Reference Manual

Concepts

chezmoi evaluates the source state for the current machine and then updates the destination directory, where:

• The source state declares the desired state of your home directory, including templates and machine-specific configuration.

• The source directory is where chezmoi stores the source state, by default ~/.local/share/chezmoi.

• The target state is the source state computed for the current machine.

• The destination directory is the directory that chezmoi manages, by default ~, your home directory.

• A target is a file, directory, or symlink in the destination directory.

• The destination state is the current state of all the targets in the destination directory.

• The config file contains machine-specific configuration, by default it is ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml.

Global command line flags

Command line flags override any values set in the configuration file.

--color value

Colorize diffs, value can be on, off, auto, or any boolean-like value recognized by strconv.ParseBool. The default value is auto which will colorize diffs only if the the environment variable NO_COLOR is not set and stdout is a terminal.

-c, --config filename

Read the configuration from filename.

--debug

Log information helpful for debugging.

-D, --destination directory

Use directory as the destination directory.

--follow

If the last part of a target is a symlink, deal with what the symlink references, rather than the symlink itself.

-n, --dry-run

Set dry run mode. In dry run mode, the destination directory is never modified. This is most useful in combination with the -v (verbose) flag to print changes that would be made without making them.

-h, --help

Print help.

-r. --remove

Also remove targets according to .chezmoiremove.

-S, --source directory

Use directory as the source directory.

-v, --verbose

Set verbose mode. In verbose mode, chezmoi prints the changes that it is making as approximate shell commands, and any differences in files between the target state and the destination set are printed as unified diffs.

--version

Print the version of chezmoi, the commit at which it was built, and the build timestamp.

Configuration file

chezmoi searches for its configuration file according to the XDG Base Directory Specification and supports all formats supported by github.com/spf13/viper, namely JSON, TOML, YAML, macOS property file format, and HCL. The basename of the config file is chezmoi, and the first config file found is used.

Configuration variables

The following configuration variables are available:

Configuration file examples

JSON

{
    "sourceDir": "/home/user/.dotfiles",
    "diff": {
        "format": "git"
    }
}

TOML

sourceDir = "/home/user/.dotfiles"
[diff]
    format = "git"

YAML

sourceDir: /home/user/.dotfiles
diff:
    format: git

Source state attributes

chezmoi stores the source state of files, symbolic links, and directories in regular files and directories in the source directory (~/.local/share/chezmoi by default). This location can be overridden with the -S flag or by giving a value for sourceDir in ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml. Some state is encoded in the source names. chezmoi ignores all files and directories in the source directory that begin with a .. The following prefixes and suffixes are special, and are collectively referred to as “attributes”:

Order of prefixes is important, the order is run_, exact_, private_, empty_, executable_, symlink_, once_, dot_.

Different target types allow different prefixes and suffixes:

Special files and directories

All files and directories in the source state whose name begins with . are ignored by default, unless they are one of the special files listed here.

.chezmoi.<format>.tmpl

If a file called .chezmoi.<format>.tmpl exists then chezmoi init will use it to create an initial config file. format must be one of the the supported config file formats.

.chezmoi.<format>.tmpl examples

{{ $email := promptString "email" -}}
data:
    email: "{{ $email }}"

.chezmoiignore

If a file called .chezmoiignore exists in the source state then it is interpreted as a set of patterns to ignore. Patterns are matched using doublestar.PathMatch and match against the target path, not the source path.

Patterns can be excluded by prefixing them with a ! character. All excludes take priority over all includes.

Comments are introduced with the # character and run until the end of the line.

.chezmoiignore is interpreted as a template. This allows different files to be ignored on different machines.

.chezmoiignore files in subdirectories apply only to that subdirectory.

.chezmoiignore examples

README.md

*.txt   # ignore *.txt in the target directory
*/*.txt # ignore *.txt in subdirectories of the target directory
backups/** # ignore backups folder in chezmoi directory and all its contents

{{- if ne .email "john.smith@company.com" }}
# Ignore .company-directory unless configured with a company email
.company-directory # note that the pattern is not dot_company-directory
{{- end }}

{{- if ne .email "john@home.org }}
.personal-file
{{- end }}

.chezmoiremove

If a file called .chezmoiremove exists in the source state then it is interpreted as a list of targets to remove. .chezmoiremove is interpreted as a template.

