\[._.]/ - Hi, I'm the MacOS bot

I will update your MacOS machine with Better™ system defaults, preferences, software configuration and even auto-install some handy development tools and apps that my developer friends find helpful.

You don't need to install or configure anything upfront! This works with a brand-new machine from the factory as well as an existing machine that you've been working with for years.

\[._.]/ - Hi, I'm the MacOS bot

Forget About Manual Configuration

Don't you hate getting a new laptop or joining a new team and then spending a whole day setting up your system preferences and tools? Me too. That's why we automate; we did it once and we don't want to do have to do it again.

\[^_^]/ - This started as Adam Eivy's MacOS shell configuration dotfiles but has grown to a multi-developer platform for machine configuration.

When I finish with your machine, you will have a fully configured development environment with a modern terminal emulator (Warp) and a customizable shell prompt.

The shell prompt is Starship, configured in config/starship/config.toml, and displays:

Current directory path
Git branch and status
Language versions for the project (Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, and more)
Command execution time
And much more

Starship draws the prompt in ordinary terminals. Warp draws its own, so a Warp shell loads no prompt, no line-editor plugins and no key bindings; system/.term_host decides which kind of terminal a shell is in.

The dotfiles configure Neovim as a terminal-based IDE, managed with lazy.nvim.

Modern terminal features:

Warp: AI-powered terminal with native text editing
Full-screen mode: Command + Enter

\[._.]/ - I'm so excited I just binaried in my pants!

Installation

Note: I recommend forking this repo in case you don't like anything I do and want to set your own preferences (and pull request them!)

REVIEW WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES PRIOR TO RUNNING: dotfiles

It's always a good idea to review arbitrary code from the internet before running it on your machine with sudo power! You are responsible for everything this script does to your machine (see LICENSE)

Remote Mode: Run this script in Terminal. It works on a bare Mac: it installs the Command Line Tools itself (no dialog), then clones the repo and starts install. It is safe to re-run: an existing ~/.dotfiles checkout is continued, not cloned again. Set DOTFILES_REF to fetch the tools installer from a tag or commit instead of main.

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/STiXzoOR/dotfiles/main/remote-install.sh)"

Manual Mode (needs the Command Line Tools first: xcode-select --install)

git clone https://github.com/STiXzoOR/dotfiles ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
./bin/dotfiles install

Note: plain ./bin/dotfiles install bootstraps the machine — Command Line Tools, Homebrew, stow and an SSH key — sets the repo's git hooks (the gitleaks pre-commit), then lists the remaining steps and offers to run them. It prints its success banner only when every step succeeded, and otherwise names the ones that failed.

./bin/dotfiles install --all runs the rest in one go, in this order: --prezto, --private (the private companion repo, when you use one; see Two Macs), link, --node, --packages, --fonts, --launchagents, --claude, --codex, configure, then --hosts last (the blocklist can break downloads made later in a run). A failed step does not stop the run; the closing summary names each one and the exit status is non-zero. --node needs link to have run first, because mise reads ~/.config/mise.

To do it piece by piece, run ./bin/dotfiles install --help for the flag list, or ./bin/dotfiles help for every command.

Packages that should not be in a public repo go in two gitignored files: Brewfile.local (bundled after Brewfile) and packages/code.local.list (VS Code extensions, read after packages/code.list).

Claude Code

./bin/dotfiles install --claude bootstraps the AI-agent layer:

./bin/dotfiles install --claude

It installs the Claude Code native binary and verifies it against Anthropic's signed release manifest, registers the marketplaces in claude/marketplaces.list, installs the plugins in claude/plugins.list, registers the MCP servers in claude/mcp.list (QMD and Blender), installs the skills in claude/skills.list (find-docs), copies the hooks, rules and status line from claude/ into ~/.claude/, merges claude/settings.template.json into ~/.claude/settings.json, and sets up QMD over the Obsidian vault. The vault is a plain folder you bring over first (or the iCloud Drive vault, see Two Macs); if it is missing the script says so and skips it.

