Alex's dotfiles

Config files and utility scripts for macOS, with partial GNU/Linux support.

The install commands below download individual files directly from GitHub. A full clone is not required. Review remote scripts before running them if you are installing on a new machine.

Shell

• .bash_profile loads .bashrc for login shells.
• .bashrc is a portable Bash config for macOS and Linux. It includes:
  • Shell options: large history, autocd, globstar, and spelling correction
  • $PATH helpers: prepend_to_PATH and append_to_PATH
  • Prompt auto-detection for oh-my-posh, starship, powerline-go, and powerline-shell, with a colored fallback prompt
  • Safer aliases, navigation shortcuts, colorized ls and grep, and package manager shortcuts
  • Utility functions including mkcd, up, ff, fd, extract, cpprun, killport, dl, sysinfo, trash, backup, and gcap
  • A near-final ~/.bashrc.local include for machine-specific settings; prompt initialization runs after it so local OMP_CONFIG overrides are honored

Install or replace the shell config

Use this when your custom settings are already isolated in ~/.bashrc.local. It replaces ~/.bashrc and ~/.bash_profile with the latest remote versions:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/.bashrc \
  -o "$HOME/.bashrc"
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/.bash_profile \
  -o "$HOME/.bash_profile"
bash -n "$HOME/.bashrc"

Reload the active shell configuration:

. "$HOME/.bashrc"

Merge an existing .bashrc

If your current ~/.bashrc still contains custom code, download the latest template separately:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/.bashrc \
  -o /tmp/dotfiles.bashrc

Then give an LLM with local file access this prompt:

Review my current ~/.bashrc and /tmp/dotfiles.bashrc. Merge the latest template
changes from /tmp/dotfiles.bashrc into ~/.bashrc, including comments. Preserve
my custom behavior, but move machine-specific settings into ~/.bashrc.local
where appropriate. Do not overwrite unrelated local changes. Validate the
result with bash -n and explain what changed.

Optional prompt setup:

brew install bash
brew install --cask font-meslo-lg-nerd-font
curl -s https://ohmyposh.dev/install.sh | bash -s -- -d "$HOME/.local/bin"

iTerm2

• iterm2_preset.json is an iTerm2 profile preset with a black background, green-on-black text, Meslo Nerd Font, Homebrew Bash, Option-as-Meta key mappings, and xterm-256color.

Download the preset:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/iterm2_preset.json \
  -o "$HOME/Downloads/iterm2_preset.json"

Then open iTerm2 and use Settings > Profiles > Other Actions > Import JSON Profiles to import ~/Downloads/iterm2_preset.json.

macOS Default Apps

• set_mac_defaults.swift sets default apps by file extension. The tracked defaults include MarkEdit for Markdown, Sublime Text for code and text files, and Elmedia Player for media. Edit the script if your preferred apps differ.

Download, review, and run it:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/set_mac_defaults.swift \
  -o /tmp/set_mac_defaults.swift
less /tmp/set_mac_defaults.swift
swift /tmp/set_mac_defaults.swift

Find a macOS application's bundle ID with:

osascript -e 'id of app "App Name"'

Toggle Dock Position

• toggle_dock_position/ builds a macOS app that toggles the Dock between its left and bottom positions. The installer writes the app to /Applications/Toggle Dock Position.app and requests admin privileges.

Download and install it:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/alxli/dotfiles/archive/refs/heads/master.tar.gz \
  | tar -xz --strip-components=1 -C /tmp dotfiles-master/toggle_dock_position
/tmp/toggle_dock_position/install.sh

After installation, drag the app from /Applications to the Dock.

Hammerspoon Middle-Click Drag Scroll

• .hammerspoon/init.lua adds Windows-like middle-click drag scrolling system-wide on macOS using MiddleClickDragScroll. My custom init also adds a nicer indicator icon to the middle-click.

Install Hammerspoon, the spoon, and this config:

brew install --cask hammerspoon
mkdir -p "$HOME/.hammerspoon/Spoons"
spoon="$HOME/.hammerspoon/Spoons/MiddleClickDragScroll.spoon"
if test -d "$spoon/.git"; then
  git -C "$spoon" pull --ff-only
else
  git clone https://github.com/benediktwerner/MiddleClickDragScroll.spoon.git "$spoon"
fi
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/.hammerspoon/init.lua \
  -o "$HOME/.hammerspoon/init.lua"
open -a Hammerspoon

The curl command replaces any existing ~/.hammerspoon/init.lua. Merge the template manually instead if that file already contains custom Hammerspoon configuration. Grant Hammerspoon Accessibility access when macOS prompts for it.

Vim

• .vimrc configures the Molokai color scheme, 4-space tabs, line numbers, smart search, mouse support, jk to escape, and clipboard integration.
• .vim/colors/molokai.vim installs the Molokai color scheme.

Install both files:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.vim/colors"
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/.vimrc \
  -o "$HOME/.vimrc"
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/.vim/colors/molokai.vim \
  -o "$HOME/.vim/colors/molokai.vim"

Sublime Text

• Sublime Text/Packages/User/Preferences.sublime-settings configures the Monokai theme, 2-space tabs, an 80-character ruler, trailing-whitespace trimming, and UTF-8 defaults.

Install the preferences on macOS:

mkdir -p "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages/User"
curl -fsSL 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alxli/dotfiles/master/Sublime%20Text/Packages/User/Preferences.sublime-settings' \
  -o "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages/User/Preferences.sublime-settings"