Personal Dotfiles

Arch Linux setup with xmonad, kitty, neovim, zsh, and more.

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Directory Structure

~/dotfiles/
├── .config/
│   ├── dunst/        # Notification daemon
│   ├── fontconfig/   # Font configuration
│   ├── kitty/        # Terminal emulator
│   ├── newsboat/     # RSS reader
│   ├── nix/          # Nix config
│   ├── nixpkgs/      # Nix packages
│   ├── nvim/         # Neovim
│   ├── picom/        # Compositor
│   ├── shell/        # Shell profile & aliases
│   ├── x11/          # X11 config (.xinitrc, xprofile)
│   ├── xmonad/       # Window manager
│   ├── zathura/      # PDF viewer
│   └── zsh/          # Zsh config
├── .local/
│   └── bin/          # Custom scripts
├── etc/              # System config references
├── wallpapers/       # Desktop wallpapers
├── .Xresources       # X resources
├── .xserverrc        # X server config
├── .profile          # -> .config/shell/profile
├── .zprofile         # -> .config/shell/profile
└── .nix-channels     # Nix channels

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Symlink Setup

Home Directory Symlinks (~/)

These files need to be symlinked directly in your home directory:

# Profile files
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.profile ~/.profile
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.zprofile ~/.zprofile

# X11 files
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.Xresources ~/.Xresources
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.xserverrc ~/.xserverrc
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/x11/.xinitrc ~/.xinitrc

# Nix
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.nix-channels ~/.nix-channels

Config Directory Symlinks (~/.config/)

These directories are symlinked into ~/.config/:

# Create symlinks for all config directories
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/dunst ~/.config/dunst
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/fontconfig ~/.config/fontconfig
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/kitty ~/.config/kitty
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/newsboat ~/.config/newsboat
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/nix ~/.config/nix
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/nixpkgs ~/.config/nixpkgs
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/nvim ~/.config/nvim
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/picom ~/.config/picom
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/shell ~/.config/shell
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/x11 ~/.config/x11
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/xmonad ~/.config/xmonad
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/zathura ~/.config/zathura
ln -sf ~/dotfiles/.config/zsh ~/.config/zsh

Quick Setup Script

Run all symlinks at once:

#!/bin/bash

DOTFILES=~/dotfiles

# Home directory
ln -sf $DOTFILES/.profile ~/.profile
ln -sf $DOTFILES/.zprofile ~/.zprofile
ln -sf $DOTFILES/.Xresources ~/.Xresources
ln -sf $DOTFILES/.xserverrc ~/.xserverrc
ln -sf $DOTFILES/.config/x11/.xinitrc ~/.xinitrc
ln -sf $DOTFILES/.nix-channels ~/.nix-channels

# .config directory
mkdir -p ~/.config
for dir in dunst fontconfig kitty newsboat nix nixpkgs nvim picom shell x11 xmonad zathura zsh; do
    ln -sf $DOTFILES/.config/$dir ~/.config/$dir
done

echo "Symlinks created!"

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XMonad Setup

After creating symlinks, build xmonad:

cd ~/.config/xmonad
./build ~/.local/bin/xmonad-x86_64-linux

Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH.

See xmonad/README.md for keybindings and usage.

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Startup Flow

1. Login loads .zprofile -> .config/shell/profile
2. startx runs .xinitrc which:
   • Loads .Xresources
   • Sets wallpaper via feh
   • Sources .config/x11/xprofile
   • Executes xmonad-x86_64-linux

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Environment Variables (from shell/profile)

Variable	Value
EDITOR	nvim
TERMINAL	kitty
BROWSER	brave
READER	zathura
XDG_CONFIG_HOME	~/.config
XDG_DATA_HOME	~/.local/share
XDG_CACHE_HOME	~/.cache
ZDOTDIR	~/.config/zsh

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Dependencies

Core packages needed:

• WM: xmonad, xmonad-contrib, xmobar
• Terminal: kitty
• Shell: zsh
• Editor: neovim
• Launcher: rofi
• Notifications: dunst
• Compositor: picom
• PDF: zathura
• Browser: brave
• Build: stack (for xmonad), pyenv, nix

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Notes

• The .profile and .zprofile in dotfiles root are symlinks to .config/shell/profile
• xmonad binary must be at ~/.local/bin/xmonad-x86_64-linux for .xinitrc to find it
• Wallpaper is set from ~/dotfiles/wallpapers/solar-system.jpg