.chezmoitemplates

If a directory called .chezmoitemplates exists, then all files in this directory are parsed as templates are available as templates with a name equal to the relative path of the file.

.chezmoitemplates examples

Given:

.chezmoitemplates/foo
{{ if true }}bar{{ end }}

dot_config.tmpl
{{ template "foo" }}

The target state of .config will be bar.

.chezmoiversion

If a file called .chezmoiversion exists, then its contents are interpreted as a semantic version defining the minimum version of chezmoi required to interpret the source state correctly. chezmoi will refuse to interpret the source state if the current version is too old.

Warning support for .chezmoiversion will be introduced in a future version (likely 1.5.0). Earlier versions of chezmoi will ignore this file.

.chezmoiversion examples

1.5.0

Commands

add targets

Add targets to the source state. If any target is already in the source state, then its source state is replaced with its current state in the destination directory. The add command accepts additional flags:

--autotemplate

Automatically generate a template by replacing strings with variable names from the data section of the config file. Longer substitutions occur before shorter ones. This implies the --template option.

-e, --empty

Set the empty attribute on added files.

-f, --force

Add targets, even if doing so would cause a source template to be overwritten.

-x, --exact

Set the exact attribute on added directories.

-p, --prompt

Interactively prompt before adding each file.

-r, --recursive

Recursively add all files, directories, and symlinks.

-T, --template

Set the template attribute on added files and symlinks.

add examples

chezmoi add ~/.bashrc
chezmoi add ~/.gitconfig --template
chezmoi add ~/.vim --recursive
chezmoi add ~/.oh-my-zsh --exact --recursive

apply [targets]

Ensure that targets are in the target state, updating them if necessary. If no targets are specified, the state of all targets are ensured.

apply examples

chezmoi apply
chezmoi apply --dry-run --verbose
chezmoi apply ~/.bashrc

archive

Generate a tar archive of the target state. This can be piped into tar to inspect the target state.

--output, -o filename

Write the output to filename instead of stdout.

archive examples

chezmoi archive | tar tvf -
chezmoi archive --output=dotfiles.tar

cat targets

Write the target state of targets to stdout. targets must be files or symlinks. For files, the target file contents are written. For symlinks, the target target is written.

cat examples

chezmoi cat ~/.bashrc

cd

Launch a shell in the source directory. chezmoi will launch the command set by the cd.command configuration variable with any extra arguments specified by cd.args. If this is not set, chezmoi will attempt to detect your shell and will finally fall back to an OS-specific default.

cd examples

chezmoi cd

chattr attributes targets

Change the attributes of targets. attributes specifies which attributes to modify. Add attributes by specifying them or their abbreviations directly, optionally prefixed with a plus sign (+). Remove attributes by prefixing them or their attributes with the string no or a minus sign (-). The available attributes and their abbreviations are:

Multiple attributes modifications may be specified by separating them with a comma (,).

chattr examples

chezmoi chattr template ~/.bashrc
chezmoi chattr noempty ~/.profile
chezmoi chattr private,template ~/.netrc

completion shell

Generate shell completion code for the specified shell (bash, fish, or zsh).

--output, -o filename

Write the shell completion code to filename instead of stdout.

completion examples

chezmoi completion bash
chezmoi completion fish --output ~/.config/fish/completions/chezmoi.fish

data

Write the computed template data in JSON format to stdout. The data command accepts additional flags:

-f, --format format

Print the computed template data in the given format. The accepted formats are json (JSON), toml (TOML), and yaml (YAML).

data examples

chezmoi data
chezmoi data --format=yaml

diff [targets]

Print the difference between the target state and the destination state for targets. If no targets are specified, print the differences for all targets.

If a diff.pager command is set in the configuration file then the output will be piped into it.

