My Dev Environment

Elevator Pitch

You're an avid OSS contributor with a day job. You have a work computer courtesy of your company and Apple, and a personal computer that's Linux. You install a shiny new monitoring tool at home, then go to work and... no surprises, it's not there. You install it manually at work. Rinse and repeat for every single tool, all 30 of them. You go on a job hunt, get a new Mac, boom! All of that setup on your old work laptop is gone.

Wouldn't it be great to have a development environment that grows with you instead of holding you back? This repository provides exactly that - a cross-platform development environment that synchronizes seamlessly across all your machines.

What You Get

• Cross-platform tooling via Homebrew (macOS) and mise
• Complete Neovim configuration with custom Lua modules
• Enhanced shell experience with Fish shell and Starship prompt
• Development templates for various programming languages via Nix flakes
• Config synchronization with the j command to keep environments in sync
• Daily planning & logging with markdown-based dailies and TILs
• Project workflow tools for searching and exploring codebases
• One-command setup that gets you from zero to fully configured development environment

Features in Action

Daily Planning

Keep track of your daily goals, notes, and accomplishments with structured markdown logs.

Today I Learned (TIL)

Capture and organize learnings by topic. Polish and publish to your public repo when ready.

Project Search

Lightning-fast code search with ripgrep + fzf, opening directly in Neovim.

Config Sync

Seamlessly sync configurations between your repo and system locations.

Quick Shortcuts

Fish abbreviations make common workflows blazingly fast.

Quick Start

New Machine Setup

# Clone this repository
git clone <your-repo-url>
cd devtools

# Install everything and deploy configs
make install

# Your entire development environment is ready!

That's it! The make install command:

• Installs Homebrew (if needed on macOS)
• Installs all tools from the Brewfile
• Sets up mise with language runtimes (Elixir, OCaml, etc.)
• Builds and installs the j command globally for config management
• Deploys all configurations to their system locations

Verify Installation

# Check Neovim configuration health
nvim
# Then run: :checkhealth

Key Commands

Environment Management

# Install tools via Homebrew (after updating Brewfile)
brew bundle

# Install mise-managed language runtimes
mise install

Config Synchronization (j command)

The j command keeps your configs in sync across machines:

# Export all configs from repo to system (great for new machine setup)
j export --all

# Import specific config from system to repo
j import nvim

# Export specific config from repo to system
j export fish

# Force operations (skip timestamp checks)
j --force export starship

# Install j command globally (if needed)
j install

Daily Planning & Logging

Stay organized with markdown-based daily plans:

# Edit today's plan (or use: jpl)
j plan

# View today's plan (or use: jplv)
j plan view

# List recent plans
j plan list [n]

# Edit specific date
j plan 2025-10-08

# Commit and push logs (or use: jpls)
j plan save

Today I Learned (TIL)

Capture and share your learnings:

# Edit private TIL (or use: jtil)
j til <topic>

# List private TILs (or use: jtill)
j til list

# Search TILs (or use: jtils)
j til search <pattern>

# Polish and export to public repo
j til export <topic>

# List public TILs
j til list --public

Project Workflow

Navigate and search your codebase efficiently:

# Search files with ripgrep + fzf (or use: jps)
j project search [pattern]

# Open file explorer in current directory (or use: jpe)
j project explore

Development Templates

Quick project initialization with pre-configured environments:

# List available templates
nix flake show

# Initialize projects from templates
nix flake init -t .#bash           # Basic bash script template
nix flake init -t .#elixir-phoenix # Phoenix/Elixir web development
nix flake init -t .#elixir-script  # Basic Elixir scripting
nix flake init -t .#odin          # Odin graphics development

Architecture

Configuration Structure

• /nvim/ - Complete Neovim configuration with modular Lua setup
• /templates/ - Nix flake templates for different development environments
• /logs/ - Private git submodule for personal logging (dailies, work notes, projects, private TILs)
• /public_logs/ - Public git submodule for published content (polished TILs)
• Root level configs: Brewfile, mise.toml, starship.toml, fish/config.fish

Logging Structure

Private (logs/ submodule):

• dailies/ - Daily plans with Goals/Notes/Done sections
• work/ - Work-related notes and 1-1s
• projects/ - Project-specific notes
• til/ - Private, rough Today I Learned notes

Public (public_logs/ submodule):

• til/ - Polished, public-ready TIL articles

Workflow: Write rough notes privately → Polish with j til export → Publish separately

The j Command

A custom OCaml-based CLI tool that provides:

• Config management: Sync configs between repo and system locations
• Daily planning: Markdown-based daily logs with auto-templating
• TIL management: Capture learnings with public/private workflow
• Project tools: Fast search and file exploration
• Automatic backups: Never lose configuration changes
• Fish abbreviations: Quick shortcuts for common workflows

Neovim Configuration

Modularized in /nvim/lua/:

• keybindings.lua - Custom key mappings
• opts.lua - Editor options and settings
• package_config.lua - Plugin configurations
• languages.lua - Language-specific settings
• aliases.lua - Command aliases

Development Workflow

This environment supports cross-platform development with:

• Homebrew for macOS package management
• mise for language runtime management
• j command for seamless config synchronization
• Starship for enhanced shell prompting
• Fish shell as the primary shell
• Nix flake templates for quick project initialization

Prerequisites

macOS

• Git (install via Xcode command line tools: xcode-select --install)

Linux

• Git
• curl or wget
• Basic build tools (usually available by default)

The make install command will handle installing everything else, including Homebrew on macOS.

Workflow

1. Initial setup: Clone repo, run make install
2. Daily use: Your environment is ready across all machines
3. Adding tools: Update Brewfile or mise.toml, then run brew bundle or mise install
4. Config changes: Make changes in repo, then j export <package> to deploy
5. New machine: Just git pull && j export --all

Your development environment now grows with you, not against you!