My dotfiles

August 17, 2026 · View on GitHub

Terminal

Personal dotfiles with modern shell tooling, optimized for Laravel/PHP development. Features fast startup times, smart directory navigation, and modern CLI tools.

Getting started

Key Features
Quick Start - clone and run bin/install
What's Included - Shell & Prompt · Modern CLI Tools · Development Tools · QuickLook Plugins

Reference

How It Works - Symlinked Files · Sourced Files · Custom Agnoster Theme
Daily Usage - Smart Navigation · Laravel/PHP Shortcuts · Data Processing · Maintenance Commands
Version Management - Node.js via fnm · PHP & Composer via Homebrew
Package Management - the Brewfile and global npm and Composer packages

AI setup

AI Development Setup - one config for Claude Code and Codex
- Quick Install (Standalone) - the AI setup without the rest of the dotfiles
- Skills - all 19, grouped by purpose
- Scoped Plugins - skills that load only in the repos that need them
- Code Intelligence - Laravel LSP, Intelephense, TypeScript
- Agents - custom subagents
- The Review Workflow - the six lanes behind review-code and review-pr
- Settings Worth Knowing
- Sharing With Codex - how one source feeds both harnesses
- Adding New Skills - and the two rules that decide whether a skill gets used

Everything else

Customization - Personal Aliases & Functions · Project-Specific Variables
Post-Installation · Tool Comparisons · Utilities · Credits

Key Features

Custom Agnoster Theme - Clean powerline prompt with no branch symbols, • for changes
Version-Controlled AI Setup - Skills, agents, settings, and instructions for both Claude Code and Codex, from one source
Framework-Aware Code Intelligence - Laravel LSP, Intelephense, and TypeScript language servers wired into the agent
Fast Tools - fnm, zoxide, ripgrep, bat, eza (all Rust-based for speed)
One Command Install - bin/install sets up everything including Claude Code

Quick Start

git clone git@github.com:freekmurze/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
cd ~/.dotfiles
bin/install

What's Included

Shell & Prompt

Oh My Zsh - Framework for managing Zsh configuration (with agnoster theme by default)
zoxide - Smart directory jumping based on frecency
fzf - Fuzzy finder for files and history
direnv - Automatic environment variables per directory

Modern CLI Tools

fnm - Fast Node.js version manager
bat - Cat with syntax highlighting
eza - Modern ls replacement with icons
ripgrep - Fast grep alternative
fd - Fast find alternative
git-delta - Better git diffs
jq - JSON processor and formatter
yq - YAML processor and formatter
bottom - Modern system monitor

Development Tools

PHP - Latest version via Homebrew
Composer - Dependency manager via Homebrew
Node.js - LTS version managed via fnm
Laravel Valet - Local development server
MySQL - Database with auto-start

QuickLook Plugins

Instant file previews in Finder: code files, markdown, JSON, CSV, patches, and archives.

How It Works

Symlinked Files

The installation creates symlinks from your home directory to the dotfiles repository. This allows you to version control your configuration while keeping files in their expected locations.

Symlink Location	Points To	Purpose
`~/.zshrc`	`~/.dotfiles/home/.zshrc`	Main Zsh configuration (Oh My Zsh with custom agnoster theme)
`~/.gitconfig`	`~/.dotfiles/home/.gitconfig`	Git configuration with delta diff viewer
`~/.global-gitignore`	`~/.dotfiles/home/.global-gitignore`	Global Git ignore patterns
`~/.vimrc`	`~/.dotfiles/home/.vimrc`	Vim configuration
`~/.vim/`	`~/.dotfiles/home/.vim/`	Vim runtime files
`~/.mackup.cfg`	`~/.dotfiles/macos/.mackup.cfg`	Mackup backup configuration
`~/.claude/skills`	`~/.dotfiles/config/claude/skills/`	All Claude Code skills (version-controlled)
`~/.claude/agents`	`~/.dotfiles/config/claude/agents/`	All Claude Code agents (version-controlled)
`~/.claude/CLAUDE.md`	`~/.dotfiles/config/claude/AGENTS.md`	Agent instructions (Claude reads `CLAUDE.md`, not `AGENTS.md`)
`~/.claude/settings.json`	`~/.dotfiles/config/claude/settings.json`	Claude Code settings
`~/.codex/AGENTS.md`	`~/.dotfiles/config/claude/AGENTS.md`	The same instructions, read natively by Codex
`~/.codex/skills/*`	`~/.dotfiles/config/claude/skills/*`	One symlink per shared skill, see `bin/link-agent-skills`
`~/.config/zed/settings.json`	`~/.dotfiles/config/zed/settings.json`	Zed editor settings
`~/.config/zed/keymap.json`	`~/.dotfiles/config/zed/keymap.json`	Zed custom keybindings
`~/.config/ghostty/config`	`~/.dotfiles/config/ghostty/config`	Ghostty terminal settings

