shell-inits

One-command bootstrap of a configured shell environment (tmux + zsh/fzf + LazyVim/lazygit) on fresh VMs and containers. See PLAN.md for the full architecture.

Supported distros

distro	status
ubuntu-26.04	implemented
ubuntu-24.04	planned
alpine-3.21	planned

Usage

On a fresh VM (as a regular user with sudo, or as root):

curl -fsSL <base-url>/sets/zsh-tmux-neovim.sh | bash -s -- --base-url <base-url>

<base-url> is the raw-files root of this repository (private git server, GitHub mirror or any HTTP server serving a checkout). Alternative forms:

SHELL_INITS_BASE_URL=<base-url> curl -fsSL <base-url>/sets/zsh-tmux-neovim.sh | bash
# or from a checkout:
./sets/zsh-tmux-neovim.sh

Individual components can be installed the same way (core/tmux.sh, core/zsh.sh, core/fzf.sh, core/lazygit.sh, core/neovim.sh).

Environment variables

var	effect
SHELL_INITS_BASE_URL	base URL of the scripts (raw-files root)
SHELL_INITS_USER	configure this user when running as root (docker)
SHELL_INITS_SKIP	comma-separated components to skip (e.g. tmux)
SHELL_INITS_FORCE	reinstall even if state markers say "done"
SHELL_INITS_NVIM_BOOTSTRAP	1 = sync nvim plugins headlessly right away

Docker images

Build a fully initialized image (nvim plugins synced at build time, works offline at runtime) and drop straight into tmux session main:

./dockerfiles/zsh-tmux-neovim.build.sh               # -> shell-inits/zsh-tmux-neovim:ubuntu-26.04
./dockerfiles/zsh-tmux-neovim.build.sh --uid 1001    # bake everything for uid 1001
docker run -it shell-inits/zsh-tmux-neovim:ubuntu-26.04

The image is fully initialized at build time (all lazyvim plugins, the treesitter parser set compiled in, spell files and the tree-sitter CLI), so it needs no network at runtime. For offline distribution:

./dockerfiles/zsh-tmux-neovim.build.sh --save         # also writes dist/zsh-tmux-neovim_ubuntu-26.04.tar.gz
docker load -i dist/zsh-tmux-neovim_ubuntu-26.04.tar.gz

The build script starts a temporary local HTTP server serving this repository and builds with --network=host, so the image is produced by the exact same curl | bash flow used on VMs. Useful options: --distro <slug> (repeatable), --all, --gid, --tag, --no-cache, and --base-url <url> for remote docker hosts or Docker Desktop (where --network=host does not work, serve the repo yourself and pass http://host.docker.internal:<port>).

Inside the container: non-root user dev with passwordless sudo, entrypoint runs tmux new -As main (set SHELL_INITS_NO_TMUX=1 for a plain zsh), and because the user and all files are created with the requested uid/gid, anything the container writes (mounted volumes included) matches your host user.

Clipboard sharing (no X11/Wayland needed)

Copy/paste between the container/VM and your workstation uses the OSC 52 terminal escape sequence, which travels through the same byte stream as the terminal display - it works over ssh, docker run -it and inside tmux without mounting any sockets. Requirements:

• your terminal must support OSC 52 (kitty, wezterm, iTerm2, alacritty, windows terminal do; kitty has it enabled by default),
• tmux runs with a UTF-8 locale (set automatically; an already-running tmux server keeps its original environment - restart it after upgrading).

How it works:

• tmux copy mode: y copies into the tmux buffer (paste with prefix ]) and writes the selection to your workstation clipboard via ~/.config/tmux/osc52-copy.sh, which talks to the client terminals directly,
• nvim: yanks go to the + register through neovim's built-in OSC 52 provider (activated whenever no local clipboard tool exists); tmux forwards it.

What you get

• zsh: two-line pastel prompt (login@host ../end/of/path <branch>), git info cached per command (refreshed only after commands or directory changes) and kept fast in huge repos via core.untrackedCache + core.fsmonitor, autosuggestions, syntax highlighting, fzf bindings - no plugin manager, no nerd fonts required.
• tmux: vi copy mode, clipboard shared with your workstation over ssh via OSC 52, pastel (catppuccin macchiato) status theme, no plugins.
• LazyVim: catppuccin theme, snacks explorer tweaks, OSC52 clipboard over ssh, 42 treesitter parsers + spell files precompiled during image builds (works fully offline). Language-specific plugins are intentionally out of scope for now.
• lazygit: release binary with matching pastel theme.