Install dotter with Homebrew, apt, Nix, scoop, winget

Project links

• Homepage

Commands and aliases

• dotter

Project history

The public GitHub repository was created in May 2017 and describes Dotter as a response to the friction of managing many dotfiles by hand: tracking what links where, bootstrapping a new machine, and handling per-machine differences. Its default configuration names, `.dotter/global.toml` and `.dotter/local.toml`, reflect that split between shared packages and local machine choices.

Dotter's history sits in the post-chezmoi, post-rcm era of dotfile tooling, where users wanted more than raw symlinks but less than a full configuration-management system. Its use of Rust, TOML, and Handlebars-style templating made it attractive to package-manager users who prefer a small static CLI for personal environment reproducibility.

Adoption history

The official README documents installation through Homebrew, Scoop, Cargo, AUR packages, and release binaries. The repository API shows continuing maintenance through releases such as v0.13.4 in 2025 and activity into 2026, while Homebrew packaging gives macOS users the familiar `brew install dotter` path.

Dotter has remained a niche but visible dotfiles tool rather than a platform. Its adoption is mostly among terminal-heavy users who keep dotfiles in Git and want templated deployment without pulling in a general-purpose automation stack.

How it is used

Dotter is run from inside a dotfiles repository. Users declare packages and target paths, select machine-local packages in local configuration, then run `dotter` or `dotter deploy` to create symlinks or render templates to their target locations.

The CLI also supports `init`, `watch`, `undeploy`, shell completion generation, dry runs, verbose diffs, force overwrites, pre/post deploy hooks, and cache paths. Those options make it scriptable enough for package bootstrap flows while still being centered on personal configuration files.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, Dotter is another specimen in the dotfiles-manager family: opinionated enough to encode host-specific deployment, but small enough to ship as one Rust executable across Homebrew, Scoop, Cargo, and distro channels.

It is significant less because it invented dotfile management and more because it captures a durable packaging pattern: a personal-environment tool whose real value is reproducible state, boring config files, and easy installability on a freshly provisioned machine.

Timeline

• 2017: Public GitHub repository created for SuperCuber/dotter.
• 2023: Dotter 0.13.0 release line begins.
• 2024: v0.13.3 release continues the 0.13 series.
• 2025: v0.13.4 is published.
• 2026: Repository activity continues on GitHub.

Related projects

• GNU Stow and rcm represent older symlink-oriented dotfile workflows that Dotter automates more explicitly.
• chezmoi and yadm are adjacent dotfile managers with broader feature sets and different opinions about templating, secrets, and host state.
• Homebrew, Scoop, Cargo, and AUR are important distribution paths because dotfile managers are often installed early in a machine bootstrap.

Sources

• https://github.com/SuperCuber/dotter
• https://github.com/SuperCuber/dotter/wiki
• https://api.github.com/repos/SuperCuber/dotter
• https://api.github.com/repos/SuperCuber/dotter/releases?per_page=5
• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/dotter