Dotfiles 2023: Durable by Design -

This year, my dotfiles aren’t about exploration anymore. They are infrastructure.

I wasn’t adding much. I wasn’t removing much. I was refining the system that had to work across any machine, at any time, with zero surprises.

This update may look small — but every change is about trust.

`$DOTFILES` Becomes the Anchor

The most consistent improvement: I rewired every include path to rely on the $DOTFILES variable.

source "$DOTFILES/bootstrap.zsh"
source "$DOTFILES/aliases.zsh"
source "$DOTFILES/functions.zsh"

No relative paths. No assumptions. Whether cloned, symlinked, or mirrored, this setup now loads the same way everywhere.

This small shift made every shell session more predictable.

Another improvement: sourcing order is now deliberate.

This structure existed before — but now it’s explicit and enforced.

source "$DOTFILES/bootstrap.zsh"
source "$DOTFILES/aliases.zsh"
source "$DOTFILES/functions.zsh"

You read this and know exactly what runs first. That’s the goal.

The functions file wasn’t bloated. But I took time to clean up naming, scope, and portability.

Every function now:

It’s not a framework. It’s a sharp toolbox.

# Example: Git branch cleanup
function delete_merged_branches() {
  git branch --merged | grep -v '\*' | grep -v 'main' | xargs -n 1 git branch -d
}

This type of tool belongs in dotfiles — simple, scoped, and repeatable.

By 2023, I’m not chasing dotfiles features. I’m maintaining a system that lets me:

There’s nothing shiny here. That’s the point.