./bin/dotfiles install --codex does the same for Codex: it seeds ~/.codex/config.toml (only when absent), registers the marketplaces in codex/marketplaces.list, installs the plugins in codex/plugins.list (the same ones as Claude wherever a Codex version exists) and registers the same MCP servers. Plugin hooks need a one-time trust: run /hooks in Codex and press t.

Two read-only checks come with it:

./bin/dotfiles claude diff      # what has drifted between claude/ and ~/.claude
./bin/dotfiles claude verify    # run each configured hook and report its exit code

The status line in claude/statusline.sh renders the model, context usage, directory, branch, elapsed time and plan limits entirely from the JSON payload Claude Code writes to its stdin. It reads no credentials and makes no network calls.

Private or work marketplaces, plugins, MCP servers and skills belong in the matching claude/*.local.list (and codex/*.local.list), which are gitignored.

Restoring Dotfiles

If you have existing dotfiles for configuring git, zsh, vim, etc., these will be backed up into ~/.dotfiles_backup/$(date +"%Y.%m.%d.%H.%M.%S") and replaced with the files from this project. You can restore your original dotfiles by using:

./bin/dotfiles unlink YYYY.MM.DD.HH.MM.SS

Where YYYY.MM.DD.HH.MM.SS is the timestamp of the backup you want to restore (check ~/.dotfiles_backup/ for available backups).

The restore script does not currently restore system settings--only your original dotfiles. To restore system settings, you'll need to manually undo what you don't like (so don't forget to fork, review, and tweak before installing)

Two Macs

A MacBook and a Mac mini can share one setup. Dotfiles travel through git, the personal gitignored files (git identity, private profiles, work lists, private SSH hosts, the encrypted secrets export) through a private companion repo cloned to ~/.dotfiles-private, and the Obsidian vault through iCloud Drive. Remote Login and the power settings apply to the desktop only.

./bin/dotfiles sync                 # fetch, fast-forward what is safe, restow, offer the follow-ups, report drift
./bin/dotfiles private status       # the private repo, and gitignored files that will not sync
./bin/dotfiles vault migrate        # once: move ~/Vault into iCloud Drive (quit Obsidian first)

A daily LaunchAgent runs dotfiles sync --scheduled: it never installs anything and posts one notification only when something needs you. See docs/agents/two-mac-sync.md.

App Settings Backup

Settings of apps that nothing else here manages (Bartender, CleanShot, Flux, iStat Menus, Magnet, OpenEmu, PixelSnap, Proxyman, Spark) are backed up daily to a private folder in iCloud Drive, one folder per Mac, with mackup in copy mode (never symlinks). Anything the dotfiles already manage stays owned by the dotfiles, and dotfiles apps check fails if the allowlist ever overlaps it.

./bin/dotfiles apps backup                  # also runs daily via the LaunchAgent
./bin/dotfiles apps list                    # snapshots of every Mac
./bin/dotfiles apps restore --from <mac>    # deliberate; quit the apps first
./bin/dotfiles apps undo                    # put back what the last restore replaced

Restoring is never part of install --all. See docs/agents/app-settings.md.

A backup is not scanned for credentials. Secret scanning covers only commits to the dotfiles repos (public and private). App backups and the vault are not scanned: that is the owner's decision, accepting the risk.

Privacy and Secrets Guards (Jev)

The pre-commit hook blocks private values before they reach this public repo: a value from a private never-send list, home paths with a real user name, private network addresses, unknown email addresses, and credentials (gitleaks, known formats, your own Keychain values). TypeSafe's Jev is an optional second opinion on what those checks cannot decide. It starts in shadow mode (logs only), never sees a secret, and is off without a key or with DOTFILES_JEV=off.

./bin/dotfiles jev status                   # switch, key, mode of each point
./bin/dotfiles jev log                      # what shadow mode would have done
./bin/dotfiles jev replay privacy           # pick thresholds from labelled cases (real API, by hand)
./bin/dotfiles jev promote privacy          # shadow -> on

See docs/agents/jev.md.

