dotfiles/CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Repository Overview

Personal dotfiles repository for Ismo Vuorinen. Uses Dotbot (not GNU Stow) to symlink configuration files into place. The directory layout follows the XDG Base Directory Specification.

Directory Layout and Linking

Source	Destination	Notes
base/*	~/.*	Home-level dotfiles (. added by Dotbot)
config/*	~/.config/	Application configurations
local/bin/*	~/.local/bin/	Helper scripts and utilities
local/share/*	~/.local/share/	Data files
local/man/**	~/.local/man/	Manual pages
ssh/*	~/.ssh/	SSH configuration (mode 0600)
hosts/<hostname>/	Overlays	Host-specific overrides

Installation: ./install runs Dotbot with install.conf.yaml, then applies hosts/<hostname>/install.conf.yaml if it exists.

Commands

# Install dependencies (required before lint/test)
yarn install

# Linting
yarn lint              # Run biome + prettier + editorconfig-checker
yarn lint:biome        # Biome only
yarn lint:ec           # EditorConfig checker only
yarn lint:md-table     # Markdown table formatting check
yarn fix:md-table      # Auto-fix markdown tables

# Formatting
yarn fix:biome         # Autofix with biome (JS/TS/JSON/MD)
yarn fix:prettier      # Autofix with prettier (YAML)
yarn format            # Format with biome
yarn format:yaml       # Format YAML files with prettier

# Testing (Bats - Bash Automated Testing System)
yarn test              # Run all tests in tests/
# Run a single test file:
./node_modules/.bin/bats tests/dfm.bats

# Shell linting
shellcheck <script>    # Lint shell scripts

# Tooling maintenance
npx @biomejs/biome migrate --write  # Update biome schema version

Pre-commit Hooks

Configured in .pre-commit-config.yaml: shellcheck, shfmt, biome, yamllint, prettier, actionlint, stylua, fish_syntax/fish_indent, ruff. Run pre-commit run --all-files to check everything.

Commit Convention

Semantic Commit messages: type(scope): summary (e.g., fix(tmux): correct prefix binding). Enforced by commitlint extending @ivuorinen/commitlint-config.

Architecture

Shell Configuration Chain

Both base/bashrc and base/zshrc source config/shared.sh, which loads:

• config/exports — environment variables, XDG dirs, PATH
• config/alias — shell aliases

Zsh additionally uses antidote (in tools/antidote/) for plugin management and oh-my-posh for the prompt.

msgr — Messaging Helper

local/bin/msgr provides colored output functions (msgr msg, msgr run, msgr yay, msgr err, msgr warn). Sourced by dfm and most scripts in local/bin/.

dfm — Dotfiles Manager

local/bin/dfm is the main management script. Key commands:

• dfm install all — install everything in tiered stages
• dfm brew install / dfm brew update — Homebrew management
• dfm apt upkeep — APT package maintenance (Debian/Ubuntu)
• dfm dotfiles fmt / dfm dotfiles shfmt — format configs/scripts
• dfm helpers <name> — inspect aliases, colors, env, functions, path
• dfm docs all — regenerate documentation under docs/
• dfm check arch / dfm check host — system info
• dfm scripts — run scripts from scripts/ (discovered via @description tags)
• dfm tests — test visualization helpers

Submodules

External dependencies are git submodules (Dotbot, plugins, tmux plugins, cheatsheets, antidote). Managed by add-submodules.sh. All set to ignore = dirty. Updated automatically via GitHub Actions on a schedule.

Host-specific Configs

Machine-specific overrides live in hosts/<hostname>/ with their own base/, config/, and install.conf.yaml. These are layered on top of the global config during installation.

Code Style

• EditorConfig: 2-space indent, UTF-8, LF line endings. See .editorconfig for per-filetype overrides (4-space for PHP/fish, tabs for git config).
• Shell scripts: Must have a shebang or # shellcheck shell=bash directive. Follow shfmt settings in .editorconfig (2-space indent, binary_next_line, switch_case_indent, space_redirects, function_next_line).
• Lua (neovim config): Formatted with stylua (stylua.toml), 90-char line length.
• JSON/JS/TS/Markdown: Formatted with Biome (biome.json), 80-char width (Markdown uses 120-char override).
• YAML: Formatted with Prettier (.prettierrc.json), validated with yamllint (.yamllint.yml).

ShellCheck Disabled Rules

Defined in .shellcheckrc: SC2039 (POSIX local), SC2166 (-o in test), SC2154 (unassigned variables), SC1091 (source following), SC2174 (mkdir -p -m), SC2016 (single-quote expressions).

