Dotfiles

Personal configuration files managed with GNU Stow.

Contents

• emacs/ - Emacs configuration with HFT research workflow
• doom/ - Old Doom Emacs config (archived)
• spacemacs/ - Old Spacemacs config (archived)
• msmtp/ - Mail configuration
• news/ - News reader configuration
• offlineimap/ - Email sync configuration

Emacs Configuration

The Emacs config lives in emacs/.config/emacs/ and is now organized into self-contained modules so each concern can be reasoned about independently.

Modular Layout

~/.config/emacs/
├── init.el          # Loader: sets load-paths, custom-file, and module order
├── var/             # Generated files (custom.el, caches)
└── lisp/
    ├── core/        # Foundation (settings, bootstrap, editing, keybinds)
    │   ├── my-core-settings.el
    │   ├── my-core-packages.el
    │   ├── my-core-editing.el
    │   └── my-core-keybinds.el
    ├── modules/     # Feature slices (completion, Evil, Org, notes, etc.)
    │   ├── my-module-completion.el
    │   ├── my-module-evil.el
    │   ├── my-module-ui.el
    │   ├── my-module-org.el
    │   ├── my-module-org-roam.el
    │   ├── my-module-projects.el
    │   ├── my-module-notes.el
    │   └── my-module-navigation.el
    └── lang/        # Language/tooling integrations
        ├── my-lang-lsp.el
        ├── my-lang-c.el
        ├── my-lang-web.el
        ├── my-lang-ocaml.el
        ├── my-lang-python.el
        └── my-lang-tex.el

Modules are loaded in init.el via the ordered my/emacs-modules list. To disable a feature, remove its symbol from that list; to add a new module, drop an my-module-*.el or my-lang-*.el file under lisp/ (each file must end with a (provide 'feature-name) form) and then append the feature to my/emacs-modules.

Run a batch validation after changes:

emacs --batch -l ~/.config/emacs/init.el --eval "(message \"ok\")"

If you use org-roam/citar-org-roam, make sure Emacs has SQLite support (built-in on Emacs ≥29 if compiled with --with-sqlite3) or install the sqlite3 Elisp package plus your system’s libsqlite3 shared library; without it, the loader will log warnings and abort those modules.

The original HFT workflow still lives in hft-research.el, which now consumes the shared modules instead of defining packages inline.

Core Features

• Package Management: straight.el for reproducible package management
• Evil Mode: Vim keybindings with Space as leader key
• Completion: vertico + consult + marginalia + embark + orderless
• Note Taking: Denote (filename-based) + org-roam for knowledge management
• Bibliography: Citar for BibTeX management
• Languages: OCaml (tuareg, merlin, dune, utop), Python, C/C++ (lsp-mode)

HFT Research Workflow

Specialized configuration for High-Frequency Trading research in hft-research.el:

• Note System: Organized in ~/notes/hft/ with subdirectories for concepts, sources, experiments, lab notebooks
• Bibliography: Integrated with ~/notes/hft/hft.bib
• Templates: Pre-configured templates for source notes, concept notes, experiments, and questions
• Org-Babel: Python and OCaml code blocks for inline experiments

Keybindings (Space Leader)

Notes (SPC n)

• SPC n q - Quick question capture
• SPC n c - New concept note
• SPC n e - New experiment/lab note
• SPC n l - Insert denote link
• SPC n b - Show backlinks
• SPC n r - Rename note

Search (SPC s)

• SPC s n - Search all HFT notes
• SPC s N - Search concepts only
• SPC s x - Search experiments only

Files (SPC f)

• SPC f n - Find note
• SPC f N - Denote find/create

References (SPC r)

• SPC r r - Open bibliography
• SPC r i - Insert citation
• SPC r o - Open PDF
• SPC r n - Create source note from citation

Org-Mode Local (, prefix)

• , c c - Org-capture (, acts as a prefix; , c I / , c O handle clocking)
• , l l - Insert denote/org-roam link
• , l c - Link to concept
• , l b - Show backlinks
• , c i - Insert citation (from HFT module)
• , c o - Open citation PDF (from HFT module)
• , x - Execute code block

See ~/notes/hft/README.md for full workflow documentation.

Setup

Prerequisites

Install dependencies:

brew install stow
brew install poppler  # For pdf-tools

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone <repo-url> ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles

2. Backup existing configs (if any):

mv ~/.config/emacs ~/.config/emacs.backup

3. Stow the Emacs config:

stow -v -d ~/dotfiles -t ~ emacs

This will create a symlink: ~/.config/emacs -> ~/dotfiles/emacs/.config/emacs

4. Create notes directory:

mkdir -p ~/notes/hft/{inbox,concepts,sources,projects,lab,glossary,pdfs}

5. Start Emacs:

emacs

On first launch, straight.el will automatically install all packages. This may take a few minutes.

6. Build pdf-tools (if needed):

M-x pdf-tools-install

Updating Configuration

Since the config is symlinked via Stow, you can edit files directly:

# Edit the config
vim ~/.config/emacs/init.el

# Changes are automatically reflected in the dotfiles repo
cd ~/dotfiles
git status  # Will show changes to emacs/.config/emacs/init.el

# Commit changes
git add emacs/.config/emacs/init.el
git commit -m "Update emacs config"

Bootstrap on New Machine

# Install dependencies
brew install stow poppler

# Clone dotfiles
git clone <repo-url> ~/dotfiles

# Stow configs
cd ~/dotfiles
stow emacs

# Create notes directory
mkdir -p ~/notes/hft/{inbox,concepts,sources,projects,lab,glossary,pdfs}

# Launch Emacs (packages will auto-install)
emacs

Structure

dotfiles/
├── emacs/
│   ├── .config/
│   │   └── emacs/
│   │       ├── init.el              # Loader + module list
│   │       ├── early-init.el        # Early initialization
│   │       ├── hft-research.el      # HFT research workflow
│   │       └── lisp/                # Core/modules/lang structure (see above)
│   ├── .stow-local-ignore           # Stow ignore patterns
│   ├── lisp/                        # Custom lisp packages
│   └── archive/                     # Old configs
├── doom/                            # Old Doom config
├── spacemacs/                       # Old Spacemacs config
└── README.md                        # This file

Notes Directory Structure

~/notes/hft/
├── inbox/          # Quick captures, questions
├── concepts/       # Models, theorems, techniques
├── sources/        # Books, papers (one note per source)
├── projects/       # Specific investigations
├── lab/            # Experiment notebooks
├── glossary/       # Short definitions
├── pdfs/           # PDF storage (by bibkey)
├── hft.bib         # Bibliography file
└── README.md       # Workflow documentation

Troubleshooting

Packages not installing

M-x straight-pull-all
M-x straight-rebuild-all

Org-roam / citar-org-roam errors about SQLite

Make sure Emacs has SQLite support. On macOS with Homebrew:

brew install sqlite

Then install the Emacs sqlite3 package (e.g., M-x package-install RET sqlite3 RET) if your Emacs build lacks native SQLite. Restart Emacs and rerun emacs --batch -l ~/.config/emacs/init.el.

PDF-tools not working

brew install poppler automake

Then in Emacs:

M-x pdf-tools-install

Symlinks broken after Stow

# Remove broken symlinks
stow -D emacs

# Re-stow
stow -v emacs

License

Personal configuration files. Use at your own risk.