anishathalye/dotbot

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

7994 stars · 319 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

Dotbot is a lightweight, self-contained Python tool that bootstraps dotfiles by installing them via declarative YAML configuration (linking, shell commands, cleaning). It is VCS-agnostic, has no external dependencies, and is extensible through plugins.

Use cases

• set up my dotfiles on a fresh machine with one command
• manage dotfiles with git and symlink them automatically
• declaratively configure which dotfiles to link where
• replace my existing dotfiles manager with something simpler
• run shell commands as part of dotfiles installation
• extend dotfiles setup with package manager or secrets plugins

When to choose

• you want a minimal, dependency-free dotfiles bootstrapper that works with any version control system
• you prefer declarative YAML configuration for linking and setting up dotfiles
• you need a tool that works cross-platform and requires no installation

When to avoid

• you want a tool that fully manages your dotfiles repository for you
• you need complex templating or secret management built in without plugins
• you prefer a shell-script-based or GUI approach to dotfiles management

Facets

cli-tool · maturity stable

configuration-management cli developer-tools developer-tools self-hosted windows cross-platform python cli dotfiles symlinks bootstrap yaml-config plugins command-line automation linux macos

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="anishathalye/dotbot")