New Contexts, Same Philosophy
This year I’m not trying to reinvent my shell. I’m preparing it to work anywhere.
With multiple machines, containers, and WSL in rotation, I needed a setup that stayed fast, stayed clean, and stayed consistent — regardless of the context.
So I added just enough layering to keep things flexible.
Introducing profile.zsh: A New Top Layer
The biggest structural change this year: profile.zsh.
It runs before everything else. Its purpose: make system-level decisions. Nothing environment-specific lives in .zshrc.symlink anymore — it all starts here.
# profile.zsh
export ZSH="$HOME/.zsh"
export DOTFILES="$HOME/.dotfiles"
It’s the shell equivalent of BIOS config — base assumptions, no noise.
| Layer | Responsibility |
|---|---|
profile.zsh | Paths, host info, assumptions |
bootstrap.zsh | Path exports, base setup |
aliases.zsh | Dev shortcuts |
functions.zsh | Reusable utilities |
Reordering for Clarity and Safety
The .zshrc.symlink now reads like a boot plan:
source "$DOTFILES/profile.zsh"
source "$DOTFILES/bootstrap.zsh"
source "$DOTFILES/aliases.zsh"
source "$DOTFILES/functions.zsh"
This order reflects intent:
- Define your ground truth
- Set up the shell
- Add helpful commands
And because $DOTFILES and $ZSH are defined early, all paths work predictably.
Defensive Scripting: Avoiding Setup Drift
One small tweak in bootstrap.zsh shows the shift:
[ -z "$ZSH" ] && export ZSH="$HOME/.zsh"
These guards ensure things don’t explode on machines with partial installs, or environments where not everything is mounted yet.
It’s a small investment for a big gain: confidence.
Modular Thinking for Multi-Host Life
This setup is no longer “my laptop’s dotfiles.”
It’s my shell on:
- Mac
- WSL
- Remote dev containers
- CI debugging sessions
And it just works.
Each file serves a role. Each role is testable. Each assumption is written down.
# WSL detection (example use case)
if grep -qEi "(Microsoft|WSL)" /proc/version; then
export WSL=true
fi
Dotfiles aren’t static anymore — they’re adaptive.
Referencing Secrets from External Repos
This year I also standardized how I source secrets from outside the dotfiles repo:
# From personal secrets repo (outside version control here)
[ -f "$HOME/code/private-dotfiles/zsh/secrets.zsh" ] && source "$HOME/code/private-dotfiles/zsh/secrets.zsh"
This approach helps me:
- Keep my public config portable and safe
- Share dotfiles without worry
- Maintain multiple scopes of trust (personal, infra, clients)
Dotfiles don’t need secrets — they just need to know where to look.
2025 Is for Speed, Not Size
This post isn’t long because the work wasn’t loud.
It was:
- A reordering of responsibility
- A cleanup of mental model
- A preparation for environments I don’t fully control
And it means I can spin up a new terminal and trust it’ll be fast, sane, and mine.