popoffvg/laptop-setup

Laptop Setup

Manage the dotfiles-based laptop provisioning via ansible/install_packages.yaml.

Dotfiles repo: ~/Documents/git/dotfiles

Architecture

All setup is declared in ansible/install_packages.yaml:

• brew_packages — CLI tools installed via Homebrew
• brew_casks — GUI apps installed via Homebrew Cask
• home_symlinks — files from dotfiles root symlinked to $HOME
• config_symlinks — dirs from .config/ symlinked to ~/.config/
• Tasks section — ordered setup steps (brew, symlinks, git hooks, mise, cleanup)

Step 1: Read current playbook

Read ansible/install_packages.yaml

Understand the current vars and tasks before making changes.

Step 2: Determine the change type

| User wants to... | Action | |------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | Add a CLI tool | Add to brew_packages under the right category comment | | Add a GUI app | Add to brew_casks | | Add a dotfile to $HOME | Add to home_symlinks, create the file in repo root | | Add a config dir | Add to config_symlinks, create dir under .config/ | | Add a setup step | Add a new task in the tasks section, in logical order | | Remove a tool/app | Remove from vars list, remove related files/symlinks/tasks |

Step 3: Make the change

Edit ansible/install_packages.yaml with the minimal change needed.

Rules

• Categories: brew packages are grouped by comment (# shell, # tools, # git, # dev, # terminal, # apps). Place new entries under the correct category.
• Alphabetical within category: keep packages sorted alphabetically within each category group.
• One change at a time: don't combine adding a package with restructuring the playbook.
• Matching files: if adding a symlink, ensure the source file/dir exists in the dotfiles repo. Create it if needed.
• No orphans: if removing a tool, also remove its config files, symlinks, and any related zshrc sourcing.
• Test after change: run ansible-playbook ansible/install_packages.yaml --check --diff to verify syntax.

Step 4: Verify

# Dry-run to check for errors
ansible-playbook ansible/install_packages.yaml --check --diff -c local -i localhost,

Quick reference

# Full provisioning run
ansible-playbook ansible/install_packages.yaml -c local -i localhost,

# Just install packages (skip symlinks, hooks, etc.)
ansible-playbook ansible/install_packages.yaml -c local -i localhost, --tags packages