init [repo]

Setup the source directory, generate the config file, and optionally update the destination directory to match the target state. This is done in the following order:

1. The source directory is initialized. If chezmoi does not detect a Git repository in the source directory, chezmoi will clone the provided repo into the source directory. If no repo is provided, chezmoi will initialize a new Git repository.

2. If the initialized source directory contains a .chezmoi.$FORMAT.tmpl file, a new configuration file will be created using that file as a template.

3. If the --apply flag is provided, chezmoi apply is run.

4. If the --purge flag is provided, chezmoi will remove the source, config, and cache directories.

5. If the --purge-binary is passed, chezmoi will attempt to remove its own binary.

By default, if repo is given, chezmoi will guess the full git repo URL, using HTTPS by default, or SSH if the --ssh option is specified, according to the following patterns:

Pattern	HTTPS Repo	SSH repo
user	https://user@github.com/user/dotfiles.git	git@github.com:user/dotfiles.git
user/repo	https://user@github.com/user/repo.git	git@github.com:user/repo.git
site/user/repo	https://user@site/user/repo.git	git@site:user/repo.git
sr.ht/~user	https://user@git.sr.ht/~user/dotfiles	git@git.sr.ht:~user/dotfiles.git
sr.ht/~user/repo	https://user@git.sr.ht/~user/repo	git@git.sr.ht:~user/repo.git

To disable git repo URL guessing, pass the --guess-repo-url=false option.

Info

If you are using a different version control system, there are different steps required for repo initialization. To prevent chezmoi from trying to clone or create a Git repository, add an empty .git directory to the source directory.

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/chezmoi/.git

Info

Chezmoi supports multiple file $FORMATs for configuration and data: JSON, JSONC, TOML, and YAML.

Flags

-a, --apply

Run chezmoi apply after checking out the repo and creating the config file.

--branch branch

Check out branch instead of the default branch.

-C, --config-path path

Write the generated config file to path instead of the default location.

--data bool

Include existing template data when creating the config file. This defaults to true. Set this to false to simulate creating the config file with no existing template data.

-d, --depth depth

Clone the repo with depth depth.

--git-lfs bool

Run git lfs pull after cloning the repo.

-g, --guess-repo-url bool

Guess the repo URL from the repo argument. This defaults to true.

--one-shot

--one-shot is the equivalent of --apply, --depth=1, --force, --purge, and --purge-binary. It attempts to install your dotfiles with chezmoi and then remove all traces of chezmoi from the system. This is useful for setting up temporary environments (e.g. Docker containers).

--prompt

Force the prompt*Once template functions to prompt.

--promptBool pairs

Populate the promptBool template function with values from pairs. pairs is a comma-separated list of prompt=value pairs. If promptBool is called with a prompt that does not match any of pairs, then it prompts the user for a value.

--promptChoice pairs

Populate the promptChoice template function with values from pairs. pairs is a comma-separated list of prompt=value pairs. If promptChoice is called with a prompt that does not match any of pairs, then it prompts the user for a value.

--promptDefaults

Make all prompt* template function calls with a default value return that default value instead of prompting.

--promptInt pairs

Populate the promptInt template function with values from pairs. pairs is a comma-separated list of prompt=value pairs. If promptInt is called with a prompt that does not match any of pairs, then it prompts the user for a value.

--promptMultichoice pairs

Populate the promptMultichoice template function with values from pairs. pairs is a comma-separated list of prompt=value[/value] pairs. If promptMultichoice is called with a prompt that does not match any of pairs, then it prompts the user for values.

--promptString pairs

Populate the promptString template function with 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 prompts the user for a value.

-p, --purge

Remove the source and config directories after applying.

-P, --purge-binary

Attempt to remove the chezmoi binary after applying.

--recurse-submodules bool

Recursively clone submodules. This defaults to true.

--ssh

Guess an SSH repo URL instead of an HTTPS repo.

Common flags

-x, --exclude types

Exclude target state entries of specific types. The default is none.

Types can be explicitly included with the --include flag.

Example

--exclude=scripts will cause the command to not run scripts and --exclude=encrypted will exclude encrypted files.

-i, --include types

Include target state entries of specific types. The default is all.

Types can be explicitly excluded with the --exclude flag.

Example

--include=files specifies all files.

Examples

chezmoi init user
chezmoi init user --apply
chezmoi init user --apply --purge
chezmoi init user/dots
chezmoi init codeberg.org/user
chezmoi init gitlab.com/user