To manually symlink the Zed configuration (if not using bin/install):

mkdir -p ~/.config/zed
ln -sf ~/.dotfiles/config/zed/settings.json ~/.config/zed/settings.json
ln -sf ~/.dotfiles/config/zed/keymap.json ~/.config/zed/keymap.json

Sourced Files

These files are loaded by .zshrc but remain in the dotfiles directory:

home/.aliases - Shell command aliases
home/.functions - Custom shell functions
home/.exports - Environment variables

Custom Agnoster Theme

The default configuration uses a customized agnoster theme stored in oh-my-zsh-custom/themes/agnoster.zsh-theme:

Customizations:

No git branch symbol (cleaner look)
Uses • for unstaged changes instead of ±
Powerline arrows for segment separators
Requires a font with powerline glyphs

Git Status Symbols:

✚ - Staged changes (files added with git add)
• - Unstaged changes (modified files not yet staged)
Yellow background - Uncommitted changes
Green background - Clean working directory

Daily Usage

z dotfiles          # Jump to frequently used directories
zi                  # Interactive directory picker
Ctrl+R              # Fuzzy search command history
Ctrl+T              # Fuzzy find files
Alt+C               # Fuzzy change directory

Laravel/PHP Shortcuts

a                   # php artisan
p                   # Run Pest/PHPUnit tests
c                   # composer
mfs                 # php artisan migrate:fresh --seed
nah                 # git reset --hard; git clean -df

Data Processing

# JSON processing with jq
curl api.github.com/users/freekmurze | jq
cat composer.json | jq '.require'
php artisan tinker --execute="echo json_encode(User::first());" | jq

# YAML processing with yq
yq '.jobs' .github/workflows/ci.yml
yq -o json docker-compose.yml

# System monitoring
btm                 # Modern system monitor (aliased from top/htop)

Maintenance Commands

bin/update          # Update all packages and tools

Version Management

Node.js (via fnm)

fnm install --lts     # Install latest LTS
fnm use lts-latest    # Use latest LTS
fnm install 20        # Install specific version
fnm use 20            # Switch to specific version
fnm list              # Show installed versions

PHP & Composer (via Homebrew)

brew upgrade php      # Update PHP to latest
brew upgrade composer # Update Composer

Package Management

All Homebrew packages are declared in config/Brewfile. To add a new tool:

echo 'brew "neovim"' >> ~/.dotfiles/config/Brewfile
brew bundle --file=~/.dotfiles/config/Brewfile

Complete package list:

Core: node, php, composer, pkg-config, wget, httpie, ncdu, hub, ack, doctl, 1password-cli, git-secret, imagemagick, mysql, yarn, ghostscript, mackup
Modern CLI: zoxide, bat, eza, ripgrep, fd, git-delta, fnm, fzf, direnv, jq, yq, bottom, zsh-autosuggestions
QuickLook: qlcolorcode, qlstephen, qlmarkdown, quicklook-json, qlprettypatch, quicklook-csv, betterzip, suspicious-package
PHP Extensions: imagick, memcached, xdebug, redis
Global npm: agent-browser, intelephense, typescript-language-server, typescript
Global Composer: laravel/envoy, spatie/phpunit-watcher, laravel/valet, laravel/lsp

AI Development Setup

Everything the agents need lives in config/claude/, and both Claude Code and Codex read it from there. Nothing is duplicated per tool.

config/claude/
├── AGENTS.md          the instructions, read by both harnesses
├── settings.json      Claude Code settings, permissions, hooks
├── agents/            custom subagents
└── skills/            19 skills, plus 3 scoped plugins

Quick Install (Standalone)

Install just the AI setup without the full dotfiles:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/freekmurze/dotfiles/main/bin/install-claude-code | bash

That installs the Claude Code CLI, symlinks the config, and runs bin/link-agent-skills to share the harness-neutral skills with Codex.