-f, --format format

Print the diff in format. The format can be set with the diff.format variable in the configuration file. Valid formats are:

chezmoi

A mix of unified diffs and pseudo shell commands, including scripts, equivalent to chezmoi apply --dry-run --verbose.

git

A git format diff, excluding scripts. In version 2.0.0 of chezmoi, git format diffs will become the default and include scripts and the chezmoi format will be removed.

--no-pager

Do not use the pager.

diff examples

chezmoi diff
chezmoi diff ~/.bashrc
chezmoi diff --format=git

docs [regexp]

Print the documentation page matching the regular expression regexp. Matching is case insensitive. If no pattern is given, print REFERENCE.md.

docs examples

chezmoi docs
chezmoi docs faq
chezmoi docs howto

doctor

Check for potential problems.

doctor examples

chezmoi doctor

dump [targets]

Dump the target state in JSON format. If no targets are specified, then the entire target state. The dump command accepts additional arguments:

-f, --format format

Print the target state in the given format. The accepted formats are json (JSON) and yaml (YAML).

dump examples

chezmoi dump ~/.bashrc
chezmoi dump --format=yaml

edit [targets]

Edit the source state of targets, which must be files or symlinks. If no targets are given the the source directory itself is opened with $EDITOR. The edit command accepts additional arguments:

-a, --apply

Apply target immediately after editing. Ignored if there are no targets.

-d, --diff

Print the difference between the target state and the actual state after editing.. Ignored if there are no targets.

-p, --prompt

Prompt before applying each target.. Ignored if there are no targets.

edit examples

chezmoi edit ~/.bashrc
chezmoi edit ~/.bashrc --apply --prompt
chezmoi edit

edit-config

Edit the configuration file.

edit-config examples

chezmoi edit-config

execute-template [templates]

Execute templates. This is useful for testing templates or for calling chezmoi from other scripts. templates are interpreted as literal templates, with no whitespace added to the output between arguments. If no templates are specified, the template is read from stdin.

--init, -i

Include simulated functions only available during chezmoi init.

--output, -o filename

Write the output to filename instead of stdout.

--promptString, -p pairs

Simulate the promptString function with a function that returns values from pairs. pairs is a comma-separated list of prompt=value pairs. If promptString is called with a prompt that does not match any of pairs, then it returns prompt unchanged.

execute-template examples

chezmoi execute-template '{{ .chezmoi.sourceDir }}'
chezmoi execute-template '{{ .chezmoi.os }}' / '{{ .chezmoi.arch }}'
echo '{{ .chezmoi | toJson }}' | chezmoi execute-template
chezmoi execute-template --init --promptString email=john@home.org < ~/.local/share/chezmoi/.chezmoi.toml.tmpl

forget targets

Remove targets from the source state, i.e. stop managing them.

forget examples

chezmoi forget ~/.bashrc

git [arguments]

Run git arguments in the source directory. Note that flags in arguments must occur after -- to prevent chezmoi from interpreting them.

git examples

chezmoi git add .
chezmoi git add dot_gitconfig
chezmoi git -- commit -m "Add .gitconfig"

help command

Print the help associated with command.

hg [arguments]

Run hg arguments in the source directory. Note that flags in arguments must occur after -- to prevent chezmoi from interpreting them.

hg examples

chezmoi hg -- pull --rebase --update

init [repo]

Setup the source directory and update the destination directory to match the target state. If repo is given then it is checked out into the source directory, otherwise a new repository is initialized in the source directory. If a file called .chezmoi.format.tmpl exists, where format is one of the supported file formats (e.g. json, toml, or yaml) then a new configuration file is created using that file as a template. Finally, if the --apply flag is passed, chezmoi apply is run.

init examples

chezmoi init https://github.com/user/dotfiles.git
chezmoi init https://github.com/user/dotfiles.git --apply

import filename

Import the source state from an archive file in to a directory in the source state. This is primarily used to make subdirectories of your home directory exactly match the contents of a downloaded archive. You will generally always want to set the --destination, --exact, and --remove-destination flags.