Managing Hosts Whitelist

The /etc/hosts installation blocks ads and tracking domains using StevenBlack's unified hosts file. If you need to whitelist certain domains (prevent them from being blocked), you can add them to system/hosts.whitelist:

# Add a domain to the whitelist
echo "amplitude.com" >> ~/.dotfiles/system/hosts.whitelist

# Reinstall the hosts file with updated whitelist
cd ~/.dotfiles
./bin/dotfiles install --hosts

Each domain should be on its own line in the whitelist file. The whitelist is automatically applied during the hosts installation process.

Additional

VIM as Terminal IDE

I am using vim as my terminal IDE. I use Vundle to manage vim plugins (instead of pathogen). Vundle is better in many ways and is compatible with pathogen plugins. Additionally, vundle will manage and install its own plugins so we don't have to use git submodules for all of them.

Settings

This project changes a number of settings and configures software on MacOS. Here is the current list:

Prompt Driven Configuration

The following will only happen if you agree on the prompt

make sudo command passwordless
overwrite your /etc/hosts file with StevenBlack's unified hosts file for ad/tracker blocking (supports custom whitelist via system/hosts.whitelist)
install prezto zsh framework
link dotfiles
install vim plugins/themes
install fonts
install brew, cask, code, mas, npm packages
install LaunchAgents for automated tasks (a daily app-settings backup, dotfiles apps backup --scheduled, and a daily check that keeps two Macs in step, dotfiles sync --scheduled)
change system configuration

Security

Enable install from Anywhere
Disable remote apple events
Enable remote login (SSH), Restart automatically after a power failure, disable Power Nap and disk sleep, never sleep the system on AC power and sleep the display after 10 minutes (desktop only; a MacBook keeps its own)
Disable wake-on modem
Disable wake-on LAN
Disable guest account login

General UI/UX

Set computer name, languages, locale, units and timezone from macos/local.sh (gitignored; copy macos/local.sh.example), when set
Disable the sound effects on boot
Set sidebar icon size to medium
Always show scrollbars
Disable the over-the-top focus ring animation
Adjust toolbar title rollover delay
Increase window resize speed for Cocoa applications
Expand save panel by default
Expand print panel by default
Save to disk (not to iCloud) by default
Automatically quit printer app once the print jobs complete
Disable the “Are you sure you want to open this application?” dialog
Remove duplicates in the “Open With” menu (also see 'lscleanup' alias)
Display ASCII control characters using caret notation in standard text views
Disable Resume system-wide
Disable automatic termination of inactive apps
Set Help Viewer windows to non-floating mode
Reveal IP, hostname, OS, etc. when clicking clock in login window
Disable automatic capitalization as it’s annoying when typing code
Disable smart dashes as they’re annoying when typing code
Disable automatic period substitution as it’s annoying when typing code
Disable smart quotes as they’re annoying when typing code
Disable auto-correct

Trackpad, mouse, keyboard, Bluetooth accessories, and input

Increase sound quality for Bluetooth headphones/headsets
Enable full keyboard access for all controls (e.g. enable Tab in modal dialogs)
Use scroll gesture with the Ctrl (^) modifier key to zoom
Follow the keyboard focus while zoomed in
Disable press-and-hold for keys in favor of key repeat
Set a blazingly fast keyboard repeat rate
Set language and text formats (english/GR)
Show language menu in the top right corner of the boot screen
Set timezone to Europe/Athens;

Energy saving

Disable lid wakeup
Disable auto power off
Disable auto restart on power loss
Disable machine sleep
Sleep the display after 60 minutes
Disable standby mode
Set standby delay to 24 hours (default is 1 hour)
Disable wake from iPhone/Watch (eg. When iPhone or Apple Watch come near)
Disable periodically wake of machine for network and updates
Restart automatically if the computer freezes
Disable hibernation (speeds up entering sleep mode)
Remove the sleep image file to save disk space
Create a zero-byte file instead…
…and make sure it can’t be rewritten

Screen

Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins
Save screenshots to the desktop
Save screenshots in PNG format (other options: BMP, GIF, JPG, PDF, TIFF)
Disable shadow in screenshots
Enable subpixel font rendering on non-Apple LCDs
Enable HiDPI display modes (requires restart)

