Configuration File Reference

Everything DotR manages is described in a single config.toml at the repository root, created by dotr init.

Editor support (schema validation)

dotr init writes a taplo #:schema directive as the first line of the generated config.toml:

#:schema https://raw.githubusercontent.com/uroybd/DotR/main/schema/config.schema.json

This associates the file with a JSON Schema describing every field on this page — giving you inline validation, autocomplete, and hover documentation as you edit, in any editor that uses taplo as its TOML language server:

VS Code — install the Even Better TOML extension; it picks up the directive automatically.
Neovim — via nvim-lspconfig’s built-in taplo preset: require('lspconfig').taplo.setup {}.
Vim, Emacs, Helix, Sublime — any setup that runs taplo as the TOML language server (via vim-lsp/coc.nvim, lsp-mode, etc.) picks it up the same way, since the directive is parsed by taplo itself, not by a particular editor plugin.

This isn’t published on SchemaStore — config.toml is too generic a filename for filename-based catalog matching (Hugo’s own config.toml is SchemaStore’s canonical example of a pattern they reject for exactly this reason). The inline directive avoids that ambiguity entirely, since it points at a specific schema explicitly rather than relying on the filename.

If you have a config.toml from before this was added, add the line above to the top of the file yourself, or configure your editor’s schema association for the file manually (e.g. evenBetterToml.schema.associations in VS Code settings).

Top level

banner = true
symlink = false
prompt_backend = "file"
bitwarden_note = "dotr-secrets"

[variables]
# ...

[prompts]
# ...

[packages.<name>]
# ...

[profiles.<name>]
# ...

Field	Type	Default	Purpose
`banner`	bool	`true`	Print the DotR ASCII banner on commands. Set `false` for quiet output.
`symlink`	bool	`false`	Deploy every directory package as a symlink, without setting `symlink = true` on each one individually — see Symlinks.
`variables`	table	`{}`	Config-level variables — see Variables.
`prompts`	table	`{}`	Config-level prompts — see Prompts.
`prompt_backend`	`"file"` \| `"keychain"` \| `"bitwarden"`	unset (behaves as `"file"`)	Repo-wide default storage backend for every prompt — see Prompts. A profile’s own `prompt_backend` overrides this.
`bitwarden_note`	string	`"dotr-secrets"`	Name of the Bitwarden secure note used when `prompt_backend = "bitwarden"` — see Prompts. Can be overridden per-machine via `DOTR_BITWARDEN_NOTE` — see machine-local override.
`packages`	table	`{}`	Package definitions, keyed by name — see below.
`profiles`	table	`{ default = {} }`	Profile definitions, keyed by name — see below. A `default` profile always exists.

`[packages.<name>]`

[packages.nvim]
src = "dotfiles/nvim"
dest = "~/.config/nvim/"
dependencies = ["fonts"]
pre_actions = ["mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nvim"]
post_actions = ["nvim --headless +PluginInstall +qall"]
skip = false
symlink = false
unfold_symlink = false
clean = true
ignore = ["*.log"]

[packages.nvim.variables]
THEME = "gruvbox"

[packages.nvim.targets]
work = "~/work-config/nvim/"

[packages.nvim.prompts]
NVIM_TOKEN = "Enter your plugin registry token"

Field	Type	Default	Purpose
`src`	string	—	Path to the file/directory in the repository. Required.
`dest`	string	—	Deployment destination. `~` and template variables are expanded. Required.
`dependencies`	list of strings	none	Other packages deployed alongside this one — Dependencies.
`variables`	table	`{}`	Package-scoped variables — Variables.
`pre_actions`	list of strings	`[]`	Shell commands run before deploy — Actions.
`post_actions`	list of strings	`[]`	Shell commands run after deploy — Actions.
`targets`	table (profile/platform → path)	`{}`	Per-profile (or per-platform) destination override — Packages.
`skip`	bool	`false`	Excluded from profile-driven (implicit) selection — Packages.
`prompts`	table	`{}`	Package-scoped prompts — Prompts.
`ignore`	list of glob patterns	`[]`	Files excluded from deploy/clean — Ignoring Files.
`symlink`	bool	unset (follows the global `symlink` setting)	Deploy as a symlink instead of a copy. An explicit `true`/`false` here always overrides the global flag — Symlinks.
`unfold_symlink`	bool	`false`	Symlink individual files instead of the whole directory, so untracked content can coexist at `dest` — implied by a non-empty `ignore` — Symlinks.
`clean`	bool	`true`	Remove stray files at the destination — Clean Mode.

`[profiles.<name>]`

[profiles.work]
dependencies = ["nvim", "git"]
prompt_backend = "keychain"
platform = "macos"

[profiles.work.variables]
GIT_EMAIL = "[email protected]"

[profiles.work.prompts]
WORK_TOKEN = "Enter your work VPN token"

Field	Type	Default	Purpose
`dependencies`	list of strings	`[]`	Packages deployed when this profile is active and no `--packages` is given — Profiles.
`variables`	table	`{}`	Profile-scoped variables — Variables.
`prompts`	table	`{}`	Profile-scoped prompts — Prompts.
`prompt_backend`	`"file"` \| `"keychain"` \| `"bitwarden"`	unset (follows the top-level `prompt_backend`)	Overrides the repo-wide default backend while this profile is active — Prompts.
`bitwarden_note`	string	unset (follows the top-level `bitwarden_note`)	Overrides which Bitwarden secure note this profile’s `bitwarden`-backed prompts use — Prompts. Can itself be overridden per-machine via `DOTR_BITWARDEN_NOTE` — see machine-local override.
`platform`	string	unset	Shares a package’s `targets` destination with every other profile that sets the same value — Packages.

Other files DotR creates

File	Tracked in git?	Purpose
`config.toml`	Yes	The configuration described above.
`dotfiles/`	Yes	Package sources — the actual file/directory content for each package.
`.gitignore`	Yes	Written by `dotr init`; excludes `.uservariables.toml` and `deployed`.
`.uservariables.toml`	No	Answers to prompts — secrets live here.
`deployed/`	No	Staging directory for symlinked packages.

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