Skill

frontend-design

frontend-design — a Claude Code skill from connorads/dotfiles

Features

✓Git-based dotfiles management without symlinks
✓macOS and Linux compatibility with nix-darwin/home-manager
✓Integrated software setup with brew and mise
✓Customizable hooks for code quality checks
✓Quick start with a bootstrap script for Linux/Codespaces

Installation Guide

Quick start (recommended)

If you are setting up this exact repo on Linux/Codespaces, use the bootstrap script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/connorads/dotfiles/master/install.sh | bash

It installs dotfiles and sets upstream tracking so git status/LazyGit show ahead-behind correctly.

Manual setup (from this repo)

If you want to follow the manual path (or fork this repo), use this.

Clone using a separate git dir

    DOTFILES_REPO=https://github.com/connorads/dotfiles.git
    DOTFILES_DIR=$HOME/git/dotfiles
    BOOTSTRAP_WORKTREE=$(mktemp -d "$HOME/.dotfiles-bootstrap.XXXXXX")

    git clone --separate-git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" "$DOTFILES_REPO" "$BOOTSTRAP_WORKTREE"
    rm -rf "$BOOTSTRAP_WORKTREE"

Why the temporary BOOTSTRAP_WORKTREE dir? git clone needs a checkout target path, and $HOME is non-empty. The temp dir keeps bootstrap safe and disposable.

Point the repo at $HOME and ensure tracking refs

    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" config core.bare false
    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" config core.worktree "$HOME"
    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" config --replace-all remote.origin.fetch "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*"
    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" fetch origin --prune

Check out dotfiles into $HOME (⚠️ this overwrites conflicting files)

    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" checkout 2>&1 | sed -n 's/^[[:space:]]\+//p' | while IFS= read -r file; do
      if [ -f "$file" ]; then
        mv "$file" "$file.bak"
      fi
    done

    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" --work-tree="$HOME" checkout -f

Set upstream for the current branch

    CURRENT_BRANCH=$(git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" symbolic-ref --quiet --short HEAD)
    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" --work-tree="$HOME" branch --set-upstream-to="origin/$CURRENT_BRANCH" "$CURRENT_BRANCH"

Set up nix, brew and install software

macOS (nix-darwin):

    # Install Homebrew
    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
    eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

    # Install Nix (vanilla, not Determinate Nix)
    curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install --determinate false
    . /nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/profile.d/nix-daemon.sh

    # Build and activate nix-darwin configuration
    nix run nix-darwin/master#darwin-rebuild -- switch --flake ~/.config/nix

Linux (home-manager):

    # Install Nix (vanilla, not Determinate Nix)
    curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install --determinate false
    . ~/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh

    # Build and activate home-manager configuration
    nix run home-manager/master -- switch --flake ~/.config/nix

Reload your shell

    exec zsh

Migration helper (if needed)

If an existing machine has an older setup, run:

DOTFILES_DIR=$HOME/git/dotfiles
if [ "$(git --git-dir=$DOTFILES_DIR rev-parse --is-bare-repository 2>/dev/null || true)" = "true" ]; then
  git --git-dir=$DOTFILES_DIR config --unset core.bare || true
fi
git --git-dir=$DOTFILES_DIR config core.worktree $HOME
CURRENT_BRANCH=$(git --git-dir=$DOTFILES_DIR/ symbolic-ref --quiet --short HEAD)
git --git-dir=$DOTFILES_DIR/ config --replace-all remote.origin.fetch "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*"
git --git-dir=$DOTFILES_DIR/ fetch origin --prune
git --git-dir=$DOTFILES_DIR/ --work-tree=$HOME branch --set-upstream-to=origin/$CURRENT_BRANCH $CURRENT_BRANCH

Create from scratch (optional)

This section is for anyone who wants to build their own dotfiles repo using the same git-dir + work-tree technique (not specifically this repo).

<details>
<summary>Show from-scratch setup</summary>

Create the git dir and point work-tree at $HOME

    DOTFILES_DIR=$HOME/git/dotfiles
    mkdir -p "$DOTFILES_DIR"
    git init "$DOTFILES_DIR"
    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" config core.worktree "$HOME"
    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" config --replace-all remote.origin.fetch "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*"

Add a safe default ignore policy (ignore everything, then un-ignore specific files)

    touch "$HOME/.gitignore"
    grep -qxF '/*' "$HOME/.gitignore" || printf '%s\n' '/*' >> "$HOME/.gitignore"
    grep -qxF '!.gitignore' "$HOME/.gitignore" || printf '%s\n' '!.gitignore' >> "$HOME/.gitignore"

Start tracking files by un-ignoring paths in ~/.gitignore, then adding them

    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" --work-tree="$HOME" add .gitignore
    git --git-dir="$DOTFILES_DIR" --work-tree="$HOME" commit -m "chore(dotfiles): initialise from scratch"

Optional: connect a remote and push

    DOTFILES_REPO=git@github.com:your-user/dotfiles.git
    dotfiles remote add origin "$DOTFILES_REPO"
    dotfiles push -u origin HEAD

</details>

Setup YubiKey for `sudo`

macOS sudo auth is configured in [darwin.nix](.config/nix/modules/darwin.nix):

Touch ID is enabled for both Macs

pam_reattach is enabled so Touch ID works inside tmux

pam_u2f remains in the sudo PAM stack for YubiKey auth

In practice:

MacBook Air uses Touch ID first, with YubiKey as fallback

Mac mini falls through to YubiKey unless it has a Touch ID-capable keyboard

The YubiKey mapping file is local per machine and is not tracked in dotfiles:

mkdir ~/.config/Yubico
pamu2fcfg > ~/.config/Yubico/u2f_keys

Add a second key if you like

pamu2fcfg -n >> ~/.config/Yubico/u2f_keys