# Install chezmoi with Homebrew

Manage your dotfiles across multiple diverse machines, securely. Version 2.71.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-27.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:chezmoi
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install chezmoi
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:chezmoi
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 2.71.1
- **Source summary:** Manage your dotfiles across multiple diverse machines, securely
- **Homepage:** <https://chezmoi.io/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/twpayne/chezmoi>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-27T22:03:46+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- chezmoi (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 2.71.1
## Project history and usage

chezmoi is a dotfile manager for keeping personal configuration synchronized across different machines, with explicit support for secure, templated, and machine-specific state.

### Project history

The project is maintained by Tom Payne in the official twpayne/chezmoi repository and documents itself as a tool to manage dotfiles across multiple diverse machines, securely.

The official release history records a 1.0.0 release on 2019-01-13, a 2.0.0 release on 2021-03-17, and frequent 2.x releases continuing through 2.70.5 on 2026-06-03.

### Adoption history

chezmoi's adoption follows the modern dotfiles wave: users increasingly keep shell, editor, Git, SSH-adjacent, and app configuration in version control while needing per-machine templates and secret integration.

The input package metadata lists broad distribution through Homebrew, Alpine, Chocolatey, Fedora, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Scoop, winget, and openSUSE. Homebrew reported 133,114 trailing-365-day installs at research time.

### How it is used

The usual package-manager workflow is `brew install chezmoi`, then initialize a source state and apply it on each machine. The documented config file lives under the XDG config directory, with JSON, JSONC, TOML, or YAML formats.

chezmoi is commonly used for repeatable workstation bootstrap, keeping a dotfiles repo portable while allowing host-specific templates and secure handling of private data.

### Why package nerds care

chezmoi is one of the notable package-manager-era dotfile tools because it turns a personal dotfiles repository into an installable, cross-platform command with clear config-file conventions.

For package nerds, its attraction is pragmatic: one binary, many package managers, Git-friendly state, and enough security/template behavior to replace a pile of ad hoc shell scripts.

### Timeline

- 2019: chezmoi 1.0.0 released.
- 2021: chezmoi 2.0.0 released.
- 2026: chezmoi 2.70.5 released and tracked by Homebrew.

### Related projects

- chezmoi belongs to the dotfile-management family alongside Git-backed home-directory managers and package bootstrap scripts, but its official docs emphasize secure multi-machine dotfile management rather than a single-host symlink farm.
- It is frequently paired in practice with package managers, Git hosting, shells, editors, and password-manager tooling, because those are the systems whose configuration users tend to synchronize.

### Sources

- <https://www.chezmoi.io/>
- <https://www.chezmoi.io/reference/configuration-file/>
- <https://www.chezmoi.io/reference/release-history/>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/chezmoi.json>


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for chezmoi. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.



## Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.


## Configuration files

- Unix: ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.$FORMAT
- Windows: %USERPROFILE%/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.$FORMAT

## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/chezmoi.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/chezmoi.yml)


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation