# Dotfiles Management
## Create new bare repo
### 1. Initialize a bare repo in your home directory
`git init --bare $HOME/.dotfiles`

### 2. Create an alias (add this to your .bashrc / .zshrc)
`alias config='git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'`

### 3. Hide untracked files (so 'config status' isn't noisy)
`config config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no`

### 4. Start tracking files
`config add ~/.config/nvim/init.lua`
`config add ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.toml`
`config commit -m "Add nvim and alacritty config"`
`config push`

## Clone to a new machine
### Clone repo
`git clone --bare https://github.com/you/dotfiles.git $HOME/.dotfiles`

### Set up the alias again, then checkout
`alias config='git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME'`
`config checkout`

### If there are conflicts with existing files, back them up first
`mkdir -p ~/.config-backup && \`
`config checkout 2>&1 | grep "\s\+\." | awk '{print $1}' | \`
`xargs -I{} mv {} ~/.config-backup/{}`
```

## Key Principles

**What to track selectively** — don't blindly add all of `~/.config`. Be intentional:
- ✅ App configs you've customized (nvim, tmux, git, zsh, etc.)
- ❌ Secrets, tokens, credentials (use `.gitignore` or a secrets manager)
- ❌ Cache dirs (`~/.config/*/Cache`, `~/.config/*/logs`)
- ❌ Machine-specific state files

**Use a `.gitignore`** at `$HOME` level:
```
.config/*/Cache
.config/*/cache
.config/**/sessions
.config/chromium  # browser data