Reference: Environment Variables

User-Settable

Variables you can set in your shell to change behaviour.

Variable	Default	Effect
`DOTFILES_NONINTERACTIVE`	unset	Skip interactive prompts (for CI)
`DOTFILES_YES`	unset	`1` answers yes to `dot system update` and `dot ai install` questions (installing mise, AI tools, upgrading system packages); same as `--yes`. Without it and without a terminal, those commands install nothing extra
`DOTFILES_SILENT`	unset	`install.sh` and its provisioning steps: suppress non-error output (same as `install.sh --silent`)
`DOTFILES_INTERACTIVE_APPLY`	unset	`1` brings back chezmoi's overwrite prompts during `dot apply` (it runs with `--force` otherwise)
`DOTFILES_PACKAGES_TIMEOUT`	`10`	Seconds each `dot tool list --packages` query may take before it is reported as `timed out`
`DOTFILES_APP_STORES`	`1`	`0` skips the App Store (`mas`), Flatpak and Snap phase of `dot system update`, shown as a skip, on a machine whose store CLI is installed but does not work
`DOTFILES_DEBUG`	unset	Print zsh-init timing to stderr
`DOTFILES_TRACE`	unset	Full zsh-init trace to stderr
`DOTFILES_WALLPAPER_DIR`	`~/Pictures/Wallpapers`	Custom wallpaper directory
`DOTFILES_FLEET_HOSTS`	`~/.config/dotfiles/fleet.toml`	Host list for `dot fleet apply`
`DOTFILES_REGISTRY_URL`	unset	One-off override of the `dot cli` registry URL
`DOTFILES_TUNING`	`0`	Enable OS tuning (`dot system settings apply`)
`DOT_LOG_LEVEL`	`info` (`debug` with `-v`)	The lowest level written to the log.v1 logs, `$XDG_STATE_HOME/dot/<domain>/log.jsonl`: `debug`, `info`, `warn` or `error`
`DOT_LOG_RETENTION_DAYS`	`30`	Days of log.v1 records the maintenance job keeps
`DOT_LOG_DOMAIN`	the command's domain	Which domain's log a command writes to; bin/dot sets it, and a plugin's `DOT_DOMAIN` stands in when it is unset
`DOT_LOCK_WAIT`	`0`	Seconds a write or destructive command waits for another `dot` command in the same domain to release its lock before exiting 75 (ADR-020 N17)
`DOT_ALLOW_PATH_PLUGINS`	unset	`1` lets a word `dot` does not know run `~/.config/dotfiles/commands/<word>.sh`, or `dot-<word>` beside `bin/dot` or on `PATH`, with a deprecation warning. Off, `dot` names the file and the word is unknown (exit 127). Deprecated: user plugins come with the signed trust path (ADR-016)
`EDITOR`	`nvim`	Editor used by `dot edit` and `sops`
`PAGER`	`less`	Pager used by `dot help --manual text`

dot finds its source directory from its own install location, then CHEZMOI_SOURCE_DIR, then ~/.dotfiles, then ~/.local/share/chezmoi; there is no DOTFILES_SOURCE_DIR override for it (install.sh sets that variable only for its own provisioning scripts). State and cache paths follow XDG_STATE_HOME and XDG_CACHE_HOME.

Auto-Populated

Variables the dotfiles set in your shell for tool consumption.