Finder

Allow quitting via ⌘ + Q; doing so will also hide desktop icons
Disable window animations and Get Info animations
Set Desktop as the default location for new Finder windows
Show icons for hard drives, servers, and removable media on the desktop
Show hidden files by default
Show all filename extensions
Show status bar
Show path bar
Keep folders on top when sorting by name
When performing a search, search the current folder by default
Disable the warning when changing a file extension
Enable spring loading for directories
Remove the spring loading delay for directories
Avoid creating .DS_Store files on network or USB volumes
Disable disk image verification
Automatically open a new Finder window when a volume is mounted
Show item info near icons on the desktop and in other icon views
Show item info to the right of the icons on the desktop
Enable snap-to-grid for icons on the desktop and in other icon views
Increase grid spacing for icons on the desktop and in other icon views
Increase the size of icons on the desktop and in other icon views
Use column list view in all Finder windows by default
Use sort by Application in all Finder windows by default
Disable the warning before emptying the Trash
Empty Trash securely by default
Show the ~/Library folder
Show the /Volumes folder
Expand the following File Info panes: “General”, “Open with”, and “Sharing & Permissions”

Dock & Dashboard

Set the icon size of Dock items to 36 pixels
Change minimize/maximize window effect to scale
Enable magnification
Minimize windows into their application’s icon
Enable spring loading for all Dock items
Show indicator lights for open applications in the Dock
Speed up Mission Control animations
Remove the auto-hiding Dock delay
Make Dock icons of hidden applications translucent
Reset Launchpad, but keep the desktop wallpaper intact

Hot corners

Top left screen corner → Mission Control
Top right screen corner → Desktop
Bottom left screen corner → Start screen saver

Spotlight

Change indexing order and disable some file types from being indexed
Load new settings before rebuilding the index
Make sure indexing is enabled for the main volume
Rebuild the index from scratch

Time Machine

Prevent Time Machine from prompting to use new hard drives as backup volume
Disable local Time Machine backups

Address Book, Dashboard, iCal, TextEdit, and Disk Utility

Enable the debug menu in Address Book
Enable Dashboard dev mode (allows keeping widgets on the desktop)
Use plain text mode for new TextEdit documents
Open and save files as UTF-8 in TextEdit
Use Meslo LGS Nerd Font in TextEdit
Enable the debug menu in Disk Utility
Auto-play videos when opened with QuickTime Player

Activity Monitor

Show the main window when launching Activity Monitor
Visualize CPU usage in the Activity Monitor Dock icon
Show all processes in Activity Monitor
Sort Activity Monitor results by CPU usage
Set columns for each tab
Sort columns in each tab
Update refresh frequency (in seconds)
Show Data in the Disk graph (instead of IO)
Show Data in the Network graph (instead of packets)
Change Dock Icon

Mac App Store

Enable the WebKit Developer Tools in the Mac App Store
Enable Debug Menu in the Mac App Store
Enable the automatic update check
Check for software updates daily, not just once per week
Automatically download apps purchased on other Macs
Turn on app auto-update

Mail

Disable send and reply animations in Mail.app
Copy email addresses as 'foo@example.com' instead of 'Foo Bar foo@example.com' in Mail.app
Add the keyboard shortcut ⌘ + Enter to send an email in Mail.app
Display emails in threaded mode, sorted by date (oldest at the top)
Disable inline attachments (just show the icons)
Disable automatic spell checking

Messages

Disable automatic emoji substitution (i.e. use plain text smileys)
Disable smart quotes as it’s annoying for messages that contain code
Disable continuous spell checking

Photos

Prevent Photos from opening automatically when devices are plugged in

Safari & WebKit

Don’t send search queries to Apple
Press Tab to highlight each item on a web page
Show the full URL in the address bar (note: this still hides the scheme)
Set Safari’s home page to ‘about:blank’ for faster loading
Prevent Safari from opening ‘safe’ files automatically after downloading
Allow hitting the Backspace key to go to the previous page in history
Hide Safari’s bookmarks bar by default
Hide Safari’s sidebar in Top Sites
Disable Safari’s thumbnail cache for History and Top Sites
Enable Safari’s debug menu
Make Safari’s search banners default to Contains instead of Starts With
Remove useless icons from Safari’s bookmarks bar
Enable the Develop menu and the Web Inspector in Safari
Add a context menu item for showing the Web Inspector in web views
Enable continuous spellchecking
Disable auto-correct
Disable AutoFill
Warn about fraudulent websites
Disable plug-ins
Disable Java
Block pop-up windows
Enable Do Not Track
Update extensions automatically

