Personalization Guide

Preserving Customizations

DevBase ships config files with names starting with 00-, 01-, and 02- (e.g., 00-environment.fish, 01-keybindings.fish, 02-aliases.fish). These files are overwritten during reinstalls.

To preserve your personal customizations, create files with different names like 50-personal.fish or 60-work.fish. These won’t conflict with DevBase files and will be preserved across reinstalls.

Fish Shell

Default Aliases

DevBase provides these default aliases:

docker → podman (container management)
vim, vi → nvim (Neovim)
ls → eza --icons (better ls)
top → btop (better top)
grep → grep --color=auto (colored output)

Custom Aliases

# Add to ~/.config/fish/conf.d/50-personal.fish
alias ll='ls -la'
alias dc='docker compose'
alias gs='git status'

Fish Abbreviations (Recommended)

Abbreviations expand in the command line and show in history (better than aliases):

# Add abbreviations
abbr -a gco 'git checkout'
abbr -a gp 'git pull'
abbr -a dc 'docker compose'
abbr -a ll 'ls -la'

# List all abbreviations
abbr --show

# Remove an abbreviation
abbr -e gco

Custom Functions

# Create function in ~/.config/fish/functions/gpr.fish
function gpr
    git pull --rebase $argv
end

Git Configuration

Personal git config in ~/.gitconfig (preserved):

git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global pull.rebase true

SSH Configuration

DevBase uses a layered SSH configuration system:

System defaults (~/.ssh/config) - DevBase-managed base settings
Organization config (~/.config/ssh/custom.config) - Organization-provided hosts
User config (~/.config/ssh/user.config) - Your personal hosts (highest priority)

Adding Personal Hosts

Add to ~/.config/ssh/user.config:

Host myserver
    HostName 192.168.1.100
    User myuser
    Port 2222

Host github-work
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work

Overriding Organization Settings

User config is loaded last and wins:

# Organization provides (in custom.config):
Host github.com
  ProxyCommand nc -X connect -x proxy.company.com:8080 %h %p

# You override (in user.config):
Host github.com
  ProxyCommand none  # Direct connection without proxy

Note	`user.config` is never modified by DevBase - safe to edit and changes persist across reinstalls.

Language/Locale Configuration

DevBase respects your system’s existing locale by default. Organizations can configure their preferred locale through custom configuration.

Change System-Wide Locale

# Change to English (US)
sudo update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8 LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

# Change to English (UK)
sudo update-locale LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 LC_ALL=en_GB.UTF-8

# Change back to Swedish
sudo update-locale LANG=sv_SE.UTF-8 LC_ALL=sv_SE.UTF-8

# Apply changes (logout/login or reboot required)

User-Specific Locale

Override for your user only without affecting system:

# Add to ~/.config/fish/conf.d/50-locale.fish
set -gx LANG en_US.UTF-8
set -gx LC_ALL en_US.UTF-8

# Or for bash users, add to ~/.bashrc
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

Temporary Locale Change

For a single session or command:

# Single command with different locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8 date

# New shell with different locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8 fish

Available Locales

# List installed locales
locale -a

# DevBase generates the locale you configure
# Organizations can set their preferred locale in org.env

Note	Language packs and translated manpages are only installed when a specific locale is configured (typically through organization settings).

Theme Switching

Use the devbase-theme command to switch themes (authoritative list in libs/theme-registry.sh):

# Everforest (default)
devbase-theme everforest-dark
devbase-theme everforest-light

# Catppuccin
devbase-theme catppuccin-mocha   # Dark
devbase-theme catppuccin-latte   # Light

# Tokyo Night
devbase-theme tokyonight-night   # Dark
devbase-theme tokyonight-day     # Light

# Gruvbox
devbase-theme gruvbox-dark
devbase-theme gruvbox-light

# Nord
devbase-theme nord

# Dracula
devbase-theme dracula

# Solarized
devbase-theme solarized-dark
devbase-theme solarized-light

# Restart terminal for all changes to take effect

The theme setting persists across terminal sessions and affects: bat, delta, btop, k9s, FZF, Neovim, and vifm. File manager lf uses LS_COLORS which is already themed via eza/dircolors.