Skills

All skills live in config/claude/skills/ and are version-controlled. On a new Mac they are available immediately after the installer runs.

Code and conventions (loaded automatically when relevant)

Skill	What it does
`spatie-guidelines`	The single source for Spatie PHP, Laravel, and JavaScript conventions. Style, docblocks, control flow, naming, validation, Blade, package architecture, Pest, git workflow
`react-best-practices`	React hooks, effects, refs, and component design. Scoped to `*/.{tsx,jsx}`
`laravel-inertia-react-structure`	Frontend directory structure for Laravel Inertia React apps. Scoped to React files
`livewire-4`	Livewire 4 components, single-file and multi-file
`spatie-package-skeleton`	Scaffolding a package from `package-skeleton-laravel`, plus extensibility patterns
`speeding-up-laravel-tests`	Making slow Pest suites fast. Factories, fakes, config caching, `LazilyRefreshDatabase`

Review and audit

Skill	What it does
`review-code`	Runs 6 review lanes in parallel over the working tree, then applies the fixes
`review-pr`	Reviews a GitHub PR, gates on CI, merges, thanks the author. Releases only when asked
`audit-architecture`	Whole-codebase audit of how state and data are modelled. Read-only, ranked P0 to P3

Products and publishing (CLI wrappers for things Spatie runs)

Skill	What it does
`flare`	Triage errors and performance data on flareapp.io
`mailcoach`	Email lists, subscribers, campaigns, automations
`there-there`	Helpdesk tickets, contacts, channels
`update-spatie-docs`	Re-import package docs to spatie.be after a docs PR merges
`write-freek-dev-blogpost`	Draft a post in the freek.dev voice
`typefully`	Draft and schedule social posts
`code-snippet-images`	Render code screenshots for social media

Tooling

Skill	What it does
`conductor`	Conductor workspaces and sessions, the CLI, the API, deep links, settings, writing briefs
`ui`	Explore, build, and refine UI through the ui.sh MCP server
`grill-me`	Interrogate a plan until every branch of the decision tree is resolved

Any directory under skills/ with a .claude-plugin/plugin.json loads as a plugin named <name>@skills-dir. Plugins can be turned off globally and enabled per repository, so situational skills cost nothing in unrelated sessions.

Plugin	Contents	Enabled
`marketing`	29 marketing, CRO, and SEO skills	Per repo, in the ones with a marketing site
`music`	Ableton Live control	Per workspace
`laravel-lsp`	The Laravel language server, see below	Globally

To enable one in a repository, add it to that repo's .claude/settings.json:

{
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "marketing@skills-dir": true
  }
}

Project-scope plugins only load from the directory you launch from, so start the CLI at the repository root.

Code Intelligence

Three language servers give the agent diagnostics after every edit and real symbol navigation instead of grep.

Server	Provides	Install
`laravel-lsp@skills-dir`	Config keys, route names, view paths, translation strings, middleware aliases, and container bindings, in `.blade.php`	`composer global require laravel/lsp`
`php-lsp`	PHP types, symbols, references, signatures	`npm i -g intelephense`
`typescript-lsp`	TypeScript and TSX intelligence	`npm i -g typescript-language-server typescript`

Laravel LSP is first-party (announced at Laracon US 2026) and has no official Claude plugin, so skills/laravel-lsp/ wraps it in a small .lsp.json. Its phpEnvironment defaults to auto, which finds Herd and Valet without configuration.

Claude Code registers one server per file extension, so the two PHP servers split the work: Intelephense takes .php for types, undefined methods, and references, and Laravel LSP takes .blade.php for route names, view paths, and translation strings. To flip that priority, disable php-lsp and add ".php" back to skills/laravel-lsp/.lsp.json.

Agents

Custom subagents live in config/claude/agents/.

laravel-feature-builder - Implements new features across models, controllers, migrations, and views

Most delegation now happens through plugins instead, notably the laravel-simplifier:laravel-simplifier agent from Taylor's laravel marketplace, which is lane 2 of the review workflow.

