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Profile lifecycle

This flow covers creating a new profile, activating it, and using it across machines.

What profiles are

A profile is a named slice of your dotfiles config. Every machine has one active profile at a time. Profiles can extend a shared base profile, adding their own zshrc source file, tools, and tracked dotfiles on top.

A typical setup:

  • base — shared across everything: aliases, common tools, starship
  • personal — extends base; adds personal PATH tweaks and personal tools
  • work — extends base; adds work PATH, work-only tools (slack, zed), a .gitconfig with your work email

Overview

flowchart TD
    A([You want a work profile]) --> B["Create profiles/work.toml\n  extends = 'base'\n  zshrc = 'files/zshrc.work'\n  tools = ['slack']\n  dotfiles = ['.gitconfig']"]
    B --> C["Create files/zshrc.work\nAdd work-specific PATH, tool init"]
    C --> D["pauldot profile set work"]
    D --> E{Apply now?}
    E -->|Yes| F["pauldot apply"]
    F --> G["exec zsh"]
    G --> H(["✓ Work profile active\n ~/.zshrc contains work config\n tools reconciled\n dotfiles copied to ~"])
    E -->|Later| I["pauldot apply whenever ready"]

    H --> J["pauldot sync\nPushes profile files to remote"]
    J --> K["On another machine:\npauldot profile set work\npauldot apply"]

Step by step

1. Create a profile file

In your dotfiles repo, create profiles/work.toml:

extends = "base"

zshrc = "files/zshrc.work"

tools = ["slack", "zed", "ripgrep"]

dotfiles = [".gitconfig"]
  • extends — inherit everything from base and add on top
  • zshrc — a profile-specific source file (PATH tweaks, tool init, exports)
  • tools — tools to install on any machine running this profile
  • dotfiles — files in files/home/ to copy to ~ on apply (if missing)

2. Create the profile's zshrc source file

touch ~/.pauldot/files/zshrc.work

Add any work-specific config:

export WORK_MODE=true
export EDITOR="zed --wait"
export PATH="$HOME/.work/bin:$PATH"

3. Set the active profile

pauldot profile set work

You'll be asked whether to apply immediately. You can also pass --apply to skip the prompt:

pauldot profile set work --apply

4. Apply and reload

pauldot apply
exec zsh

apply writes ~/.zshrc from the work profile's source files, reconciles tool installs, and links any tracked dotfiles listed in dotfiles.

Switching back

pauldot profile set personal --apply
exec zsh

The previous profile's zshrc content is replaced; tools from the new profile are reconciled on the next apply.

Using a profile on another machine

pauldot profile set work
pauldot apply

The profile file (profiles/work.toml) is already in the repo. Setting it and applying is all that's needed.

Notes

  • pauldot profile list shows all available profiles.
  • pauldot profile show shows the currently active profile.
  • Only one profile is active per machine at a time. Each machine can run a different profile from the same repo.
  • extends is single-level only — work extends base, but base cannot itself extend another profile.