Dotfiles development

Skill JamesPrial/skills/skills/dotfiles-development

collection of Claude skills. treat as mostly examples

Install

npx -y skills add JamesPrial/skills --skill dotfiles-development

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What its author says it does

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Use when working in this dotfiles repository - modifying shell configs, SSH, neovim, or scripts. Covers symlink architecture, agent selection, and permission model.

SKILL.md

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Dotfiles Development

Symlink Architecture

~/.dotfiles -> <repo>               # Primary anchor (points to repo root)
~/.zshrc                            # Bootstrap file (sources ~/.dotfiles/zshrc)
~/.ssh/config -> ~/.dotfiles/ssh/config
~/.config/nvim -> ~/.dotfiles/nvim
~/.claudescripts -> ~/.dotfiles/claudescripts

All paths resolve through ~/.dotfiles. Scripts find the repo via:

DOTFILES_DIR="$(readlink -f "$HOME/.dotfiles")"

Agent Selection

digraph agent_selection {
    "Task type?" [shape=diamond];
    "Git operation?" [shape=diamond];
    "GitHub/Actions?" [shape=diamond];
    "Writing script?" [shape=diamond];

    "git-ops (Haiku)" [shape=box];
    "gh-cli-expert (Sonnet)" [shape=box];
    "bash-script-architect + bash-tdd-architect (parallel)" [shape=box];
    "devops-infra-lead (Sonnet)" [shape=box];
    "No agent needed" [shape=box];

    "Task type?" -> "Git operation?";
    "Git operation?" -> "git-ops (Haiku)" [label="yes"];
    "Git operation?" -> "GitHub/Actions?" [label="no"];
    "GitHub/Actions?" -> "gh-cli-expert (Sonnet)" [label="yes"];
    "GitHub/Actions?" -> "Writing script?" [label="no"];
    "Writing script?" -> "bash-script-architect + bash-tdd-architect (parallel)" [label="yes"];
    "Writing script?" -> "devops-infra-lead (Sonnet)" [label="infra/CI work"];
    "Writing script?" -> "No agent needed" [label="config edit"];
}

Agent	Model	Use For
`git-ops`	Haiku	All git operations - commits, branches, status. Isolates git context from main conversation.
`bash-script-architect`	Haiku	Writing/debugging bash scripts
`bash-tdd-architect`	inherit	TDD for bash scripts - runs IN PARALLEL with `bash-script-architect`
`gh-cli-expert`	Sonnet	GitHub Actions failures, PR management, gh CLI
`devops-infra-lead`	Sonnet	Infrastructure, CI/CD, system admin

Important: For committing changes, use the git-ops agent (not generic skills). It keeps git output isolated from the main context window.

TDD for Scripts: When writing or modifying bash scripts, launch bash-tdd-architect IN PARALLEL with bash-script-architect. The TDD agent designs behavior-driven tests BEFORE seeing implementation, ensuring true test-first development.

Wrapper Scripts (claudescripts/)

Script	Model	Purpose
`push`	Haiku	Quick commit/push with conventional commits
`ghcli`	Sonnet	GitHub CLI operations
`support`	Opus	Bash debugging with web search

Accessed via ~/.claudescripts symlink (in PATH).

Adding New Configurations

Step	Action	Script to Update
1	Add file to repo root (no dot prefix)	—
2	Add chmod line for permissions	fix-perms (`bin/dotfiles-fix-perms`)
3	Add symlink if needed	install (`bin/dotfiles-install`)

Detailed steps:

Add file to repo root (no dot prefix in name)
Update fix-perms — Add chmod line to bin/dotfiles-fix-perms:
- Scripts/dirs: chmod 700
- Config files: chmod 600
Update install (if needed) — Add symlink to setup_symlinks() in bin/dotfiles-install

Common mistake: Forgetting the fix-perms step. Every new file needs a chmod line.

Permission Model

Type	Permission	Example
Directories	700	`nvim/`, `bin/`
Scripts	700	`bin/dotfiles-install`, `bin/dotfiles-sync`
Config files	600	`zshrc`, `ssh/config`

Git hooks auto-fix permissions on pulls via bin/dotfiles-fix-perms.

Testing Changes

source ~/.zshrc                      # Reload shell config
./bin/dotfiles-install               # Safe to re-run (idempotent)
ls -la                               # Verify permissions

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Adding dot prefix to files	Use `zshrc` not `.zshrc` - symlinks add the dot
Forgetting fix-perms	Every new file needs a chmod line in `bin/dotfiles-fix-perms`
Wrong permission value	Scripts=700, configs=600
Editing ~/.zshrc directly	Edit `zshrc` at repo root - bootstrap file just sources it
Hardcoding paths	Use `$HOME/.dotfiles` or resolve via symlink

Key Files

bin/dotfiles-install - Bootstrap, symlinks, dependencies
bin/dotfiles-fix-perms - Permission management
bin/dotfiles-sync - Pull and fix permissions
CLAUDE.md - Repository overview
bin/CLAUDE.md - Scripts documentation