Machine Setup

The idea is to be able to replicate a certain setup (when resetting your machine or using a completely new machine). Additionally, it should be possible to update the setup easily when needed, e.g. an update to your vim config files. So, it will help with managing dotfiles, symlinks, etc.

A real world example can be found in my .dotfiles repository.

You can also use it for other tasks such as making the onboarding process of a new colleague easier by providing them a config that installs certain dependencies and checks out important repositories.

What's New in v2

• TUI Dashboard: Real-time progress display with task list, per-task log output, and keyboard navigation. Powered by ratatui. Disable with --no-tui for CI environments.
• Async Engine: Task execution powered by tokio for proper concurrent I/O (file ops, git, shell commands with streaming output).
• Task History: Tracks install/update/uninstall timestamps in ~/.machine_setup/history.json. Already-installed tasks are skipped unless --force is used.
• PowerShell Support: Use powershell as a shell option alongside bash and zsh.
• Remote Configs: Point directly at a URL instead of a local file — great for bootstrapping a clean machine without cloning first.

Install

Quick Install (no dependencies needed)

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/timopruesse/machine_setup/main/install/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/timopruesse/machine_setup/main/install/install.ps1 | iex

Other methods

Via Homebrew (macOS / Linux):

brew install timopruesse/repo/machine_setup

Via Cargo:

cargo install machine_setup

Manual download: Grab a binary from the release page.

Run

Subcommands

command	description	example
install	install the defined tasks	machine_setup install
update	update the defined tasks	machine_setup update
uninstall	uninstall the defined tasks	machine_setup uninstall
list	list all of the defined tasks	machine_setup list

By default, machine_setup will look for a file called machine_setup with a supported file format. Supported file formats are: yaml, yml, and json.

Command line parameters

flag	value	example
-c --config	path or URL to the config file	machine_setup install -c ./config/my_setup.yaml
-t --task	only run the specified task	machine_setup install -t my_task2
-s --select	select a task to run	machine_setup install -s
-f --force	force execution (bypass history checks)	machine_setup install --force
--no-tui	disable TUI, use plain log output	machine_setup install --no-tui
-h --help	display help information	machine_setup --help
-v --version	display version information	machine_setup --version
-d --debug	print additional debug information	machine_setup install --debug
-l --level	set a log level (info, warn, error, debug, trace)	machine_setup install --level=info

Remote config files

You can pass a URL instead of a local path — the config is fetched and executed directly. GitHub blob URLs are automatically converted to raw URLs.

machine_setup install -c https://github.com/timopruesse/.dotfiles/blob/main/machine_setup.yaml

This is especially useful for setting up a fresh machine without cloning your dotfiles first:

# Install machine_setup
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/timopruesse/machine_setup/main/install/install.sh | sh

# Run your dotfiles setup directly from GitHub
machine_setup install -c https://github.com/timopruesse/.dotfiles/blob/main/machine_setup.yaml

TUI Dashboard

When running in an interactive terminal, a TUI dashboard is shown with:

• Task list with status indicators (pending, running, completed, failed, skipped)
• Per-task scrollable log output
• Progress bar with completion stats
• Keyboard navigation: Up/Down to navigate tasks, PgUp/PgDn to scroll logs, q to quit

The TUI is automatically disabled in non-interactive environments (piped output, CI). You can also explicitly disable it with --no-tui.

Supported config file formats

The supported formats are YAML and JSON.

Configure

Tasks can be defined under the tasks root key. Every task can contain an arbitrary number of commands.

key	description	values	default
tasks	root key for all of the tasks
default_shell	shell that is used when not specified by the command	bash, zsh, powershell	bash
temp_dir	define where temporary files are stored		~/.machine_setup
parallel	run all of the tasks in parallel	true or false	false
num_threads	number of threads when run in parallel	numeric > 1	physical processor count - 1

Task specific configuration

key	description	values	examples
os	only run on the specified os	possible values	"linux" or ["linux", "macos"]
parallel	run all of the commands in parallel (1 thread per command)	true or false	false

