after essentials/personal so the `code` CLI exists)
sh ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/install vscode

Note: Some macOS settings (e.g. mouse/trackpad scaling, key repeat) only take effect after a logout or restart once the install macos step has run.

4. Set permissions

Sets permissions for required files (only required once on the system)

chmod +x ~/.local/scripts/tmux-sessionizer

5. Restore app settings (from 2026-07 machine migration)

Settings snapshots from the previous MacBook live in two places:

In this repo — .config/macos-defaults/exports/ has macos-defaults YAML dumps for Raycast, Shottr, superwhisper, FluidVoice, and eul. Apply each with:

macos-defaults apply ~/.config/macos-defaults/exports/<app>.yaml

Then restart the app (or log out/in). Also copy the FluidVoice custom vocabulary into place:

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/FluidVoice
cp ~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/.config/fluidvoice/parakeet_custom_vocabulary.json \
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/FluidVoice/

A full snapshot of everything that was installed on the old machine (beyond the curated personal/work profiles) is in brew/all/Brewfile:

brew bundle --file=~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/brew/all/Brewfile

In the private repo — pattobrien/machine-backup holds anything too sensitive or personal for this public repo:

• raycast/*.rayconfig — the official Raycast export (extensions, snippets, quicklinks, hotkeys, extension tokens). Import via Raycast Settings → Advanced → Import. Prefer this over the raycast.yaml defaults dump.
• shottr/shottr-full.yaml — unredacted Shottr defaults including the license key (kc-license), which is stripped from the public export. Apply this one instead of exports/shottr.yaml on a trusted machine.
• chrome/ — Bookmarks, Preferences, and extension ID lists for all three profiles, in case Chrome profile sign-in sync misses anything.
• superwhisper/ — defaults plist plus agent/database dirs (models re-download on first launch).
• zsh_history — shell history from the old machine.

SSH keys are intentionally absent: auth goes through the 1Password SSH agent, so signing into 1Password (step 3) restores SSH access.

Maintenance

Claude Code Accounts

Switch between Claude Code accounts with cswap switch.

Brew Dump

Dumps a snapshot of all brew-installed applications. VS Code extensions live in their own Brewfile (brew/vscode/Brewfile), so they are dumped separately.

# personal profile (formulae/casks/mas — excludes VS Code extensions)
brew bundle dump --force --describe --no-vscode --file=~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/brew/personal/Brewfile

# VS Code extensions
brew bundle dump --force --vscode --file=~/dev/pattobrien/dotfiles/brew/vscode/Brewfile

scripts/maintain runs both dumps for you (and preserves the vscode Brewfile comment header).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts are split across layers, each scoped to a specific context.

• Terminal Cmd+key — high-frequency multiplexer actions (tabs, panes, agents, popups, clear)
  • Defined in: Kitty (kitty.conf), Ghostty (config), Herdr (.config/herdr/config.toml), tmux (.tmux.conf), zsh (zshrc)
  • Flow: terminal sends an F-key escape sequence → whichever multiplexer is running (Herdr day-to-day, or tmux) intercepts it → runs the equivalent action. Herdr only recognizes F1–F12 plus modified F-keys (CSI <code>;<mod>~) and CSI-u chords — bare F13+ sequences (CSI 25~+) are invisible to it, so overflow slots use shift+F5-style encodings.
  • Herdr highlights: Cmd+A/Cmd+N/Cmd+L open-or-create claude / nvim / pnpm dev tab layouts (same roles as the old tmux bindings, via the herdr-ensure-tab plugin; layouts in .config/herdr/plugins/config/herdr-ensure-tab/layouts.toml, also in the herdr-plus quick-actions picker as Open Agent / Open Neovim / Dev Server), Cmd+[/Cmd+] cycle agents, Cmd+Shift+[/] cycle tabs, Cmd+1..9 tab N, Cmd+T/W new/close, Cmd+; last pane, Cmd+Shift+D/Cmd+Shift+N jump to the dotfiles / notes workspaces, Cmd+Shift+; back to the last project workspace (scripts/herdr-workspace-jump), Cmd+E worktrees, Cmd+D hunk diff of the working tree in a split (herdr-plugin-hunk; staged/branch variants in the palettes, also on prefix+d), Ctrl+Alt+H/J/K/L pane focus (direct, no relay). Displaced to prefix mode: prefix+o jump to agent needing attention, prefix+shift+n new workspace, prefix+b toggle sidebar
  • Avoid overriding:
    • Cmd+Q/H/M/W/N (macOS window mgmt)
    • Cmd+C/V/X/Z (clipboard)
    • Cmd+Space/Tab (Raycast, app switcher)
    • Cmd+, (preferences)
• Clicked file:// URLs — open in the Neovim of the workspace that owns the file, at its line and column, instead of in Cursor
  • Defined in: shed/tools/herdr-open-file (Herdr [[link_handlers]], linked with herdr plugin link), and .config/kitty/open-actions.conf pointing at the same script
  • Ctrl+click is the Herdr gesture (captured mouse reports can't tell Cmd-click from a plain click); Ctrl+Shift+click is the one kitty keeps for itself even while Herdr has the mouse. Herdr only sees file:// through OSC 8 metadata; kitty also detects it as plain text
• Terminal Cmd+Shift+key — less frequent or destructive terminal actions
  • Defined in: same as above (Kitty, Ghostty, tmux)
  • Same F-key relay pattern as Cmd+key
• Hammerflow (F18 leader) — system-wide app switching and cross-app workflows
  • Defined in: hammerflow.toml
  • F18 is mapped from Right Cmd via Karabiner
• Hammerspoon direct hotkeys — system-wide shortcuts that need scripting logic
  • Defined in: hammerspoon/init.lua
• Karabiner — hardware-level key remaps (Caps Lock → Esc/Ctrl, Right Cmd → F18)
  • Defined in: karabiner/karabiner.json
• Neovim — editor keymaps (leader = Space)
  • Defined in: nvim/lua/pattobrien/remap.lua, nvim/after/plugin/*.lua

Troubleshooting

macOS "would like to access data from other apps" dialog keeps reappearing

On macOS Sequoia, apps can get stuck in a limbo permission state (auth_value=5) in the TCC database, causing the "would like to access data from other apps" dialog to reappear on every restart.

