Write a Profile

A profile is a directory: profile.toml, which says how devset manages each file and when, and files/, which holds them as a target should have them. This guide writes one, tries it on a scratch repository, and grows it a step at a time. Getting Started is the shorter first pass.

Start

devset init profiles/lint --profile

init --profile writes profile.toml, a commented tour of what a manifest can say, a README, and an empty files/. Put a file in files/ at the path a target should have it, and name it in the manifest:

[profile]
name        = "lint"
description = "The team's EditorConfig and rustfmt settings"
devset      = ">=0.5"

[files.".editorconfig"]

[files."rustfmt.toml"]
policy = "merge"

Try It

A scratch repository takes the profile straight from its directory, so every change is one apply away:

mkdir scratch && cd scratch && git init
devset add lint --path ../profiles/lint
devset status

A local source is read as it is now: edit the profile, run devset apply, and the scratch repository takes the change, merging it with anything edited there.

Choose a Policy per File

owned, the default: the profile’s; an edit is drift, which status reports and apply --force restores.
merge: the target’s edits are kept, and merged with the profile’s changes.
once: written where absent, then the target’s.

Profiles has what apply does with each.

Own Part of a File

Where a target keeps its own content in a file, own only what the profile needs: the keys its payload defines, or a marked block.

[files."Cargo.toml"]
scope = "keys"               # the [workspace.lints] the payload holds, no more

[files.".gitignore"]
scope = "block"              # a block between devset's markers

Parts of a File says how each merges and what a starter is.

Ask the Target

A variable is a value each target chooses, and a template uses it:

[vars.line_width]
prompt  = "Line width"
default = "100"

[files."rustfmt.toml"]
template = true              # files/rustfmt.toml holds max_width = {{ line_width }}

Templates has the language and what else a template can read.

Offer Features

A feature turns on files, requirements or other features; a gate says when an entry applies:

[features]
default = ["deny"]
deny    = []

[files."deny.toml"]
when = { features = ["deny"] }

devset explain lint in the scratch repository shows the features and who turned each on. Gates and Scaffolds and Composing Profiles have the rest, and examples/ has each step as an example that runs.

Put the profile in a git repository beside others, and tag a release: Publish a Collection. Design Profiles says how to cut profiles so they compose.

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