flow/example/README.md

Example working scenario

This folder contains a complete dotfiles + bootstrap setup for the current flow schema.

What this example shows

• Flat repo-root layout with reserved dirs:
  • _shared/ (shared configs)
  • _root/ (root-targeted configs)
  • profile dirs (linux-auto/, macos-dev/)
• Unified YAML config under _shared/flow/.config/flow/*.yaml
• Profile package list syntax: string, type prefix, and object entries
• Binary install definition with asset-pattern, platform-map, extract-dir, and install
• Required env vars, templating, SSH keygen, runcmd, post-link, and config skip patterns

Layout

• dotfiles-repo/_shared/flow/.config/flow/config.yaml
• dotfiles-repo/_shared/flow/.config/flow/packages.yaml
• dotfiles-repo/_shared/flow/.config/flow/profiles.yaml
• dotfiles-repo/_shared/...
• dotfiles-repo/_root/...
• dotfiles-repo/linux-auto/...
• dotfiles-repo/macos-dev/...

Quick start

Use the absolute path to this local example repo:

EXAMPLE_REPO="/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/flow-cli/example/dotfiles-repo"

Initialize and link dotfiles:

flow dotfiles init --repo "$EXAMPLE_REPO"
flow dotfiles link --profile linux-auto
flow dotfiles status

Check repo commands:

flow dotfiles repo status
flow dotfiles repo pull --relink --profile linux-auto
flow dotfiles repo push

Edit package or file/path targets:

flow dotfiles edit git --no-commit
flow dotfiles edit _shared/flow/.config/flow/profiles.yaml --no-commit

Inspect bootstrap profiles and package resolution:

flow bootstrap list
flow bootstrap packages --resolved
flow bootstrap packages --profile linux-auto --resolved
flow bootstrap show linux-auto

Run bootstrap dry-run:

flow bootstrap run --profile linux-auto --var TARGET_HOSTNAME=devbox --var USER_EMAIL=you@example.com --dry-run
flow bootstrap run --profile macos-dev --dry-run