From Dotfile Managers

Dotfile managers focus on one job: keeping dotfiles in sync between a repo and your home directory. Dotkit does that too, but it is also responsible for installing tools and packages and running any other setup steps. If you already use a dotfile manager, you can keep it, wrap it, or replace its symlinking with dotkit link.

Keeping your current tool

If your dotfile manager works well, don’t replace it. Call it from your dotkit file:

stow -t ~ dotfiles

or

chezmoi apply

This is not a special integration. dotkit link is an ordinary command in a dotkit file, exactly like stow is, and swapping one line for the other changes nothing else. Dotkit handles order and bootstrap; your existing tool handles symlinking.

Note

Folders have no type in dotkit, so a dotfiles folder needs no marker file and nothing inside it has to change. Only your dotkit file knows what that folder is for.

Subfolders are never descended into automatically, so a dotfiles/ folder sitting in your kit is inert until something names it. To have your kit hold the files but not link them, simply don’t reference the folder.

Replacing symlinking with dotkit link

Point dotkit link at the folder:

~/dotfiles/
  .zshrc
  .gitconfig
  .config/nvim/init.lua

dotkit link ~/dotfiles

Every file is symlinked to the corresponding path under ~, mirroring the structure. Existing files are backed up with a timestamp before being replaced.

The destination defaults to ~. Pass a second argument for anywhere else.

Note

Dotkit’s link behaviour is deliberately plain: it walks the folder recursively and creates a symlink for each file at the matching path under the destination. No templates, no encryption, no conditionals, just symlinks.

If you need per-machine conditional files, templating, or encrypted secrets, keep your current tool for those files and use dotkit link for the rest. Both can run from the same dotkit file.

Migrating into a kit

1. Copy your dotfiles into dotfiles/ inside your kit
2. Add dotkit link dotfiles to your dotkit file
3. Preview with dotkit link --dry-run dotfiles
4. Apply with dotkit link dotfiles, or run the whole kit

Existing files are backed up automatically, and a second run reports everything ok and changes nothing.

Comparison

	Dotfile managers	dotkit
Symlinks dotfiles	Yes	Yes, via dotkit link
Templating, encryption	Often	No
Installs packages and tools	No	Yes
Bootstraps a bare machine	Sometimes	Yes
Works inside a project repo	Rarely	Yes, any directory with a .dotkit

The overlap is one command. Everything else is a different job, which is why keeping both is a reasonable answer rather than a compromise.