The only supported archive format is .tar.gz.

--destination directory

Set the destination (in the source state) where the archive will be imported.

-x, --exact

Set the exact attribute on all imported directories.

-r, --remove-destination

Remove destination (in the source state) before importing.

--strip-components n

Strip n leading components from paths.

import examples

curl -s -L -o oh-my-zsh-master.tar.gz https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/archive/master.tar.gz
chezmoi import --strip-components 1 --destination ~/.oh-my-zsh oh-my-zsh-master.tar.gz

manage targets

manage is an alias for add for symmetry with unmanage.

managed

List all managed entries in the destination directory in alphabetical order.

-i, --include types

Only list entries of type types. types is a comma-separated list of types of entry to include. Valid types are dirs, files, and symlinks which can be abbreviated to d, f, and s respectively. By default, manage will list entries of all types.

managed examples

chezmoi managed
chezmoi managed --include=files
chezmoi managed --include=files,symlinks
chezmoi managed -i d
chezmoi managed -i d,f

merge targets

Perform a three-way merge between the destination state, the source state, and the target state. The merge tool is defined by the merge.command configuration variable, and defaults to vimdiff. If multiple targets are specified the merge tool is invoked for each target. If the target state cannot be computed (for example if source is a template containing errors or an encrypted file that cannot be decrypted) a two-way merge is performed instead.

merge examples

chezmoi merge ~/.bashrc

purge

Remove chezmoi’s configuration, state, and source directory, but leave the target state intact.

-f, --force

Remove without prompting.

purge examples

chezmoi purge
chezmoi purge --force

remove targets

Remove targets from both the source state and the destination directory.

-f, --force

Remove without prompting.

rm targets

rm is an alias for remove.

secret

Run a secret manager’s CLI, passing any extra arguments to the secret manager’s CLI. This is primarily for verifying chezmoi’s integration with your secret manager. Normally you would use template functions to retrieve secrets. Note that if you want to pass flags to the secret manager’s CLI you will need to separate them with -- to prevent chezmoi from interpreting them.

To get a full list of available commands run:

chezmoi secret help

secret examples

chezmoi secret bitwarden list items
chezmoi secret keyring set --service service --user user
chezmoi secret keyring get --service service --user user
chezmoi secret lastpass ls
chezmoi secret lastpass -- show --format=json id
chezmoi secret onepassword list items
chezmoi secret onepassword get item id
chezmoi secret pass show id
chezmoi secret vault -- kv get -format=json id

source [args]

Execute the source version control system in the source directory with args. Note that any flags for the source version control system must be separated with a -- to stop chezmoi from reading them.

source examples

chezmoi source init
chezmoi source add .
chezmoi source commit -- -m "Initial commit"

source-path [targets]

Print the path to each target’s source state. If no targets are specified then print the source directory.

source-path examples

chezmoi source-path
chezmoi source-path ~/.bashrc

unmanage targets

unmanage is an alias for forget for symmetry with manage.

unmanaged

List all unmanaged files in the destination directory.

unmanaged examples

chezmoi unmanaged

update

Pull changes from the source VCS and apply any changes.

update examples

chezmoi update

upgrade

Upgrade chezmoi by downloading and installing the latest released version. This will call the GitHub API to determine if there is a new version of chezmoi available, and if so, download and attempt to install it in the same way as chezmoi was previously installed.

If chezmoi was installed with a package manager (dpkg or rpm) then upgrade will download a new package and install it, using sudo if it is installed. Otherwise, chezmoi will download the latest executable and replace the existing executable with the new version.

If the CHEZMOI_GITHUB_API_TOKEN environment variable is set, then its value will be used to authenticate requests to the GitHub API, otherwise unauthenticated requests are used which are subject to stricter rate limiting. Unauthenticated requests should be sufficient for most cases.

upgrade examples

chezmoi upgrade

verify [targets]

Verify that all targets match their target state. chezmoi exits with code 0 (success) if all targets match their target state, or 1 (failure) otherwise. If no targets are specified then all targets are checked.

verify examples

chezmoi verify
chezmoi verify ~/.bashrc

Editor configuration

The edit and edit-config commands use the editor specified by the VISUAL environment variable, the EDITOR environment variable, or vi, whichever is specified first.