Google Chrome & Google Chrome Canary

Disable the all too sensitive backswipe on trackpads
Disable the all too sensitive backswipe on Magic Mouse
Use the system-native print preview dialog
Expand the print dialog by default

VLC

Install settings

Xcode

Create xcode custom theme folder
Install nord theme
Change theme to nord
Trim trailing whitespace
Trim whitespace only lines
Show line numbers
Reduce the number of compile tasks and stop indexing
Show all devices and their information you have plugged in before
Show ruler at 80 chars
Map ⌃⌘L to show last change for the current line
Show build time
Improve performance
Improve performance by leveraging multi-core CPU
Delete these settings

Visual Studio Code

Install settings

Transmission

Use ~/Documents/Torrents to store incomplete downloads
Use ~/Downloads to store completed downloads
Don’t prompt for confirmation before downloading
Don’t prompt for confirmation before removing non-downloading active transfers
Trash original torrent files
Enabling queue
Setting queue maximum downloads
Hide the donate message
Hide the legal disclaimer
Setting IP block list
Randomize port on launch

Spotify

Change theme to nord

Terminal

Only use UTF-8 in Terminal.app
Install nord theme in Terminal.app
Use nord theme by default in Terminal.app
Enable "focus follows mouse" for Terminal.app and all X11 apps

Software Installation

Homebrew, fontconfig, git, FNM (Fast Node Manager for Node.js + npm), and zsh (latest) are all installed as foundational software for running this project. Homebrew formulae, casks, taps and Mac App Store apps live in the Brewfile. Node, Python for tooling, pnpm/yarn/uv and every CLI that used to be an npm i -g are declared in config/mise/config.toml and pinned in config/mise/mise.lock. The packages/ directory holds only code.list, for VS Code extensions. All of them can be customized in your own fork. The following is the software installed by default:

Taps

Homebrew/Bundle
Homebrew/Services
goreleaser/tap
runpod/runpodctl
artginzburg/tap

Utilities

Core/Dotfiles:

ack, ag (the_silver_searcher)
bats-core
coreutils, dos2unix
dockutil
mackup (app settings backup, copy mode; see below), mas
starship (cross-shell prompt)
stow (dotfile symlink management)
thefuck
topgrade (universal package upgrader)

File System/Network:

bat (cat replacement)
croc (file transfer)
eza (ls replacement)
httpie
ssh-copy-id
tree, unar
wget
zoxide (cd replacement)

Search/Grep/Diff:

fd (find replacement)
findutils
fzf (fuzzy finder)
gawk
git-delta (diff viewer)
gnu-sed
grep
jq, yq (JSON/YAML processors)
psgrep
readline
ripgrep (fast grep)

Languages/Tools:

cmake
gh (GitHub CLI)
go
python
shellcheck, shfmt

Media:

ffmpeg
imagemagick
optipng
uni
webp
yt-dlp

Misc:

grip (GitHub README preview)
sudo-touchid

Apps

Creative & Design:

Adobe Creative Cloud
Figma

Development:

Arduino, Arduino IDE
Autodesk Fusion
GitKraken
Sourcetree
Visual Studio Code

Browsers:

Brave Browser
Firefox
Google Chrome

Media:

IINA (modern media player)
Spotify
VLC

Utilities:

