freckle 0.14.0

Keep track of all your dot(file)s. A dotfiles manager with tool installation.

freckle

Keep track of all your dot(file)s.

A dotfiles manager with tool installation for Linux and macOS.

Overview

Freckle automates the "bare repo" strategy for dotfiles with intelligent conflict resolution, automatic backups, and cross-platform package management.

Features

• Interactive Setup: Run freckle init to configure your repository.
• Bare Repo Management: Safely check out dotfiles into your home directory, backing up conflicts automatically.
• Profile Support: Manage multiple machine configurations via git branches.
• Secret Detection: Blocks accidental commits of private keys and tokens.
• Restore Points: Automatic backups before destructive operations.
• Declarative Tools: Define tools in config with automatic package manager selection (brew, apt, cargo, pip, npm) and curated script support.
• Platform Aware: Supports Debian-based Linux (apt) and macOS (brew).
• Scheduled Backups: Automatic daily/weekly backups via launchd or cron.
• Health Checks: freckle doctor diagnoses common issues.

Installation

Quick Install (Recommended)

Bootstrap freckle on a fresh system with a single command:

curl -LsSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/peterprescott/freckle/main/scripts/bootstrap.sh | bash

This installs uv and freckle automatically.

Manual Install

If you already have uv:

uv tool install freckle

Or with pip:

pip install freckle

Quick Start

# Initialize (interactive setup)
freckle init

# Check status of dotfiles
freckle sync

# Commit and push local changes
freckle backup

# Pull remote changes
freckle update

# Run health checks
freckle doctor

Commands

Core Commands

freckle init              # Interactive setup wizard
freckle sync              # Check dotfiles status, clone on first run
freckle backup            # Commit and push local changes
freckle update            # Pull and apply remote changes
freckle status            # Show detailed status of dotfiles and tools
freckle doctor            # Run health checks and diagnostics

File Management

freckle add <file>        # Track a new file in dotfiles
freckle remove <file>     # Stop tracking a file
freckle config            # Open config file in your editor

Secret detection is built-in. Adding private keys or tokens will be blocked:

$ freckle add .ssh/id_rsa
✗ Blocked: .ssh/id_rsa appears to contain a private key.
  To override: freckle add --force .ssh/id_rsa

Profile Management

Profiles let you maintain different configurations for different machines. Each profile is a git branch:

freckle profile list              # List all profiles
freckle profile switch <name>     # Switch to a profile
freckle profile create <name>     # Create a new profile
freckle profile delete <name>     # Delete a profile

Keep configuration in sync across profiles:

freckle config check              # Check config consistency
freckle config propagate          # Sync config to all branches

Tool Management

Tools are defined in your config and installed via the best available package manager:

freckle tools                     # Show tool installation status
freckle tools install <name>      # Install a specific tool

History & Restore

View the history of your dotfiles and restore from any point:

freckle history                   # Show recent commits
freckle history nvim              # History for specific tool
freckle history ~/.zshrc          # History for specific file
freckle history --oneline         # Compact format

freckle restore --list            # List backup restore points
freckle restore <commit> nvim     # Restore tool from git commit
freckle restore <commit> --all    # Restore all files from commit
freckle restore <commit> --dry-run  # Preview before restoring

Comparing Changes

freckle changes                   # Show uncommitted local changes
freckle diff abc123 def456 nvim   # Compare tool between commits

Scheduled Backups

freckle schedule          # Show current schedule status
freckle schedule daily    # Enable daily backups at 9am
freckle schedule weekly   # Enable weekly backups (Sundays)
freckle schedule off      # Disable scheduled backups

Shell Completion

Freckle supports tab completion for bash, zsh, and fish.

# Install completion for your current shell
freckle --install-completion

# Or show the completion script to customize installation
freckle --show-completion

After installation, restart your shell or source your shell config.

Global Options

freckle --verbose ...     # Enable debug logging
freckle sync --dry-run    # Preview what would happen
freckle backup --dry-run  # See what would be committed

Configuration

Freckle stores its configuration in ~/.freckle.yaml.

Example

dotfiles:
  repo_url: "https://github.com/{local_user}/dotfiles.git"
  branch: "main"
  dir: "~/.dotfiles"

profiles:
  default:
    tools:
      - git
      - zsh
      - tmux
      - nvim

  work:
    tools:
      - git
      - zsh
      - docker

tools:
  git:
    brew: git
    apt: git
    config_files:
      - ~/.gitconfig
  zsh:
    brew: zsh
    apt: zsh
    config_files:
      - ~/.zshrc
  nvim:
    brew: neovim
    apt: neovim
    config_files:
      - ~/.config/nvim/
  docker:
    brew: docker
    apt: docker.io

Variables

• {local_user}: Automatically replaced with your system username.
• Custom variables: Define your own in the vars section.

vars:
  git_host: "github.com"

dotfiles:
  repo_url: "https://{git_host}/{local_user}/dotfiles.git"

License

MIT