Variable	Value	Source
`XDG_CONFIG_HOME`	`~/.config`	`dot_zshenv` (zsh)
`XDG_CACHE_HOME`	`~/.cache`	ditto
`XDG_DATA_HOME`	`~/.local/share`	ditto
`XDG_STATE_HOME`	`~/.local/state`	ditto
`PATH`	managed order	`dot_config/shell/00-core-paths.sh.tmpl`
`DOTFILES_DIR`	the dotfiles checkout: `~/.dotfiles`, or wherever `install.sh`'s `SOURCE_DIR` put it (chezmoi's working tree)	`00-core-paths.sh.tmpl` (bash, zsh), `env.fish.tmpl` (fish); a value already set wins. The aliases, functions and scripts that run files from the checkout read it, and fall back to `~/.dotfiles`
`BUN_INSTALL`	`~/.bun`	`env.fish.tmpl`
`PIPX_HOME`	`~/.local/share/pipx`	ditto
`PIPX_BIN_DIR`	`~/.local/bin`	ditto
`DOT_BUILD_ROOT`	`~/.cache/dot/builds` (under `XDG_CACHE_HOME`)	`mise [env]`, `rc.d/35-rust-target.zsh.tmpl`, `env.fish.tmpl`
`GOCACHE`	`$DOT_BUILD_ROOT/go-cache`	`mise [env]`
`PIP_CACHE_DIR`	`$DOT_BUILD_ROOT/pip-cache`	`mise [env]`
`UV_CACHE_DIR`	`$DOT_BUILD_ROOT/uv-cache`	`mise [env]`
`ZIG_LOCAL_CACHE_DIR`	`$DOT_BUILD_ROOT/zig-cache`	`mise [env]`
`ZIG_GLOBAL_CACHE_DIR`	`$DOT_BUILD_ROOT/zig-global-cache`	`mise [env]`
`HOMEBREW_PREFIX`	`/opt/homebrew`, `/usr/local` or `/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew`	`dot_zprofile` (when Homebrew is installed)
`MANPATH`	homebrew-adjusted	ditto
`MISE_EXPERIMENTAL`	`1`	`~/.config/mise/conf.d/00-dotfiles.toml`

mise [env] is ~/.config/mise/conf.d/00-dotfiles.toml. The dotfiles set no CARGO_TARGET_DIR (each project keeps its own ./target) and no GOTMPDIR (Go uses the system temporary directory).

No GitHub token is exported. Every process mise launches inherits its [env], so a token there would reach untrusted build and test commands. mise authenticates its own GitHub API calls with github.credential_command = "gh auth token" under [settings], and other tools call gh themselves.

Read by Tools

Variables set by upstream tools and respected by .dotfiles.

Variable	Used for
`SHELL`	Detect default shell
`TERM`	Terminal capabilities (e.g. `xterm-256color`)
`COLORTERM`	True-color detection (`truecolor`)
`LANG` / `LC_ALL`	Locale (must be UTF-8)
`HOME`	User home directory
`USER`	Username
`SSH_AUTH_SOCK`	ssh-agent socket
`GPG_TTY`	GPG pinentry TTY

CI-Specific

Variables relevant in GitHub Actions.

Variable	Purpose
`CI`	Set to `true` in CI; disables prompts, and questions that would install software are answered no
`GITHUB_ACTIONS`	GHA-specific; enables step summary output
`CHEZMOI_VERSION`	Pinned chezmoi version for CI
`COVERAGE_THRESHOLD`	Module-mapping threshold for `tests/framework/coverage_analyzer.sh` (default 100; not line coverage)

Variable	Purpose
`SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE`	Override the `~/.config/sops/age/keys.txt` path sops reads
`SOPS_AGE_RECIPIENTS`	Override recipients for new encryption
`CHEZMOI_AGE_IDENTITY`	Age identity written into `chezmoi.toml` by a non-interactive `chezmoi init` (default `~/.config/chezmoi/key.txt`)
`CHEZMOI_AGE_RECIPIENT`	Age recipient for a non-interactive `chezmoi init`

Warning: never set these to values stored in plaintext config. Use a password manager or ephemeral injection.

Startup Order

Shell-loaded variables follow this precedence (later wins):

System defaults (/etc/environment, /etc/profile)
Homebrew shellenv (macOS)
~/.zshenv (earliest user-level file; sets XDG + PATH bootstrap)
~/.zprofile or ~/.config/fish/conf.d/*.fish
~/.zshrc or ~/.config/fish/config.fish
mise activate — injects tool-specific env
Per-project .envrc via direnv (opt-in)

To debug: DOTFILES_DEBUG=1 zsh -i -c exit prints timing for each stage.

Unsetting

To clean up environment pollution:

# Show current dotfiles-set vars
env | grep -E '^(DOTFILES_|XDG_|DOT_)'

# Unset one
unset DOTFILES_DEBUG

# Reset to defaults (restart shell)
exec $SHELL -l