Provisioning: migrate dev CLIs from brew to mise + bootstrap

[marcodeltongo]

Provisioning: migrate dev CLIs from Homebrew to mise + bootstrap

Context

mise bootstrap graduated from experimental in v2026.7.4 (July 2026) and provides a unified, cross-platform provisioning pipeline: system packages, git repos, dotfiles, macOS defaults, LaunchAgents, login shell, and [tools] (CLI management) — all in one mise bootstrap command.

Currently the dotfiles bare repo (~/.dotfiles) tracks shell config, gitconfig, and topgrade config but doesn't yet include a mise config.toml or leverage mise bootstrap for machine setup.

Goals

1. Transfer dev CLIs from brew → mise [tools]

Many CLI tools currently installed via brew leaves can be managed by mise with pre-built binaries (aqua: backend), which is faster and cross-platform (same config works on macOS and Linux).

Candidates (aqua: — pre-built, instant):

Tool	Mise backend
bat	aqua:sharkdp/bat
fd	aqua:sharkdp/fd
fzf	aqua:junegunn/fzf
gh	aqua:cli/cli
glow	aqua:charmbracelet/glow
jq	aqua:jqlang/jq
lazydocker	aqua:jesseduffield/lazydocker
lazygit	aqua:jesseduffield/lazygit
starship	aqua:starship/starship
topgrade	aqua:topgrade-rs/topgrade
xh	aqua:ducaale/xh
zoxide	aqua:ajeetdsouza/zoxide
crush	aqua:charmbracelet/crush
hunk	aqua:modem-dev/hunk
worktrunk	aqua:max-sixty/worktrunk
helix	aqua:helix-editor/helix (optional — or keep in brew)

Candidates (cargo: — compiles from source):

• eza → cargo:eza

Remains in brew (system deps, shells, build toolchain): fish, git, cmake, coreutils, pkgconf, ffmpeg, pandoc, macchina, git-delta, eva, tz, mole, peekaboo.

2. Add ~/.config/mise/config.toml to the dotfiles bare repo

A new tracked file containing:

• [tools] — all transferred CLIs
• [bootstrap.macos.defaults] — declarative macOS system preferences (optional)
• [bootstrap.macos.launchd.agents] — user LaunchAgents (optional)

3. Define the fresh-machine bootstrap procedure

Document in README.md or a BOOTSTRAP.md:

macOS:

xcode-select --install
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew install fish mise
git clone --bare git@github.com:marcodeltongo/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME checkout
echo /opt/homebrew/bin/fish | sudo tee -a /etc/shells
chsh -s /opt/homebrew/bin/fish
exec fish
dotfiles status
mise bootstrap

Linux (Beelink Debian/Ubuntu):

curl https://mise.run | sh
sudo apt install -y fish git
git clone --bare git@github.com:marcodeltongo/dotfiles.git ~/.dotfiles
git --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles/ --work-tree=$HOME checkout
# … set fish as login shell, etc.
mise bootstrap

4. Handle cross-platform splits

• [bootstrap.packages] must be conditional: brew blocks on macOS, apt blocks on Linux.
• macOS-specific shell commands (like /opt/homebrew/bin/...) need conditionals in config.fish.
• mise manages [tools] identically on both platforms — that's the whole point.

Tasks

• Research mise bootstrap capabilities and candidate tools
• Create ~/.config/mise/config.toml with [tools] block
• dotfiles add ~/.config/mise/config.toml and commit
• Test: brew uninstall --ignore-dependencies for each transferred tool, verify all work via mise
• Test: full mise bootstrap on macOS from scratch (or dry-run)
• Test: full mise bootstrap on Linux (Beelink) from scratch (or dry-run)
• Add bootstrap docs to repo README or BOOTSTRAP.md
• Update topgrade config to enable mise step (already configured) and remove now-unnecessary brew-formula steps?

Future / Nice-to-have

• [bootstrap.macos.defaults] — Dock, Finder, Keyboard, Trackpad preferences declaratively
• [bootstrap.repos] — auto-clone work repos alongside dotfiles
• [bootstrap.linux.systemd.units] — user services on the Beelink

/label ~"enhancement"
/label ~"devx"
/milestone %"Infrastructure"