# freshshell/fresh

Keep your dotfiles fresh.

Repository: https://github.com/freshshell/fresh
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/freshshell-fresh
Homepage: https://freshshell.com/
Language: Ruby
License Family: other
Topics: dotfiles, fresh, freshrc
Last push: 2026-06-24T05:53:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 72/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 89, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5112, "days_push": 70, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1228, forks 85 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:03.528170+00:00)

## What it is
fresh is a Ruby-based command-line tool that manages dotfiles by sourcing shell configuration (aliases, functions, config files) from GitHub repositories or local directories into your own configuration. It builds a consolidated shell script and creates symlinks, acting like Bundler for dotfiles.

## Use cases
- manage my dotfiles across machines
- share shell aliases and functions from github repos
- keep zsh and bash config in sync
- symlink gitconfig and ackrc from a dotfiles repo
- pin shell config snippets to a specific git ref
- search a directory of community shell configurations

## When to choose
- you want to pull shell config snippets from multiple GitHub repos into one build
- you prefer a lightweight script over full dotfile managers like chezmoi or dotbot
- you want to lock sourced files to specific git refs for reproducibility

## When to avoid
- you need templating with secrets or encryption for dotfiles
- you manage non-shell config on Windows
- you want an actively developed tool with a large modern community

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: developer-tools, configuration-management, cli
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: dotfiles, shell-configuration, symlink-manager, ruby, bundler-for-dotfiles, command-line, automation, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- freshshell/fresh (main) score 72

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:03.528170+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:15:11.252446+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/freshshell/fresh (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:03.528170+00:00, sha 4e570fbc8a7f)
  - homepage: https://freshshell.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:22:47.087028+00:00, sha 98f9cee82ba0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.