---
title: Install
description: Fork the repo and run one command on a clean Mac; it shows its plan before changing anything.
---

## 1. Fork the repo

Fork [rbadillap/dotfiles](https://github.com/rbadillap/dotfiles) on GitHub.
Your fork is where your choices will live: which apps, which preferences,
which tools. You can also try it first straight from the original repo and
fork later.

## 2. Run the installer

Open Terminal on the Mac and run, with your fork's owner and name:

```sh
DOTFILES_REPO=<you>/dotfiles sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/<you>/dotfiles/main/install.sh)"
```

Without `DOTFILES_REPO`, it installs the original repo, `rbadillap/dotfiles`.

It prints a plan (each step, why it's needed, and whether it's already done)
and changes nothing until you confirm. Questions take a single keypress:
`y` or `n`, and Enter keeps the default. Then it:

1. **Installs Homebrew**, the package manager for everything else. It asks
   for your password once: Homebrew needs admin rights to create
   `/opt/homebrew`.
2. **Installs the Xcode Command Line Tools** (git, compilers, macOS SDK)
   through Homebrew's installer, without a dialog. On a clean Mac,
   `/usr/bin/git` is only a stub that asks to install them.
3. **Clones your repo** over HTTPS into `~/code/<you>/dotfiles`. Every repo
   lives at `~/code/<owner>/<repo>`, mirroring GitHub.
4. **Creates `dot.toml`**, your personal values ([next page](/docs/get-started/your-values)),
   then runs `dot check` and asks before `dot apply`
   ([Check and apply](/docs/get-started/check-and-apply)).

Every step is skipped when it's already done, so rerunning is safe; after a
failure, it says which step failed and a rerun continues from there. Only
Apple Silicon Macs are supported, as with current Homebrew.

| Option       | Does                                              |
|--------------|---------------------------------------------------|
| `--dry-run`  | shows the plan and exits                          |
| `--yes`      | no questions (also with `NONINTERACTIVE` or `CI`) |
| `--no-apply` | stops after `dot check`                           |
| `--help`     | usage                                             |

Pass options after `--`: `sh -c "$(curl …)" -- --dry-run`. An agent runs
`sh install.sh --yes --no-apply` and shows you the check before anything is
applied.

## 3. Open a new terminal

After `apply`, open a new terminal: [Ghostty](/docs/your-mac/shell-and-terminal)
with zsh and Starship. From now on `dot` works from any folder, with
completion, and your language versions are ready.

## If something seems off

```sh
dot doctor
```

It checks what dot itself needs (the Command Line Tools, Homebrew,
1Password, `gh`, `dot.toml`, the shell setup) and says how to fix each
problem.

## macOS won't let scripts do these

- **Log out and back in** after keyboard or trackpad changes; `apply`
  reminds you.
- **Default browser:** accept the browser's "make default" prompt, or pick it
  in *System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Default web browser*.
- **Window tiling:** grant Rectangle Accessibility permission
  ([Windows](/docs/your-mac/windows)).
- **1Password:** sign in and turn on its developer features
  ([1Password and GitHub](/docs/get-started/1password-and-github)).