Fabio Luiz

A single repo for all my developer config

3 min read

I was drowning in scattered configs. Claude Code preferences in ~/.claude, LunarVim setup in ~/.config/lvim, iTerm scripts in ~/.iterm. Every time I tweaked something, I’d think “I should commit this” but had no clean way to do it.

I needed a central repository for my tool preferences. A place to version control everything that makes my development environment mine. I called it ~/.me—my developer avatar.

The Solution: Symlinks + Central Repo

The insight was simple: clone to ~/.me, then symlink everything back.

cd ~
git clone github:fabiolnm/dotme.git .me
cd .me
./itsame

The itsame script discovers plugins and creates symlinks:

~/.claude/commands → ~/.me/claude/commands
~/.config/lvim    → ~/.me/config/lvim
~/.iterm          → ~/.me/iterm

Now I could work from anywhere:

cd ~/.claude
# Edit commands/journal.md
git status
git commit -m "Improve /journal command"

Evolution to Plugin Architecture

My first version used a monolithic setup.sh that hardcoded every symlink. Adding a new tool meant editing the script. Not scalable.

I refactored to a plugin system. Each tool gets its own self-contained script in plugins/:

~/.me/
├── plugins/
│   ├── claude.sh      # Manages Claude symlinks
│   ├── lunarvim.sh    # Manages LunarVim symlinks
│   └── iterm.sh       # Manages iTerm symlinks
├── claude/            # Claude preferences
├── config/lvim/       # LunarVim preferences
└── iterm/             # iTerm preferences

Each plugin handles:

  1. Installation check - warns if the tool isn’t installed (doesn’t fail)
  2. Backup - moves existing configs to ~/.me.bkp/ (one-time, idempotent)
  3. Symlinks - creates links from ~/.me/TOOL to expected locations

Here’s the template pattern:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# plugins/TOOL.sh
 
# 1. Check if tool is installed
if ! command -v TOOL &> /dev/null; then
    echo "📥 TOOL not installed. Install via: brew install --cask tool"
    exit 0  # Exit gracefully
fi
 
# 2. Backup existing config (only once)
if [[ -e "$HOME/.config/TOOL" ]] && \
   [[ ! -L "$HOME/.config/TOOL" ]] && \
   [[ ! -e "$BACKUP_DIR/config/TOOL" ]]; then
    echo "📦 Backing up TOOL config"
    mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR/config"
    mv "$HOME/.config/TOOL" "$BACKUP_DIR/config/TOOL"
fi
 
# 3. Create symlinks
mkdir -p "$HOME/.config"
ln -sf "$PROFILE_DIR/TOOL" "$HOME/.config/TOOL"
 
echo "✓ TOOL configured"

The itsame orchestrator is simple—it discovers and runs all plugins:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
export BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/.me.bkp"
export PROFILE_DIR="$(pwd)"
 
for plugin in plugins/*.sh; do
    if [[ -f "$plugin" ]]; then
        bash "$plugin"
    fi
done
 
echo "✓ Profile activated"

Adding a new tool is dead simple: drop a plugin script in plugins/, run ./itsame, done.

What I’ve Customized So Far

LunarVim - Auto-open NvimTree on startup. No more typing Space+E every time I launch.

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("VimEnter", {
  callback = function()
    require("nvim-tree.api").tree.open()
  end,
})

iTerm - One-command workspace layout. Six panes: LunarVim (66%), two Claude sessions, three Fish shells.

workspace /path/to/project
 
┌──────────────┬─────────┐
│              │ claude  │
│   LunarVim   ├─────────┤
│   (66x66)    │ claude  │
├──────┬───────┼─────────┤
│ fish │ fish  │  fish   │
└──────┴───────┴─────────┘

Quartz - Digital garden customizations. Custom layout, components, and styles for fabioluiz.dev.

Claude Code - The entire journaling pipeline lives here:

  • hooks/capture-session.sh - Saves every conversation to ~/garden/drafts/
  • commands/drafts.md - Analyzes captures, suggests journal entries
  • commands/journal.md - Synthesizes drafts into polished entries
  • skills/journal-writer/ - Defines voice and structure

Key Takeaways

  • Central repo beats scattered configs - One place to commit, one git history
  • Symlinks make it transparent - Tools don’t know they’re reading from ~/.me
  • Plugin architecture scales - Adding new tools is a one-file change
  • Idempotent is essential - Re-running ./itsame should be safe
  • Backup before touching - Original configs preserved in ~/.me.bkp/

The ~/.me pattern works for any tool with a config file. If you can symlink it, you can version it.

See Also