The Review Workflow

review-code and review-pr share one definition of what a review is, in skills/review-code/references/lanes.md. Six lanes run in parallel:

Correctness - bugs, via /code-review
PHP simplification - via the laravel-simplifier agent
Spatie conventions - via spatie-guidelines
Laravel practices - via Laravel Boost's per-repo laravel-best-practices
React - via react-best-practices, only when JS or TS changed
Security - authorization, mass assignment, injection, XSS, secrets, SSRF, PII in logs

Findings are deduplicated, and security outranks correctness, which outranks conventions. Both defect lanes require a concrete failure scenario, so "consider adding a null check" does not count as a finding.

The lanes file has a per-harness table, so the same review runs under Codex using its review-agent skill.

Settings Worth Knowing

Setting	Why
`disableClaudeAiConnectors`	Keeps claude.ai account connectors in the desktop app, out of the terminal
`skillOverrides`	Hides 8 bundled skills from the model while keeping them typeable, saving context
`cleanupPeriodDays`	Transcript retention, set to a year
`defaultMode: auto`	A classifier handles approvals instead of prompting on every step

Codex reads AGENTS.md natively and Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md, so one file is symlinked under both names. Skills are a different story: Codex keeps its own ~/.codex/skills/ alongside its built-in .system skills, so a directory symlink would destroy those. bin/link-agent-skills links the harness-neutral skills one by one instead.

bin/link-agent-skills

Excluded from sharing: ui (needs a Claude MCP tool), typefully (Claude-specific allowed-tools), and the plugin directories, which have no top-level SKILL.md.

Adding New Skills

# Install a skill (adds directly to your dotfiles)
npx skills add <owner/repo>

# Share it with Codex too, if it is harness-neutral
# (add it to the SHARED list in bin/link-agent-skills)
bin/link-agent-skills

cd ~/.dotfiles
git add config/claude/skills/
git commit -m "Add new skill"

Two rules that decide whether a skill ever gets used:

The name and description determine everything. A skill named after a person, or after a quarter of what it does, will not be found. Write the description around the phrases you would actually type.
Keep the body short and push detail into references/. A skill body stays in context for the rest of the session once loaded, while reference files load only when needed.

Browse more skills at skills.sh

Customization

Personal Aliases & Functions

Create custom configurations that won't be committed:

mkdir -p ~/.dotfiles-custom/shell
vim ~/.dotfiles-custom/shell/.aliases

These files are automatically loaded by .zshrc if they exist.

Project-Specific Variables

Use direnv for automatic environment loading:

cd my-project
echo 'export DEBUG=true' > .envrc
direnv allow

Variables load when you enter the directory and unload when you leave.

Post-Installation

Restore settings (optional): Run mackup restore if you have backups
Migrate history (upgrading only): Run migration/migrate-z-to-zoxide.sh if you have ~/.z

Tool Comparisons

Old Tool	New Tool	Why Better
z.sh / autojump	zoxide	Smarter frecency algorithm, Rust speed
nvm	fnm	40x faster, simpler, Rust-based
cat	bat	Syntax highlighting, git integration
ls	eza	Icons, tree view, git status
grep	ripgrep	5-10x faster, respects .gitignore
find	fd	Simpler syntax, 10x faster
diff	delta	Side-by-side diffs, syntax highlighting
htop	bottom	Better UI, graphs, Rust-based

Utilities

The bin/ directory contains helper scripts:

install - Main installation script (idempotent, safe to re-run)
install-claude-code - Standalone installer for the AI setup: the CLI, the symlinks, and the Codex links
link-agent-skills - Symlink the harness-neutral skills and AGENTS.md into Codex, leaving Codex's own built-in skills alone
exclude-from-spotlight - Drop a .metadata_never_index marker into data heavy directories so Spotlight skips them. Local database directories (DBngin and friends) hold hundreds of thousands of constantly rewritten files, which keeps mds_stores busy indefinitely.
update - Update dotfiles, Homebrew, npm, and Composer packages
doctor - Health check and diagnostic tool
conductor-merge - Fast-forward the current Conductor workspace branch into main (which lives in another git worktree). Use --push to also push main to origin, which clears Conductor's "Changes" view (it diffs against origin/main).

Credits

Created by Freek Van der Herten. Used by many at Spatie.

See config/Brewfile for complete package list.