Gotchas

• POSIX scripts: x-ssh-audit, x-codeql, x-until-error, x-until-success, x-ssl-expiry-date use /bin/sh. Validate with sh -n, not bash -n.
• Vendor file: local/bin/fzf-tmux is vendored from junegunn/fzf — do not modify.
• Fish config: config/fish/ has its own config chain (config.fish, exports.fish, alias.fish) plus 60+ functions.
• gh CLI config: config/gh/hosts.yml is managed by gh CLI and excluded from prettier (see .prettierignore).
• Python: Two scripts (x-compare-versions.py, x-git-largest-files.py) linted by Ruff (config in pyproject.toml).

Claude Code Configuration

• Hooks (.claude/settings.json):
  • PreToolUse: Blocks edits to fzf-tmux, yarn.lock, .yarn/
  • PostToolUse: Auto-runs shfmt on shell scripts after Edit/Write
  • PostToolUse: Auto-runs fish_indent on .fish files after Edit/Write
  • PostToolUse: Auto-runs stylua on .lua files after Edit/Write
• Skills (.claude/skills/):
  • shell-validate: Auto-validates shell scripts (syntax + shellcheck)
  • fish-validate: Auto-validates fish scripts (syntax + fish_indent)
  • lua-format: Auto-formats Lua files with stylua
  • yaml-validate: Auto-validates YAML files (yamllint + actionlint)
• Subagents (.claude/agents/):
  • code-reviewer: Reviews shell/fish/lua changes for correctness and style
• MCP Servers:
  • context7: Live documentation lookup for tools and libraries

Package Manager

Yarn (v4.12.0) is the package manager. Do not use npm.

context-mode — MANDATORY routing rules

You have context-mode MCP tools available. These rules are NOT optional — they protect your context window from flooding. A single unrouted command can dump 56 KB into context and waste the entire session.

BLOCKED commands — do NOT attempt these

curl / wget — BLOCKED

Any Bash command containing curl or wget is intercepted and replaced with an error message. Do NOT retry. Instead use:

• ctx_fetch_and_index(url, source) to fetch and index web pages
• ctx_execute(language: "javascript", code: "const r = await fetch(...)") to run HTTP calls in sandbox

Inline HTTP — BLOCKED

Any Bash command containing fetch('http, requests.get(, requests.post(, http.get(, or http.request( is intercepted and replaced with an error message. Do NOT retry with Bash. Instead use:

• ctx_execute(language, code) to run HTTP calls in sandbox — only stdout enters context

WebFetch — BLOCKED

WebFetch calls are denied entirely. The URL is extracted and you are told to use ctx_fetch_and_index instead. Instead use:

• ctx_fetch_and_index(url, source) then ctx_search(queries) to query the indexed content

REDIRECTED tools — use sandbox equivalents

Bash (>20 lines output)

Bash is ONLY for: git, mkdir, rm, mv, cd, ls, yarn install, pip install, and other short-output commands. For everything else, use:

• ctx_batch_execute(commands, queries) — run multiple commands + search in ONE call
• ctx_execute(language: "shell", code: "...") — run in sandbox, only stdout enters context

Read (for analysis)

If you are reading a file to Edit it → Read is correct (Edit needs content in context). If you are reading to analyze, explore, or summarize → use ctx_execute_file(path, language, code) instead. Only your printed summary enters context. The raw file content stays in the sandbox.

Grep (large results)

Grep results can flood context. Use ctx_execute(language: "shell", code: "grep ...") to run searches in sandbox. Only your printed summary enters context.

Tool selection hierarchy

1. GATHER: ctx_batch_execute(commands, queries) — Primary tool. Runs all commands, auto-indexes output, returns search results. ONE call replaces 30+ individual calls.
2. FOLLOW-UP: ctx_search(queries: ["q1", "q2", ...]) — Query indexed content. Pass ALL questions as array in ONE call.
3. PROCESSING: ctx_execute(language, code) | ctx_execute_file(path, language, code) — Sandbox execution. Only stdout enters context.
4. WEB: ctx_fetch_and_index(url, source) then ctx_search(queries) — Fetch, chunk, index, query. Raw HTML never enters context.
5. INDEX: ctx_index(content, source) — Store content in FTS5 knowledge base for later search.

Subagent routing

When spawning subagents (Agent/Task tool), the routing block is automatically injected into their prompt. Bash-type subagents are upgraded to general-purpose so they have access to MCP tools. You do NOT need to manually instruct subagents about context-mode.

Output constraints

• Keep responses under 500 words.
• Write artifacts (code, configs, PRDs) to FILES — never return them as inline text. Return only: file path + 1-line description.
• When indexing content, use descriptive source labels so others can ctx_search(source: "label") later.

ctx commands

Command	Action
ctx stats	Call the ctx_stats MCP tool and display the full output verbatim
ctx doctor	Call the ctx_doctor MCP tool, run the returned shell command, display as checklist
ctx upgrade	Call the ctx_upgrade MCP tool, run the returned shell command, display as checklist