---
title: Home
type: docs
---

# chezmoi

Manage your dotfiles across multiple diverse machines, securely.

## How do I start with chezmoi now?

[Install chezmoi](/docs/install/) then read the [quick start
guide](/docs/quick-start/). The [how-to guide](/docs/how-to/) covers most common
tasks, and there's both documentation on [templating](/docs/templating/) and
[frequently asked questions](/docs/faq/) for specific questions. You can browse
other people's dotfiles that use chezmoi [on
GitHub](https://github.com/topics/chezmoi?o=desc&s=updated) and [on
GitLab](https://gitlab.com/search?search=chezmoi), and see how chezmoi [compares
to other dotfile managers](/docs/comparison/). For a full description of
chezmoi, consult the [reference](/docs/reference/).

## What does chezmoi do and why should I use it?

chezmoi helps you manage your personal configuration files (dotfiles, like
`~/.zshrc`) across multiple machines.

chezmoi is helpful if you have spent time customizing the tools you use (e.g.
shells, editors, and version control systems) and want to keep machines running
different accounts (e.g. home and work) and/or different operating systems (e.g.
Linux, macOS, and Windows) in sync, while still being able to easily cope with
differences from machine to machine.

chezmoi scales from the trivial (e.g. copying a few dotfiles onto a Raspberry
Pi, development container, or virtual machine) to complex long-lived
multi-machine development environments (e.g. keeping any number of home and
work, Linux, macOS, and Windows machines in sync). In all cases you only need to
maintain a single source of truth (a single branch in git) and getting started
only requires adding a single binary to your machine (which you can do with
`curl`, `wget`, or `scp`).

chezmoi has strong support for security, allowing you to manage secrets (e.g.
passwords, access tokens, and private keys) securely and seamlessly using a
password manager and/or encypt whole files with your favorite encryption tool.

If you do not personalize your configuration or only ever use a single operating
system with a single account and none of your dotfiles contain secrets then you
don't need chezmoi. Otherwise, read on...

## What are chezmoi's key features?

### Flexible

You can share as much configuration across machines as you want, while still
being able to control machine-specific details.Your dotfiles can be templates
(using [`text/template`](https://pkg.go.dev/text/template) syntax). Predefined
variables allow you to change behavior depending on operating system,
architecture, and hostname. chezmoi runs on all commonly-used platforms, like
Linux, macOS, and Windows. It also runs on less commonly-used platforms, like
FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Termux.

### Personal and secure

Nothing leaves your machine, unless you want it to. You can use the version
control system of your choice to manage your configuration, and you can write
the configuration file in the format of your choice. chezmoi can retrieve
secrets from [1Password](https://1password.com/),
[Bitwarden](https://bitwarden.com/), [gopass](https://www.gopass.pw/),
[KeePassXC](https://keepassxc.org/), [LastPass](https://lastpass.com/),
[pass](https://www.passwordstore.org/), [Vault](https://www.vaultproject.io/),
Keychain, [Keyring](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/GnomeKeyring), or any
command-line utility of your choice. You can encrypt individual files with
[GnuPG](https://www.gnupg.org) or [age](https://age-encryption.org). You can
checkout your dotfiles repo on as many machines as you want without revealing
any secrets to anyone.

### Transparent

chezmoi includes verbose and dry run modes so you can review exactly what
changes it will make to your home directory before making them. chezmoi's source
format uses only regular files and directories that map one-to-one with the
files, directories, and symlinks in your home directory that you choose to
manage. If you decide not to use chezmoi in the future, it is easy to move your
data elsewhere.

### Declarative and robust

You declare the desired state of files, directories, and symbolic links in your
source of truth and chezmoi updates your home directory to match that state.
What you want is what you get. chezmoi updates all files and symbolic links
atomically. You will never be left with incomplete files that could lock you
out, even if the update process is interrupted.

### Fast and easy to use

Using chezmoi feels like using git: the commands are similar and chezmoi runs in
fractions of a second. chezmoi makes most day-to-day operations one line
commands, including installation, initialization, and keeping your machines
up-to-date. chezmoi can pull and apply changes from your dotfiles repo in a
single command, and automatically commit and push changes.

## I already have a system to manage my dotfiles, why should I use chezmoi?

Read the [comparison of chezmoi to other dotfile managers](/docs/comparison/).

## How do people use chezmoi?

### Dotfile repos using chezmoi

Have a look at people using chezmoi [on
GitHub](https://github.com/topics/chezmoi?o=desc&s=updated) and [on
GitLab](https://gitlab.com/search?search=chezmoi).

### People talking about chezmoi

Read what [people have said about chezmoi](docs/MEDIA.md).

## What documentation is available?

* [Install guide](/docs/install/) to get chezmoi installed on your machine with
  one or two commands.
* [Quick start guide](/docs/quick-start/) for your first steps.
* [How-to guide](/docs/how-to/) for achieving specific tasks.
* [Templating guide](/docs/templating/) for working with templates.
* [FAQ](/docs/faq/) for questions that aren't answered elsewhere.
* [Changes](/docs/changes/) for non-backwards compatible changes.
* [Reference](/docs/reference/) for a complete description of chezmoi.
* [Comparison guide](/docs/comparison/) for a comparison with other dotfile managers.
* [Contributing](/docs/contributing/) for people looking to contribute to or
  package chezmoi.

## License

MIT
