After the Team Setup, the Personal Reset
In 2018, I had adjusted my dotfiles to work better within a team. I created a common.zsh, added friendly comments, and tried to make things more shareable.
But this year, I’ve missed something: the speed and precision of a terminal setup that was mine alone.
So I made a decision: simplify. Reclaim what I actually used. Strip out anything built for an audience I no longer had to serve.
That’s what this update is about.
Removing common.zsh: A Bold Subtraction
The most telling change? I deleted common.zsh.
Not because it broke anything — but because it didn’t serve my workflow anymore. I wasn’t onboarding new teammates. I was solving new problems, in new projects, and needed dotfiles that stayed out of my way.
With common.zsh gone, I re-centered configuration inside .zshrc.symlink, making each include statement explicit and purposeful:
source "$ZSH/exports.zsh"
source "$ZSH/aliases.zsh"
source "$ZSH/functions.zsh"
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Indirect includes | Direct includes |
| Shared-first | Personal-first |
| More flexible | More deliberate |
This reset made everything easier to debug — and easier to own.
Smarter Defaults, Not More of Them
I didn’t add more aliases or utilities. I trimmed them.
But the ones I kept were meaningful:
alias gst='git status'
alias gco='git checkout'
alias gcm='git commit -m'
These weren’t for show. They were tuned to my day-to-day flow.
And I kept core safety features:
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'
alias rm='rm -i'
| Alias | Purpose |
|---|---|
gst | Fast Git status |
gco | Git checkout |
gcm | Commit with message |
rm -i | Prevent accidental deletes |
Less guesswork. More muscle memory.
Cleaner PATH and Export Handling
One big improvement: I cleaned up PATH management.
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
That’s it.
I removed older exports for Ruby, Node, Python, and other tools. Those environments are now managed per-project using tools like asdf or direnv, where config belongs with the code — not in my shell.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Global language paths | Project-scoped env |
| Do-everything shell | Just launch-ready |
It was about trust: trusting each project to configure itself. The shell just needs to stay ready.
Prompt Still Minimal, Still Mine
No prompt change this time. Still using vcs_info, still fast, still quiet:
autoload -Uz vcs_info
precmd() { vcs_info }
PROMPT='%n@%m %1~ ${vcs_info_msg_0_}%# '
I didn’t touch it because it works. A good prompt fades into the background and leaves you focused on what matters.
A Setup That Feels Like Home Again
This year’s dotfiles update wasn’t flashy. It was a deep breath. A return to a shell that reflected how I work — not how I wanted others to work with me.
It helped me:
- Start faster every day
- Avoid unnecessary overhead
- Reduce friction when debugging
- Feel at home on any machine
That’s the point.