Before running the fix: quit the affected apps and dismiss any pending "access data from other apps" dialog first. While a prompt is on screen (or the app is running), macOS keeps re-writing the entry back to the 5 limbo state, which clobbers the UPDATE below. If an entry reverts to 5 right after you fix it, a live prompt/app is the cause — close it and re-run.

Check for stuck entries:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db \
  "SELECT client, auth_value FROM access WHERE service = 'kTCCServiceSystemPolicyAppData' AND auth_value = 5;"

Fix all stuck entries:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db \
  "UPDATE access SET auth_value = 2 WHERE service = 'kTCCServiceSystemPolicyAppData' AND auth_value = 5;"

This sets the permission to "allowed" (2) directly, which persists across reboots. Using tccutil reset does not work — it deletes the entry, causing macOS to re-create it in the same broken state.

TODO

• Add zsh config
• Add Brewfile
• Add NVIM config
• Add tmux config
• Add kitty config
• Separate brew packages into separate files
• Clean up outdated /scripts/ folder
• BUG: tmux requirement in .zshrc causes terminal crash when tmux is not yet installed
• Add VSCode config
• Steps for initializing TMUX plugins
• setup 1password in case passwords are needed for app installations
• can xcode-select --install be run from the install script?
• does asdf have a zsh autocomplete plugin?
• Raycast settings import script (Cloud Sync is premium; the exported .config/macos-defaults/exports/raycast.yaml is currently never applied)

Notes from previous setup runs

• existing real dotfiles (e.g. a stock ~/.zshenv) are backed up to <file>.bak before linking, so the first install no longer fails on a fresh/migrated Mac — see scripts/backup_dotfiles.zsh
• error: zshrc sourced oh-my-zsh.sh before it existed — setup_omz.zsh now installs Oh My Zsh first

/Users/fern/.zshrc:source:97: no such file or directory: /Users/fern/.oh-my-zsh/oh-my-zsh.sh

• brew: too many apps were installed
  • should maintain a work set of apps
• mac settings
  • mouse/trackpad
  • window / desktop transition
  • finder settings
  • apple account signed in? (should this just be a part of the get started guide?)
  • accessibility/privacy settings per-app (e.g. Zoom needs screen-share access)
  • settings for apps that open on startup
    • BetterTouchTool
    • RayCast
    • 1Password
    • eul
  • auto-hide dock
  • allow holding down hjkl keys (I think this was a keyboard config?)
  • raycast did not override command+K
  • dock apps
• apps that require settings sync
  • eul (exports/eul.yaml)
  • raycast (exports/raycast.yaml + .rayconfig in machine-backup)
  • shottr (exports/shottr.yaml; license in machine-backup)
  • Messages (disable notification sounds)
  • [ ]
• vscode settings / profile (synced via stow_vscode.sh; extensions via brew)
• manual app setup steps:
  • 1password sign-in
  • github sign-in
• make /dev default directory
• chrome settings
  • 1password extensions (and others)
  • bookmarks?
• install default sdks (migrated asdf → mise; mise install bootstraps from config)
  • e.g. fvm install stable && fvm install beta && fvm install master
  • sdks to install:
    • flutter (fvm)
    • node (asdf)
    • ts (asdf)
    • go (asdf)
    • typescript (via npm i -g)

asdf plugin add golang && asdf plugin add nodejs && asdf plugin add deno
asdf install golang latest && asdf install nodejs latest && asdf plugin install deno latest
asdf global golang latest && asdf global nodejs latest && asdf global deno latest

• automatically accept xcode license (xcodebuild -license accept)
• needed to comment out 1password zsh plugin in .zshrc, because op doesnt have the proper permissions (now re-enabled)
• xcode select tools:
  • update to latest version (using softwareupdate ?)
  • approve terms (using softwareupdate ?)

TODO: Agentic App Authorization

Using Claude Code + computer_use/browser_use plugins to authorize apps using the credentials stored in 1password (without the agent needing to copy/paste credentials into it's session).

• web apps:
  • chrome profile login
  • google apps (e.g. gmail)
  • github
  • claude
  • reddit (personal)
  • vercel
  • expo
  • neon DB
  • cursor
  • vs-code
  • youtube (personal account, which has YT red/premium)
  • figma (personal)
  • linear (personal)
  • spotify
  • raycast
• desktop apps (most use web-based oauth):
  • claude desktop
  • cursor
  • spotify
  • linear
  • vscode
  • codex app
  • figma
  • raycast
  • chatgpt
  • slack
  • discord
  • zoom
  • loom
  • docker-desktop
  • expo-orbit
  • brave-browser
  • android-studio
  • obsidian
  • shottr (license setup)
• desktop apps (no auth needed, just need to be opened to initialize)
  • karabiner elements
• macOS permissions (grant via System Settings → Privacy & Security)
  • script to check each app's granted permissions (query TCC.db)
  • hammerspoon (Accessibility)
  • kitty (Full Disk Access)
• cli apps (most use web-based oauth):
  • claude-code
  • gh
  • vercel
  • expo
  • linear
  • neonctl
  • doctl
  • flyctl
  • railway
  • mas