Config and roles

The .chezmoi.toml.tmpl config template, its three prompts, symlink mode, age encryption, and where the resulting data is used.

.chezmoi.toml.tmpl is rendered once by chezmoi init into ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml. It asks three questions, turns on symlink mode and age encryption, and stores the answers as template data for every other .tmpl file.

Source

{{- $name := promptStringOnce . "name" "Full name" "Prad Nukala" -}}
{{- $email := promptStringOnce . "email" "Email" "prad@sonr.io" -}}
{{- $roleDefault := "desktop" -}}
{{- if eq .chezmoi.os "darwin" -}}{{- $roleDefault = "mac" -}}{{- end -}}
{{- $role := promptChoiceOnce . "role" "Machine role" (list "desktop" "laptop" "mac" "server") $roleDefault -}}

mode = "symlink"
encryption = "age"

[age]
    identity = "~/.config/chezmoi/key.txt"
    recipient = "age19tdqgavaekhvgqsd75n8a09vvshen2ykzy8kw6tenczz73449anqc3l7a6"
    useBuiltin = true

[data]
    name = {{ $name | quote }}
    email = {{ $email | quote }}
    role = {{ $role | quote }}

Prompts

The *Once functions only prompt when the key is missing from the existing config, so re-running chezmoi init keeps earlier answers. chezmoi init --prompt forces all three prompts again. Changing the role changes the rendered ignore file and package script, so the next chezmoi apply adds or drops the desktop layer and re-runs the package install.

Machine roles

desktop and laptop behave identically in the current templates; nothing branches on one without the other. The desktop layer is also skipped whenever the OS is not Linux, whatever the role. See the ignore rules for the exact list of gated paths.

Mode

mode = "symlink" makes chezmoi apply link plain files in $HOME back to the source tree. Templates, private_, executable_, and encrypted files are still written as real files. The overview covers the editing consequences.

Age encryption

No source file currently carries the encrypted_ attribute, so the key is only exercised when a secret is added with chezmoi add --encrypt. The README still asks for the key to be copied into place before the first apply:

mkdir -p ~/.config/chezmoi
scp <existing-machine>:.config/chezmoi/key.txt ~/.config/chezmoi/key.txt
chmod 600 ~/.config/chezmoi/key.txt

Template data

The [data] table exposes .name, .email, and .role to every template. chezmoi also merges .chezmoidata/*.yaml into the same namespace (.packages, .aliases; see Packages and aliases) and provides built-ins such as .chezmoi.os.

[user]
	email = {{ .email }}
	name = {{ .name }}

The rest of ~/.gitconfig is covered under Tools.