Check out the example configuration below:

temp_dir: "~/my_temp" # defaults to "~/.machine_setup"
default_shell: "zsh" # defaults to "bash"
parallel: true
num_threads: 2
tasks:
  my_task1:
    os: ["linux", "windows"]
    parallel: true
    commands:
      - copy:
          src: "./src/files"
          target: "/tmp/target"
      - copy:
          src: "./src/files_2"
          target: "/tmp/target"

  my_task2:
    os: ["linux"]
    parallel: true
    commands:
      - run:
          commands: "sudo apt-get install git -y"
      - symlink:
          src: "./src/config"
          target: "~/.dotfiles"

Extend a configuration

Extensibility is not explicitly built in. However, it's possible to execute tasks from another configuration via the machine_setup command.

Available config commands

copy

This command copies the contents of a directory to another directory.

argument	value	required	example
src	source directory/file	Y	"./src/files" or "./src/test.txt"
target	target directory/file	Y	"/tmp/target" or "/tmp/target/new.txt"
ignore	list of files/directories to ignore	-	["dist", "package-lock.json"]
sudo	run file operations with sudo	-	true

example

copy:
  src: "./src/files"
  target: "/tmp/target"
  ignore: ["dist", "package-lock.json"]

# Copy to a protected path
copy:
  src: "./etc/wsl.conf"
  target: "/etc/wsl.conf"
  sudo: true

clone

This command clones a git repository to the specified destination.

argument	value	required	example
url	URL to a git repository	Y	"git@github.com:timopruesse/machine_setup.git"
target	target directory	Y	"~/machine_setup"

example

clone:
  url: "git@github.com:timopruesse/machine_setup.git"
  target: "~/machine_setup"

symlink

This command symlinks all the files from the source directory to the target directory.

argument	value	required	example
src	source directory/file	Y	"./src/files" or "./src/test.txt"
target	target directory/file	Y	"/tmp/target" or "/tmp/new.txt"
ignore	list of files/directories to ignore	-	["dist", "package-lock.json"]
force	true/false	-
sudo	run file operations with sudo	-	true

If force is set to true, existing files will be removed and replaced by the symlinks.

example

symlink:
  src: "./src/files"
  target: "/tmp/target"
  ignore: ["dist", "package-lock.json"]
  force: true

# Symlink to a protected path
symlink:
  src: "./etc/my.conf"
  target: "/etc/my.conf"
  sudo: true
  force: true

run

This command executes a shell command.

Hint: Avoid the usage of interactive commands when possible.

argument	description	required	default	values
env	environment variables	-
shell	shell that is used	-	"bash"	"bash", "zsh", "powershell"

By default, shell commands will only run during install. You can provide mode-specific commands using install, update, and uninstall instead of commands:

argument	description	required	example
commands	commands for all modes	-	"sudo apt-get -y install git"
install	commands for installing	-	"sudo apt-get -y install git"
update	commands for updating	-	"sudo apt-get -y upgrade git"
uninstall	commands for uninstalling	-	"sudo apt-get -y uninstall git"

Use either commands (runs on install only) or install/update/uninstall for mode-specific behavior. They are all top-level keys under run.

example

inline_command:
  run:
    commands: "sudo apt-get -y install git"

multiline_command:
  run:
    commands:
      - "sudo apt-get update"
      - "sudo apt-get -y install git"

updatable_command:
  run:
    env:
      SOME_TOKEN: "abc123"
    install: "sudo apt-get -y install git"
    update: "sudo apt-get -y upgrade git"
    uninstall: "sudo apt-get -y uninstall git"

updatable_multiline_command:
  run:
    env:
      SOME_TOKEN: "abc123"
    install:
      - "sudo apt update"
      - "sudo apt-get -y install git"
    update:
      - "sudo apt-get -y upgrade git"
    uninstall:
      - "sudo apt-get -y uninstall git"

machine_setup

With this command it's possible to include other machine_setup configuration files.

argument	description	required	example
config	path to the other config file	Y	"./my_other_config.yaml"
task	define a single task that should be run	-	"my_other_task"

example

machine_setup:
  config: "./my_other_config.yaml"
  task: "my_other_task" # optional