chezmoi
Manages your config dotfiles across multiple machines, with secrets kept safe.
- Stars
- 22.1k
- Forks
- 699
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Go
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- Dev tool
What it is
chezmoi is a tool for keeping your personal configuration files (dotfiles, such as shell and editor settings) in sync across several computers. You store the desired versions in a source directory, and chezmoi applies them to each machine, adapting where they differ. The README describes it as a way to manage dotfiles securely, but it says little beyond the tagline and points to the documentation site for details.
- Keep the same shell and editor configuration on a laptop and a work desktop
- Store your dotfiles in a git repository and apply them on a new machine
- Manage machine-specific differences in one set of config files
Great for
- People who use more than one computer and want their settings to match
- Developers who keep shell, editor, and git configs under version control
- Users on macOS, Linux, or Windows, which the project topics list as supported platforms
Not ideal for
- People who only use a single machine and have few config files, since the setup overhead may not pay off
- Users who want a point-and-click settings app; chezmoi is a command-line tool
- Anyone needing details on the secrets handling; the README does not describe how it works
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/twpayne/chezmoi.git - 2
Run it
- Install chezmoi using a method from the documentation at chezmoi.io
- Initialize a source directory for your dotfiles
- Add a config file to chezmoi and review the changes it would make
- Apply the changes to your machine
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the full documentation at chezmoi.io for setup and templating features
- Use the developer guide if you plan to contribute to the project
- Keep your dotfile source directory in git to sync across machines
Downloads
Strengths
- Written in Go, a language that typically produces a single distributable binary
- MIT licensed, so it is free to use and modify
- Active project with a large community, reflected in its star count and recent releases
Trade-offs
- The README is minimal, so most usage detail lives on the external documentation site
- Managing config across machines still requires learning its source-directory model
- Claims about security depend on how you use it and are not explained in the README
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chezmoi (this) | 22.1k | Dev tool | intermediate | 4 days ago | People who use more than one computer and want their settings to match |
| wasmer | 21.2k | Dev tool | intermediate | 4 days ago | Developers who want to run untrusted or third-party code with explicit access controls |
| inshellisense | 10.8k | Dev tool | beginner | 7 days ago | Developers who spend a lot of time in the terminal and want suggestions for unfamiliar command options |
| marktext | 63.5k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | People who write notes or articles in Markdown and want a clean, minimal editor |
| atom | 60.7k | App | beginner | 3.8 years ago | Developers who want a desktop code editor they can customize with packages |
| PowerShell | 56k | CLI | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who script or automate tasks across Windows, Linux, and macOS |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.