AltServer
AnyDesk
Apparency
BalenaEtcher
Discord
Flux
Keka (archiver)
Kaleidoscope (diff tool)
Karabiner Elements (keyboard customizer)
Ngrok
Paragon NTFS
Notion
Proton Mail, Proton Mail Bridge
ProtonVPN
Bambu Studio
ChatGPT, Claude
PrusaSlicer/SuperSlicer
Tinycast (Spotlight replacement, the default launcher; Raycast on a Mac that opts in with DOTFILES_LAUNCHER=raycast in macos/machine.local.sh)
Blender (the blender MCP needs 5.1+)
Setapp (and the apps in packages/setapp.list, installed by dotfiles install --setapp, one click each)
Shottr (screenshot tool)
Slack
TeamViewer
Telegram
Transmission
Termius
Tunnelblick
Zoom

Terminals:

Warp

Fonts:

Font Awesome Terminal Fonts
Font Fira Code
Font Fira Mono
Font Fira Code Nerd Font
Font Fira Mono Nerd Font
Font Fontawesome
Font Geist Mono Nerd Font
Font Hack
Font Hack Nerd Font
Font Inter
Font Menlo For Powerline
Font Meslo For Powerline
Font Meslo LG
Font Meslo LG Nerd Font
Font Roboto Mono Nerd Font

QuickLook Plugins:

qlmarkdown
qlstephen
qlvideo
quicklook-json
quicklookase
suspicious-package
syntax-highlight

App Store

Amphetamine
Apple Configurator
Canva
DaisyDisk
Emby
Infuse
Magnet
Tailscale
UTM
Xcode
Microsoft Remote Desktop
Paste
Spark
Trello

VS Code Extensions

Rainbow Brackets
Better Comments
Nord Visual Studio Code
Github Markdown Preview
Markdown Checkbox
Markdown Emoji
Markdown Preview Github Styles
Markdown Yaml Preamble
Multi Line Tricks
StandardJS
Npm Intellisense
Markdown Lint
Eslint
Githistory
Python Extension Pack
Gitlens
Editorconfig
Prettier
Shell Format
Styled Components
Duplicate Selection
Magic Python
Auto Build
Dotenv
Python
Pylance
Jupyter
Cpp Tools
Typescript Tslint
Color Highlight
Printcode
Prettier Standard
Indent Rainbow
Nested Comments
PlatformIO IDE
Polacode
Savebackup
Quicktype
Sort Json
Brewfile
Autoimport
Open In Browser
Sort Lines
Highlight Matching Tag
Intellicode
Icons
Import Cost
Change Case
Markdown All In One

Node Packages

AI Tools:

@anthropic-ai/claude-code
@google/gemini-cli

Package Management:

npm (latest)
pnpm
yarn
corepack

Development Tools:

eslint
prettier
detect-circular-deps
nodemon
tsx (TypeScript executor)

CLI Utilities:

fkill-cli (kill processes)
get-port-cli
fast-cli (internet speed test)
gtop (system monitoring)

Build Tools:

grunt-cli
gulp-cli

Maintenance:

npm-check-updates

Publishing:

release-it

Misc:

instant-markdown-d
local-web-server
svgo (SVG optimizer)
tldr (simplified man pages)
underscore-cli

Credits

Adam Eivy for the actual dotfiles
Lars Kappert for some of the scripts and tools used in his dotfiles

License

This project is licensed under ISC. Please fork, contribute and share.

Contributions

Contributions are always welcome in the form of pull requests with explanatory comments.

Please refer to the Contributor Covenant

Loathing, Mehs and Praise

Loathing should be directed into pull requests that make it better. woot.
Bugs with the setup should be put as GitHub issues.
Mehs should be > /dev/null

¯\(ツ)/¯ Warning / Liability

Warning: The creator of this repo is not responsible if your machine ends up in a state you are not happy with. If you are concerned, look at the code to review everything this will do to your machine :)

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.githooks		.githooks
.github		.github
apps		apps
bin		bin
claude		claude
codex		codex
completions		completions
config		config
docs		docs
fonts		fonts
launchagents		launchagents
macos		macos
modules		modules
packages		packages
profiles		profiles
resources		resources
runcom		runcom
scripts		scripts
system		system
tests		tests
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
.gitmodules		.gitmodules
.worktreeinclude		.worktreeinclude
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
Brewfile		Brewfile
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
LICENSE.md		LICENSE.md
README.md		README.md
remote-install.sh		remote-install.sh

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