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‎content/posts/2025-07-25-habits-in-the-shell-shared.md‎

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Title: Habits in the Shell, shared
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Slug: habits-in-the-shell-shared
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Date: 2025-07-25T09:26:31.883943
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Tags: shell, chezmoi, habits, til
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Category: tools
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Author: Chris Rose
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Email: offline@offby1.net
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Status: published
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Summary: Summarize this
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[A post I saw today](https://www.judy.co.uk/blog/using-fortune-to-reinforce-habits/) about "using `fortune` to remind me of the shell tools I have installed, instead of the old ones I use by reflex" got me really excited by the idea of the reminders.
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I adopted the basic idea immediately -- putting the habits in `~/.local/share/habits/` and adding the fortune to my [fish shell](https://fishshell.com/) greeting. It was great!
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But...
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I wanted it to be shared between my machines, instead of being per-machine. That meant I needed to do some more work to tie it into [chezmoi](https://chezmoi.io/). This post covers that. I'll be using chezmoi's `run_onchange_` script support here, to adapt Judy's idea.
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Here's what I have in chezmoi's `dot_local/share/habits/` directory:
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```
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$ ll
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.rw-r--r--@ 670 offby1 25 Jul 08:37 0_habits
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.rw-r--r--@ 68 offby1 25 Jul 08:37 README.md
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.rw-r--r--@ 230 offby1 25 Jul 08:48 run_onchange_compile_habits.sh.tmpl
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```
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The only interesting thing in there is the onchange script:
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```{ .shell }
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#!/bin/bash
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set -eu -o pipefail
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# Habits hash: {{ include "private_dot_local/share/habits/0_habits" | sha256sum }}
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strfile 0_habits habits.dat
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# the habits file must be named "habits" for fortune to
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# find it
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mv 0_habits habits
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```
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I had to work around chezmoi's ordering, which wouldn't write the `habits` file until after the on-change script was run. That meant that habits didn't update on change, only after the change. That's why `0_habits` instead of `habits`. Second, The file has to be moved into `habits` because the fortune index file needs the name to match.
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I also added a script to add new habits, so I could do so easily; it renders as `,add-habit`[ref]Naturally, you also [start all of your commands with a comma](https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2009/commands-with-comma/), right?[/ref] on my `PATH`:
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```{ .shell }
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#!/bin/bash
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HABIT_DIR=$HOME/.local/share/habits
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HABIT_FILE=$HABIT_DIR/0_habits
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# we assume a habit file exists.
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echo "%" >>$HABIT_FILE
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echo "$@" >>$HABIT_FILE
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cd $HABIT_DIR
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just compile-habits
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```
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<details>
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<summary>If you're curious, this is the full diff I applied to my dotfiles to enable this functionality, including the shell integrations[ref]and a bootstrap set of habits from Hynek. Thanks![/ref]:</summary>
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```{ .patch }
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diff --git a/dot_bashrc.tmpl b/dot_bashrc.tmpl
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index f6e9b806a2..c3d545c02d 100644
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--- a/dot_bashrc.tmpl
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+++ b/dot_bashrc.tmpl
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@@ -19,4 +19,7 @@
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[[ $(type -P atuin) ]] && eval "$(atuin init --disable-up-arrow bash)"
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[[ $(type -P zoxide) ]] && eval "$(zoxide init bash)"
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+
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+fortune ~/.local/share/habits | lolcrab | boxes -d parchment
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+
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{{- end }}
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diff --git a/dot_config/private_fish/functions/fish_greeting.fish b/dot_config/private_fish/functions/fish_greeting.fish
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new file mode 100644
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index 0000000000..d536eff984
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--- /dev/null
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+++ b/dot_config/private_fish/functions/fish_greeting.fish
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@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
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+function fish_greeting
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+ fortune ~/.local/share/habits | lolcrab | boxes -d parchment
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+end
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diff --git a/dot_zshrc.tmpl b/dot_zshrc.tmpl
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index 376afb6368..018de28db1 100644
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--- a/dot_zshrc.tmpl
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+++ b/dot_zshrc.tmpl
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@@ -50,3 +50,5 @@
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type -p atuin &>/dev/null && eval "$(atuin init --disable-up-arrow zsh)"
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type -p zoxide &>/dev/null && eval "$(zoxide init zsh)"
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+
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+fortune ~/.local/share/habits | lolcrab | boxes -d parchment
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diff --git a/private_dot_local/bin/executable_,add-habit b/private_dot_local/bin/executable_,add-habit
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new file mode 100644
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index 0000000000..60c6165545
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--- /dev/null
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+++ b/private_dot_local/bin/executable_,add-habit
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@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
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+#!/bin/bash
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+
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+HABIT_DIR=$HOME/.local/share/habits
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+HABIT_FILE=$HABIT_DIR/0_habits
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+
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+# we assume a habit file exists.
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+
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+echo "%" >>$HABIT_FILE
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+echo "$@" >>$HABIT_FILE
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+
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+cd $HABIT_DIR
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+
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+strfile 0_habits habits.dat
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+# the habits file must be named "habits" for fortune to
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+# find it
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+mv 0_habits habits
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diff --git a/private_dot_local/share/habits/0_habits b/private_dot_local/share/habits/0_habits
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new file mode 100644
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index 0000000000..7bb7c7b2b0
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--- /dev/null
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+++ b/private_dot_local/share/habits/0_habits
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@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
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+make sure to add habits you like to ~/.local/share/chezmoi/private_dot_local/share/habits/habits.
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+%
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+Still using man? Try using `tldr` first!
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+%
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+Don't forget about `hexyl`! A handy binary file viewer.
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+%
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+`trippy` (started as `trip`) is the new mtr/traceroute.
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+%
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+`bandwhich` shows network usage.
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+%
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+`rlwrap` adds readline superpowers to commands that lack them.
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+%
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+`tre` is a nicer tree.
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+%
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+`dust` and `gdu-go` are nicer du replacements.
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+%
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+`hyperfine` for CLI benchmarking, `oha` for http.
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+%
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+`duf` instead of df (disk full, NOT disk usage).
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+%
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+`hurl` to stress/test HTTP.
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+%
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+`hwatch` to repeatedly run commands and compare output.
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+%
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+`dog` for better DNS.
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+%
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+`tokei` to count LoC.
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diff --git a/private_dot_local/share/habits/README.md b/private_dot_local/share/habits/README.md
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new file mode 100644
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index 0000000000..b06f2fcc8d
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--- /dev/null
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+++ b/private_dot_local/share/habits/README.md
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@@ -0,0 +1,1 @@
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+We use `0_habits` because chezmoi is ordering sensitive, damn it...
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diff --git a/private_dot_local/share/habits/run_onchange_compile_habits.sh.tmpl b/private_dot_local/share/habits/run_onchange_compile_habits.sh.tmpl
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new file mode 100644
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index 0000000000..4ad17ea927
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--- /dev/null
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+++ b/private_dot_local/share/habits/run_onchange_compile_habits.sh.tmpl
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@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
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+#!/bin/bash
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+set -eu -o pipefail
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+
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+# Habits hash: {{ include "private_dot_local/share/habits/0_habits" | sha256sum }}
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+
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+strfile 0_habits habits.dat
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+# the habits file must be named "habits" for fortune to
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+# find it
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+mv 0_habits habits
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```
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</details>

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