Bundled Themes

btop themes:

DevBase bundles the following btop themes in ~/.config/btop/themes/:

everforest-dark-hard.theme - Everforest dark variant
everforest-light-medium.theme - Everforest light variant
catppuccin_mocha.theme - Catppuccin dark theme
catppuccin_latte.theme - Catppuccin light theme
gruvbox_dark.theme - Gruvbox dark (uses underscore, not dash)
gruvbox_light.theme - Gruvbox light (uses underscore, not dash)
tokyo-night.theme - Tokyo Night dark theme
tokyo-storm.theme - Tokyo Storm (used as fallback for tokyo-day)

Note	Tokyo Day theme doesn’t exist in btop, so tokyo-storm is used as a fallback. Gruvbox themes use underscores (gruvbox_dark) not dashes in btop.

k9s skins:

DevBase bundles the following k9s skins in ~/.config/k9s/skins/:

everforest-dark.yaml - Everforest dark theme
everforest-light.yaml - Everforest light theme
catppuccin-mocha.yaml - Catppuccin dark theme
catppuccin-latte.yaml - Catppuccin light theme
gruvbox-dark.yaml - Gruvbox dark theme
gruvbox-light.yaml - Gruvbox light theme

When you run devbase-theme, the skin: setting in ~/.config/k9s/config.yaml is updated to reference the appropriate skin file.

How k9s finds skins: 1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/k9s/skins/ (usually ~/.config/k9s/skins/) 2. $HOME/.config/k9s/skins/ 3. $HOME/.k9s/skins/

The skin is referenced by name (without .yaml extension) in config.yaml:

k9s:
  skin: everforest-dark

Note	Tokyo Night themes are not available for k9s, so fallbacks are used: `tokyonight-night` → `gruvbox-dark`, `tokyonight-day` → `everforest-light`

Theme sources: - btop: https://github.com/aristocratos/btop/tree/main/themes - k9s: Community contributed skins

WSL Windows Terminal Integration

Tip	DevBase now automatically updates Windows Terminal color schemes when you change themes!

When you run devbase-theme, it will:

Update all CLI application themes (bat, FZF, vifm, Neovim, etc.)
Automatically update Windows Terminal color scheme
- Dark themes → "One Half Dark"
- Light themes → "One Half Light"
Changes apply immediately (no terminal restart needed)

Requirements:

jq installed (usually included in DevBase)
Windows Terminal (Microsoft Store version)

Manual Windows Terminal theme change (if needed):

Open Windows Terminal Settings (Ctrl+,)
Navigate to: Your Ubuntu profile → Appearance → Color scheme
Select any available scheme

Note	For exact color matching beyond built-in schemes, you can create custom color schemes in Settings → Color schemes.

This automatic integration only applies to WSL. On native Ubuntu, terminal emulators (Ghostty, Alacritty, etc.) use their own theming systems.

Neovim

DevBase installs LazyVim. Add custom configurations:

-- Add/override plugins in ~/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/custom.lua
return {
  { "github/copilot.vim" },
}

-- Add custom keymaps to existing ~/.config/nvim/lua/config/keymaps.lua
-- (Edit the file, don't replace it)
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>q', ':qa<CR>')

-- Or use standard Neovim after directory
-- ~/.config/nvim/after/plugin/custom.lua
vim.opt.relativenumber = false

Note	LazyVim creates default config files during installation. Edit existing files rather than creating new ones.

See LazyVim documentation for more customization options.

Starship Prompt

Edit ~/.config/starship/starship.toml to customize your prompt:

# Add or modify sections
[directory]
truncation_length = 5
truncate_to_repo = false

[git_status]
disabled = false

Changes take effect in new terminal sessions.

mise Tool Versions

Project-specific:

cd myproject
mise use node@18
mise use python@3.11

Global:

mise global node@20
mise global python@3.12

Zellij Terminal Multiplexer

Enable or disable automatic Zellij startup:

# Create personal config if it doesn't exist
touch ~/.config/fish/conf.d/50-personal.fish

# Enable Zellij autostart (edit the file to add this line)
echo 'set -gx DEVBASE_ZELLIJ_AUTOSTART "true"' >> ~/.config/fish/conf.d/50-personal.fish

# Or disable Zellij autostart
# echo 'set -gx DEVBASE_ZELLIJ_AUTOSTART "false"' >> ~/.config/fish/conf.d/50-personal.fish

# Reload config
exec fish

Tip	To avoid duplicates, edit `50-personal.fish` directly instead of appending.

Editor Preference

Change your default editor after installation:

# Edit ~/.config/fish/conf.d/50-personal.fish and add:

# For Neovim:
set -gx EDITOR nvim
set -gx VISUAL nvim

# For nano:
set -gx EDITOR nano
set -gx VISUAL nano

# Reload config
exec fish

Environment Variables

Add custom environment variables to ~/.config/fish/conf.d/50-env.fish:

# XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is already set by DevBase
set -gx DOCKER_HOST "unix://$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/podman/podman.sock"
set -gx JAVA_HOME "/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk"
set -gx MY_CUSTOM_VAR "value"

Note	DevBase sets `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` to `/run/user/(id -u)` automatically.

