dotfiles

This repository just serves to sync my shell and other configs between my work and private machines. More advanced approaches like stow or chezmoi don’t seem to be necessary yet, but never say never...

zsh

To source all files in the zsh directory you can run following command in your .zshrc file:

DOTFILES_PATH="/Users/justuswolff/Repositories/dotfiles"

# source all files in the zsh folder of teh dotfiles repo
for file in "$DOTFILES_PATH/zsh/"*; do
  [ -f "$file" ] && source "$file"
done

zsh Navigation Shortcuts

The zsh/04_navigation.sh file provides helpful navigation functions and aliases:

• up [N]: Go up N directories (defaults to 1 if not specified).
• Directory shortcuts:
  • docs: cd ~/Documents
  • down: cd ~/Downloads
  • desk: cd ~/Desktop
  • repos: cd ~/Repositories
  • f: Open the dotfiles repo in VS Code
• Miscellaneous:
  • h: Show command history
  • c: Clear the terminal
  • l: List files with details and color
  • rdf: Shortcut for rm -rf
  • o: Open the current directory in Finder

Homebrew

Within the brew directory run

brew bundle [--cleanup]

to install the Brewfile (and optionally) removing your other installations. To add your local installations run

brew bundle dump --cask --formula --tap --force

to list all casks and formulaes and forcing the overrride. This just handles installation. To upgrade already installed casks run

brew upgrade --cask

CU for updating

Pin the versions of apps that usually make problems (spotify, stats): brew cu pin <app_name>. Then run all updates with: brew cu -yaf.

Using on multiple accounts on same machine

• Followed the untar anywhere approach
• Export in .zshrc: export HOMEBREW_PREFIX="/Users/justuswolff_private/brew"

BetterTouchTool Preset

The btt/Shared.bttpreset file contains a set of custom BetterTouchTool triggers and settings for macOS automation.

Key Features

• Global Triggers:

Trigger	Action	Notes
Cmd + Right Click	Sends the Enter key	Useful for quickly confirming actions.
Cmd + Shift + Right Click	Sends Shift + Enter	Useful for Jupyter Notebooks
Ctrl + Right Click	Connects to "AirPods Pro" Bluetooth device	Quickly connect to your AirPods.

All these triggers are also available via a two finger tap on the trackpad.

• Spotify Specific Triggers:

Trigger	Action	Notes
Middle Mouse Button	Play/Pause	Control playback with a click.
1 Finger Swipe Right	Next Track	Skip to the next song.
1 Finger Tap	Play/Pause	Control playback with a tap.
1 Finger Swipe Left	Previous Track	Go back to the previous song.

• VS Code Specific Triggers:

Trigger	Action	Notes
Middle Mouse Button	Trigger "Code Inspection"	Activates a custom code inspection.
1 Finger Tap Middle	Trigger "Code Inspection"	Activates a custom code inspection.
Named Trigger: Code Inspection	Modifiers + F12	Custom shortcut for code inspection at mouse location.

Usage

1. Open BetterTouchTool.
2. Go to the "Manage Presets" section.
3. Click "Import" and select the btt/Shared.bttpreset file.
4. Enable the "Shared" preset to activate the included triggers and settings.

iTerm2

Load and/or export the profile configured here. I could not get the profile used by iTerm2 to be also used by VSCode but the natural key editing seems to be similar :)

Karabiner

• Some useful shortcuts are at this marketplace

Shortcuts

App Shortcuts

These global shortcuts use Capslock + [key] to quickly launch applications.

Key	Application
B	Browser (Brave)
C	Calendar
F	Finder
R	Reminders
S	Spotify
T	Microsoft Teams
V	Visual Studio Code
W	WhatsApp
X	Microsoft Excel
N	Notes (Obsidian)
M	Mail
E	Outlook
D	Microsoft Word
#	iTerm (# shell start)
G	System Settings
H	Microsoft To Do

Arrow Keys

These shortcuts use Capslock + [key] to emulate arrow key navigation:

Key	Arrow Key
J	Left
K	Down
L	Up
Ö	Right
Left Cmd + J	Left + Left Option
Left Cmd + K	Down + Left Option
Left Cmd + L	Up + Left Option
Left Cmd + Ö	Right + Left Option

Brackets

These shortcuts use Capslock + [key] to type brackets quickly:

Key Combination	Bracket
U	(
I	[
O	{
Left Cmd + U	)
Left Cmd + I	]
Left Cmd + O	}

Miscellaneous Key Bindings

These shortcuts use Capslock + [key] to perform various actions:

Key Combination	Result
P (Pipe)	|
Ü	\
Ä (Äquals)	=
Shift + Cmd + Ctrl + Option + Enter	Ctrl + Cmd + Q (Lock)

Hammerspoon

Since symlinking currently does not work as mentioned in this issue, just copy the hammerspoon folder to ~/.hammerspoon/ and run hs.reload() in the Hammerspoon console.

Auto-Mute Speakers

The init.lua script automatically mutes the MacBook's built-in speakers when the audio output is switched to them. This prevents unexpected sound output from the internal speakers.

Espanso

Espanso is a cross-platform text expander that automatically replaces text snippets as you type.

Setup on New Machines

1. Install Espanso (if not already installed via Homebrew):

   brew install espanso

2. Remove any existing espanso configuration (if it exists): Remove this if espanso is not running, otherwise it will be recreated automatically.

   rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/espanso"

3. Create symlink to entire dotfiles espanso directory:

   ln -s "$HOME/Repositories/dotfiles/espanso" "$HOME/Library/Application Support/espanso"

4. Start espanso (if not already running):

   espanso start

Configuration

The configuration includes automatic text expansion for common contractions:

• Negative contractions: dont → don't, cant → can't, wont → won't, etc.
• Question words: whats → what's, wheres → where's, hows → how's, etc.
• Pronouns: youre → you're, theyre → they're, were → we're, etc.
• Auxiliary verbs: ive → I've, youll → you'll, hed → he'd, etc.

Usage

Simply type any of the trigger words (e.g., dont) and espanso will automatically replace it with the correct contraction (don't). The expansion happens in real-time across all applications.

Troubleshooting

• Check if espanso is running: espanso status
• Restart espanso: espanso restart
• View logs: espanso log
• Test configuration: Try typing dont in any text field

BetterTouchTool

The btt/Default.bttpreset file contains custom triggers for BetterTouchTool.

Global Triggers

These triggers are active globally across all applications.

Trigger	Action	Notes
Shift + Rightclick	Sends the Enter key	Useful for quickly confirming actions.
Cmd + Rightclick	Connects to "AirPods Pro" Bluetooth device	Quickly connect to your AirPods.