Platform-Specific Paths

Most config files live at different paths depending on your operating system. VS Code settings, for example, are stored in ~/.config/Code/User/ on Linux but ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/ on macOS. dotweave handles this with platform-specific path objects in your manifest.jsonc.

Platform keys

Every path field in manifest.jsonc can be either a plain string or an object with one or more platform keys:

| Key | Matches | | --------- | ------------------------------------ | | linux | Native Linux | | mac | macOS | | win | Windows | | wsl | Windows Subsystem for Linux | | default | Any platform not explicitly listed |

How resolution works

When dotweave reads a path, it picks the best match in this order:

1. Exact platform key — if your OS has a dedicated entry, that wins.
2. Fallback — wsl falls back to linux if no wsl key exists.
3. default — used when no other key matches.

If none of these resolve, the entry is skipped on that platform.

localPath — always a platform object

localPath tells dotweave where a file lives on your machine. Because this is the field most likely to differ across operating systems, it is always written as a platform object:

{
  "localPath": {
    "default": "~/.config/Code/User/settings.json",
    "mac": "~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json",
    "win": "%APPDATA%/Code/User/settings.json"
  }
}

repoPath — usually the same, but can differ

repoPath is the path inside the sync directory. Most of the time it's identical across platforms, so a plain string is fine. If you need it to vary, use the same platform object format:

{
  "repoPath": {
    "default": "vscode/settings.json",
    "win": "vscode-win/settings.json"
  }
}

mode — per-platform behavior

You can also set mode per platform. This is handy when a config only makes sense on certain operating systems:

{
  "mode": {
    "default": "copy",
    "win": "ignore"
  }
}

With this setup the file is synced everywhere except Windows, where it is silently skipped. Windows pushes preserve artifacts still owned by another platform variant, but prune artifacts that only the ignored Windows variant owns.

Full example

Here's a complete entry for VS Code settings that works on Linux, macOS, and Windows:

{
  "localPath": {
    "default": "~/.config/Code/User/settings.json",
    "mac": "~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json",
    "win": "%APPDATA%/Code/User/settings.json"
  },
  "repoPath": "vscode/settings.json",
  "mode": "copy"
}

Tip

When you run dotweave track, the file's path is recorded under the default key automatically. If you need platform-specific paths, edit manifest.jsonc directly and add the extra keys.

Editing tips

• You can always hand-edit manifest.jsonc to add or adjust platform keys.
• dotweave track is a quick way to start — it captures the current platform's path as default, and you can add other platforms later.
• Use dotweave status to verify that paths resolve correctly on the current machine before pushing.