Fish Greeting

Customize the Fish shell greeting:

# Add to ~/.config/fish/conf.d/50-personal.fish

# Custom greeting
set -g fish_greeting "Welcome back, $USER!"

# Or disable greeting completely (DevBase default)
set -g fish_greeting ''

Backup Before Reinstall

# Backup personal configs
tar czf ~/devbase-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz \
    ~/.config/fish/conf.d/[1-9]*.fish \
    ~/.config/fish/functions/ \
    ~/.config/starship/starship.toml \
    ~/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/ \
    ~/.config/nvim/lua/config/ \
    ~/.config/nvim/after/ \
    ~/.config/ssh/user.config \
    ~/.gitconfig \
    2>/dev/null

echo "Backup saved to ~/devbase-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz"

Note	DevBase automatically backs up files before overwriting them to `~/.local/share/devbase/backup/`.

Configuration File Locations

DevBase configuration files are located in:

Fish Shell

Main config: ~/.config/fish/config.fish
Custom functions: ~/.config/fish/functions/
Configuration directory: ~/.config/fish/conf.d/
- 00-*.fish - DevBase managed (overwritten on reinstall)
- 01-*.fish - DevBase managed (overwritten on reinstall)
- 02-*.fish - DevBase managed (overwritten on reinstall)
- 50-*.fish - Your personal configs (preserved)
- 20-*.fish - Your personal configs (preserved)

Git

Global config: ~/.config/git/config (DevBase managed)
Personal overrides: ~/.gitconfig (preserved)
Global gitignore: ~/.config/git/.gitignore
Allowed signers: ~/.config/ssh/allowed_signers

SSH

Main config: ~/.ssh/config (DevBase managed)
Organization config: ~/.config/ssh/custom.config (organization provided)
User config: ~/.config/ssh/user.config (your personal hosts, preserved)
Allowed signers: ~/.config/ssh/allowed_signers

Neovim

Config directory: ~/.config/nvim/
Custom plugins: ~/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/
Keymaps: ~/.config/nvim/lua/config/keymaps.lua
Options: ~/.config/nvim/lua/config/options.lua
After directory: ~/.config/nvim/after/ (for personal overrides)

Terminal & Shell Tools

Starship: ~/.config/starship/starship.toml
Zellij: ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl
btop: ~/.config/btop/btop.conf
Delta themes: ~/.config/delta/themes.config

Development Tools

mise: ~/.config/mise/config.toml
Lazygit: ~/.config/lazygit/config.yml
Podman/Containers: ~/.config/containers/registries.conf (created from custom templates if provided)

User Binaries

Personal scripts: ~/.local/bin/ (in PATH)

Tip	Files in `~/.config/fish/conf.d/` with names `50-` through `99-` are never touched by DevBase - perfect for personal customizations.

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Personalization Guide

Preserving Customizations

Fish Shell

Default Aliases

Custom Aliases

Fish Abbreviations (Recommended)

Custom Functions

Git Configuration

SSH Configuration

Adding Personal Hosts

Overriding Organization Settings

Language/Locale Configuration

Change System-Wide Locale

User-Specific Locale

Temporary Locale Change

Available Locales

Theme Switching

Bundled Themes

WSL Windows Terminal Integration

Neovim

Starship Prompt

mise Tool Versions

Zellij Terminal Multiplexer

Editor Preference

Environment Variables

Fish Greeting

Backup Before Reinstall

Configuration File Locations

Fish Shell

Git

SSH

Neovim

Terminal & Shell Tools

Development Tools

User Binaries

FilesExpand file tree

personalization.adoc

Latest commit

History

personalization.adoc

File metadata and controls

Personalization Guide

Preserving Customizations

Fish Shell

Default Aliases

Custom Aliases

Fish Abbreviations (Recommended)

Custom Functions

Git Configuration

SSH Configuration

Adding Personal Hosts

Overriding Organization Settings

Language/Locale Configuration

Change System-Wide Locale

User-Specific Locale

Temporary Locale Change

Available Locales

Theme Switching

Bundled Themes

WSL Windows Terminal Integration

Neovim

Starship Prompt

mise Tool Versions

Zellij Terminal Multiplexer

Editor Preference

Environment Variables

Fish Greeting

Backup Before Reinstall

Configuration File Locations

Fish Shell

Git

SSH

Neovim

Terminal & Shell Tools

Development Tools

User Binaries