yazi/Q/What are some good options for managing yazi plugins using chezmoi?

• What are some good options for managing yazi plugins using chezmoi?

  • AI Answer

    • AI/Response
      • Short answer: The dominant pattern in highly-starred dotfiles repos is a chezmoi/Script/run_onchange_ chezmoi script that embeds a sha256sum of package.toml so chezmoi re-runs ya pkg install automatically whenever the plugin list changes.
      • Option 1 — chezmoi/Script/run_onchange_ + package.toml hash (most idiomatic):
        • Commit a dot_config/yazi/package.toml declaring plugins with pinned rev and hash values.
        • Add .chezmoiscripts/run_onchange_install-yazi-plugins.sh.tmpl with a hash comment so chezmoi detects changes:
          • bash

            #!/bin/sh
            # package.toml hash: {{ include "dot_config/yazi/package.toml" | sha256sum }}
            ya pkg install

        • chezmoi computes the hash at apply time; when package.toml changes, the script re-runs. Used by repos including clay-coffman/dotfiles, iKadmium/dotfiles, german-molins/dotfiles, ninagrosse/dotfiles.
        • ninagrosse/dotfiles adds a cleanup step before reinstalling: rm -rf ~/.config/yazi/flavors && rm -rf ~/.config/yazi/plugins && ya pkg install.
        • Numeric prefix on the script name (e.g. run_onchange_after_75-install-yazi-packages.sh.tmpl) controls ordering relative to other scripts (german-molins/dotfiles).
      • Option 2 — chezmoi/Script/run_once_ with explicit plugin array (joelazar, 165 ★, highest-starred chezmoi+yazi repo):
        • Plugin installation lives in run_once_install_packages.sh.tmpl alongside all other tooling.
        • A scripts/utils_install library defines install_yazi_plugins which: checks ya is available, runs ya pkg upgrade, then loops over a hardcoded PLUGINS=() array, calling ya pkg list before each ya pkg add to stay idempotent.
        • Git-clones theme Yazi/Flavor entries separately.
        • Trade-off: runs once on first setup; subsequent plugin changes require a manual re-run or script reset.
      • Option 3 — Direct file vendoring (SwayKh/dotfiles, 153 ★):
        • Plugin source directories (e.g. compress.yazi/, full-border.yazi/) are committed directly into yazi/plugins/ and tracked in git.
        • No package manager invocation at apply time; plugins update only when you git pull or manually copy files.
        • A package.toml is still present for formal declaration but is not used at install time.
      • Option 4 — mise as intermediate layer (TibiIius/dotfiles):
        • yazi itself is installed via mise (declared in config.toml.tmpl under [tools]).
        • A chezmoi chezmoi/Script/run_onchange_ script delegates to mise run yazi:install, which calls ya pkg install.
        • Useful when you already manage tool versions with mise.
      • Option 5 — chezmoi/Script/run_onchange_ with before_ timing for full install including yazi (ulises-jeremias/dotfiles, 126 ★):
        • run_onchange_before_install-yazi.sh.tmpl installs yazi itself (via pacman) and then calls ya pkg add for a small set of plugins.
        • Uses before_ prefix so the script runs before other chezmoi operations.
        • Platform-gated with {{- if eq .osid "linux-arch" -}}.
      • package.toml pinning (all serious configs):
        • Pin both rev (git SHA) and hash (content hash) in package.toml for reproducibility — pattern used by Matt-FTW/dotfiles (747 ★, no chezmoi but the most elaborate yazi setup).
        • Example entry: [plugins.yazi-plugin-name] \n git = "https://github.com/user/plugin.yazi" \n rev = "<sha>" \n hash = "<hash>"
      • Recommendation: Option 1 (chezmoi/Script/run_onchange_ + package.toml sha256sum) is the most idiomatic chezmoi approach — declarative, automatically re-triggered, and ya pkg install is idempotent. Pair it with pinned rev/hash in package.toml for reproducibility.
      • Sources: joelazar/dotfiles, clay-coffman/dotfiles, SwayKh/dotfiles, ulises-jeremias/dotfiles, Matt-FTW/dotfiles