Umask configuration

By default, chezmoi uses your current umask as set by your operating system and shell. chezmoi only stores crude permissions in its source state, namely in the executable and private attributes, corresponding to the umasks of 0o111 and 0o077 respectively.

For machine-specific control of umask, set the umask configuration variable in chezmoi’s configuration file, for example:

umask = 0o22

Template execution

chezmoi executes templates using text/template. The result is treated differently depending on whether the target is a file or a symlink.

If target is a file, then:

• If the result is an empty string, then the file is removed.
• Otherwise, the target file contents are result.

If the target is a symlink, then:

• Leading and trailing whitespace are stripped from the result.
• If the result is an empty string, then the symlink is removed.
• Otherwise, the target symlink target is the result.

chezmoi executes templates using text/template's missingkey=error option, which means that misspelled or missing keys will raise an error. This can be overridden by setting a list of options in the configuration file, for example:

[template]
  options = ["missingkey=zero"]

For a full list of options, see Template.Option.

Template variables

chezmoi provides the following automatically populated variables:

Additional variables can be defined in the config file in the data section. Variable names must consist of a letter and be followed by zero or more letters and/or digits.

Template functions

All standard text/template and text template functions from sprig are included. chezmoi provides some additional functions.

bitwarden [args]

bitwarden returns structured data retrieved from Bitwarden using the Bitwarden CLI (bw). args are passed to bw unchanged and the output from bw is parsed as JSON. The output from bw is cached so calling bitwarden multiple times with the same arguments will only invoke bw once.

bitwarden examples

username = {{ (bitwarden "item" "example.com").login.username }}
password = {{ (bitwarden "item" "example.com").login.password }}

gopass gopass-name

gopass returns passwords stored in gopass using the gopass CLI (gopass). gopass-name is passed to gopass show <gopass-name> and first line of the output of gopass is returned with the trailing newline stripped. The output from gopass is cached so calling gopass multiple times with the same gopass-name will only invoke gopass once.

gopass examples

{{ gopass "<pass-name>" }}

include filename

include returns the literal contents of the file named *filename*, relative to the source directory.

joinPath elements

joinPath joins any number of path elements into a single path, separating them with the OS-specific path separator. Empty elements are ignored. The result is cleaned. If the argument list is empty or all its elements are empty, joinPath returns an empty string. On Windows, the result will only be a UNC path if the first non-empty element is a UNC path.

joinPath examples

{{ joinPath .chezmoi.homedir ".zshrc" }}

keepassxc entry

keepassxc returns structured data retrieved from a KeePassXC database using the KeePassXC CLI (keepassxc-cli). The database is configured by setting keepassxc.database in the configuration file. database and entry are passed to keepassxc-cli show. You will be prompted for the database password the first time keepassxc-cli is run, and the password is cached, in plain text, in memory until chezmoi terminates. The output from keepassxc-cli is parsed into key-value pairs and cached so calling keepassxc multiple times with the same entry will only invoke keepassxc-cli once.

keepassxc examples

username = {{ (keepassxc "example.com").UserName }}
password = {{ (keepassxc "example.com").Password }}

keepassxcAttribute entry attribute

keepassxcAttribute returns the attribute attribute of entry using keepassxc-cli, with any leading or trailing whitespace removed. It behaves identically to the keepassxc function in terms of configuration, password prompting, password storage, and result caching.

keepassxcAttribute examples

{{ keepassxcAttribute "SSH Key" "private-key" }}

keyring service user

keyring retrieves the password associated with service and user from the user’s keyring.

