User

Some setup belongs to the user account itself. The common example is the login shell.

dots.user.shell("zsh")

These settings apply to the user running dots.

Shell

Use dots.user.shell(...) to set the login shell:

dots.user.shell("zsh")

dots resolves the shell from PATH, so "zsh" becomes a full path such as /usr/bin/zsh. If the current login shell already matches, the check has no change.

On apply, dots runs:

chsh -s <shell-path>

Restart the login session for the shell change to take effect.

Groups on Linux

Group management is Linux-only for now. On macOS, dots.group.create(...) and dots.user.add_to_groups(...) report a conflict instead of trying to guess the right dscl or Directory Services behavior.

Groups and group membership are separate.

Use dots.group.create(...) when the group itself should exist:

dots.group.create({ "media" })

On apply, missing groups are created with:

sudo groupadd media

Use dots.user.add_to_groups(...) when the current user should be a member of existing groups:

dots.user.add_to_groups({ "docker", "wheel", "media" })

On apply, dots runs:

sudo usermod -aG docker "$USER"

If a group is used in dots.user.add_to_groups(...) but does not exist and is not declared with dots.group.create(...), dots check reports a conflict instead of creating it by accident.

Groups declared with dots.group.create(...) are tracked when dots check or dots apply sees that they exist. If that declaration is removed later, dots check shows the group removal. Memberships declared with dots.user.add_to_groups(...) are tracked the same way.

Group membership usually requires logging out and back in before it affects new sessions.