Rootbeer

Manage your dotfiles with Lua!

Rootbeer is a dotfile manager that lets you define your system configuration in Lua scripts. Think chezmoi, but with the full power of a real scripting language. Write declarative config tables, use conditionals based on your OS/hostname, and generate shell configs — all without learning a templating DSL.

Quick Start

# Initialize with a new source directory
rb init

# Or clone an existing dotfiles repo
rb init tale/dotfiles

# Apply your configuration
rb apply

# Dry run (preview without writing files)
rb apply -n

rb init creates a source directory at ~/.local/share/rootbeer/source/ with a starter rootbeer.lua manifest. When you run rb apply, it evaluates the manifest and writes/links your dotfiles into place.

Example Config

local rb = require("@rootbeer")
local zsh = require("@rootbeer/shells/zsh")
local d = rb.data()

-- Write a generated .zshrc
rb.file("~/.zshrc", zsh.config({
    env = {
        EDITOR = "nvim",
        LANG = "en_US.UTF-8",
    },
    aliases = {
        g = "git",
        v = "nvim",
        ls = "ls -la",
    },
    sources = { "~/.config/zsh/local.zsh" },
    extra = "autoload -Uz compinit && compinit",
}))

-- Conditionals based on system data
if d.os == "macos" then
    rb.file("~/.config/homebrew/env", 'export HOMEBREW_PREFIX="/opt/homebrew"\n')
end

-- Symlink a file from your source directory
rb.link_file("config/gitconfig", "~/.gitconfig")

Lua API

Core (require("@rootbeer"))

Function	Description
rb.file(path, content)	Write content to path (~ expands to $HOME)
rb.link_file(src, dest)	Symlink src (relative to source dir) to dest
rb.data()	Returns {os, arch, hostname, home, username}

Shells (require("@rootbeer/shells/zsh"))

zsh.config(table) renders a declarative config table into a zshrc string. Supported keys: env, aliases, evals, sources, extra.

How It Works

Rootbeer uses a plan-first architecture: your Lua script declares intent (write this file, create this symlink) without touching the filesystem. After the script completes, the plan is validated and executed — or in dry-run mode, just printed.

Building

Requires Rust 1.79+.

cargo build

The binary is built to ./target/debug/rb.

License

MIT