keyring examples

[github]
  user = "{{ .github.user }}"
  token = "{{ keyring "github" .github.user }}"

lastpass id

lastpass returns structured data from LastPass using the LastPass CLI (lpass). id is passed to lpass show --json <id> and the output from lpass is parsed as JSON. In addition, the note field, if present, is further parsed as colon-separated key-value pairs. The structured data is an array so typically the index function is used to extract the first item. The output from lastpass is cached so calling lastpass multiple times with the same id will only invoke lpass once.

lastpass examples

githubPassword = "{{ (index (lastpass "GitHub") 0).password }}"
{{ (index (lastpass "SSH") 0).note.privateKey }}

lastpassRaw id

lastpassRaw returns structured data from LastPass using the LastPass CLI (lpass). It behaves identically to the lastpass function, except that no further parsing is done on the note field.

lastpassRaw examples

{{ (index (lastpassRaw "SSH Private Key") 0).note }}

lookPath file

lookPath searches for an executable named file in the directories named by the PATH environment variable. If file contains a slash, it is tried directly and the PATH is not consulted. The result may be an absolute path or a path relative to the current directory. If file is not found, lookPath returns an empty string.

lookPath is not hermetic: its return value depends on the state of the environment and the filesystem at the moment the template is executed. Exercise caution when using it in your templates.

lookPath examples

{{ if lookPath "diff-so-fancy" }}
# diff-so-fancy is in $PATH
{{ end }}

onepassword uuid [vault-uuid]

onepassword returns structured data from 1Password using the 1Password CLI (op). uuid is passed to op get item <uuid> and the output from op is parsed as JSON. The output from op is cached so calling onepassword multiple times with the same uuid will only invoke op once. If the optional vault-uuid is supplied, it will be passed along to the op get call, which can significantly improve performance.

onepassword examples

{{ (onepassword "<uuid>").details.password }}
{{ (onepassword "<uuid>" "<vault-uuid>").details.password }}

onepasswordDocument uuid [vault-uuid]

onepassword returns a document from 1Password using the 1Password CLI (op). uuid is passed to op get document <uuid> and the output from op is returned. The output from op is cached so calling onepasswordDocument multiple times with the same uuid will only invoke op once. If the optional vault-uuid is supplied, it will be passed along to the op get call, which can significantly improve performance.

onepasswordDocument examples

{{- onepasswordDocument "<uuid>" -}}
{{- onepasswordDocument "<uuid>" "<vault-uuid>" -}}

pass pass-name

pass returns passwords stored in pass using the pass CLI (pass). pass-name is passed to pass show <pass-name> and first line of the output of pass is returned with the trailing newline stripped. The output from pass is cached so calling pass multiple times with the same pass-name will only invoke pass once.

pass examples

{{ pass "<pass-name>" }}

promptString prompt

promptString takes a single argument is a string prompted to the user, and the return value is the user’s response to that prompt with all leading and trailing space stripped. It is only available when generating the initial config file.

promptString examples

{{ $email := promptString "email" -}}
[data]
    email = "{{ $email }}"

secret [args]

secret returns the output of the generic secret command defined by the genericSecret.command configuration variable with args with leading and trailing whitespace removed. The output is cached so multiple calls to secret with the same args will only invoke the generic secret command once.

secretJSON [args]

secretJSON returns structured data from the generic secret command defined by the genericSecret.command configuration variable with args. The output is parsed as JSON. The output is cached so multiple calls to secret with the same args will only invoke the generic secret command once.

stat name

stat runs stat(2) on name. If name exists it returns structured data. If name does not exist then it returns a falsey value. If stat(2) returns any other error then it raises an error. The structured value returned if name exists contains the fields name, size, mode, perm, modTime, and isDir.

stat is not hermetic: its return value depends on the state of the filesystem at the moment the template is executed. Exercise caution when using it in your templates.

stat examples

{{ if stat (joinPath .chezmoi.homedir ".pyenv") }}
# ~/.pyenv exists
{{ end }}

vault key

vault returns structured data from Vault using the Vault CLI (vault). key is passed to vault kv get -format=json <key> and the output from vault is parsed as JSON. The output from vault is cached so calling vault multiple times with the same key will only invoke vault once.

vault examples

{{ (vault "<key>").data.data.password }}