The One Command I Run Before Formatting Any Machine

João Henrique — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 01:09:24 +0000

Before I format a laptop, switch machines or try a new Linux distro, I run one command.

Then I stop worrying.

It wasn't always like this.

The ritual I used to dread

Every new machine meant the same ritual:

Reinstall Homebrew and the dozens of packages I forgot I even had
Hunt down the right versions of Node and Python
Dig up my dotfiles from an old repo, a USB drive or a message I sent to myself
Tweak my terminal until it finally felt like mine again

By the end of the day, I was almost back to where I started.

And a week later, I'd still find something missing.

So I built the command I wish I'd had all along. It's called dudu.

Meet dudu

dudu is an open source CLI that turns your entire dev environment into something you can back up and restore.

One command captures your setup.
One command brings it back on a new machine.

No config repo to maintain. No install scripts to write. No "I'll document this later" that never happens.

fontnelle / dudu

🐣 New machine, same setup. Back up your packages, runtimes, dotfiles and terminal in one command, restore them in another. macOS and Linux.

dudu

Back up your whole dev setup in one command and put it back on a new machine in another. Packages, runtimes, dotfiles and terminal, on macOS and Linux.

English · Português · Español

Features

Everything you installed from the terminal: Homebrew, apt/dnf/pacman, Node versions, global npm/pnpm/yarn/bun packages, pyenv/pipx/uv, gems, cargo, go tools, VS Code and Cursor extensions
Your terminal, as it was: zsh, Oh My Zsh and plugins, Powerlevel10k/Starship, Terminal.app and iTerm2 profiles, Ghostty, Kitty, WezTerm, Nerd Fonts, git and SSH config
Saved where you already are: a local folder, iCloud Drive, Google Drive and Apple Notes, several at once
Secrets stay home: tokens in your dotfiles are masked, key files are never copied, and dudu secrets moves keys out of your .zshrc
Encrypted if you want: AES-256 with a password kept in your Keychain
Safe to restore: a backup is treated as…

View on GitHub

Try it in 30 seconds

brew install fontnelle/tap/dudu

dudu backup              # save everything to your destinations
dudu restore --dry-run   # on the new machine: see what will happen
dudu restore             # reinstall everything

No Homebrew yet? There's an install script too, and it verifies the release checksums before installing.

What it captures

What	Examples
Packages	Homebrew (formulae, casks, Mac App Store), apt, dnf, pacman, flatpak, snap
Runtimes and global tools	Node versions via nvm, fnm or volta, global npm/pnpm/yarn/bun packages, pyenv, pipx, uv, gems, cargo, go
Dotfiles and configs	zsh, bash, fish, Oh My Zsh plugins, Powerlevel10k, Starship, tmux, vim, nvim, git and SSH config
Terminal and editors	Terminal.app, iTerm2, Ghostty, Kitty, WezTerm, Alacritty, Nerd Fonts, VS Code and Cursor extensions

Your secrets never leave your machine

This was the part I cared about most. Dotfiles are full of things that should never end up in a backup.

Tokens get masked. API keys, ghp_…, sk-…, npm_…, AWS keys and JWTs become <redacted-by-dudu> in the backup.
Key files are never copied. ~/.ssh/id_*, ~/.aws/credentials, ~/.kube/config and friends stay home.
Optional encryption. AES-256 with a password stored in your Keychain.
Restores are paranoid. A backup is treated as untrusted: checksums are verified, package names are validated, and no file is overwritten without keeping a .dudu-bak copy.

Saved where you already are

Pick one or more destinations, and each backup goes to all of them:

A local folder
iCloud Drive
Google Drive (or any rclone remote on Linux)
Apple Notes, with a readable summary of your setup

Want it on autopilot? dudu schedule on runs a backup every day.

"But I already use chezmoi or mackup"

They're great tools, and dudu doesn't try to replace everything they do. The difference is scope:

chezmoi is excellent for dotfiles, with per-machine templates and password manager integration. But it doesn't install packages or runtimes on its own. You write and maintain those scripts yourself.
mackup syncs app settings through a cloud folder. It doesn't reinstall packages or language versions.
Brewfile (brew bundle) reinstalls Homebrew packages, and dudu actually builds on it. But on its own it doesn't cover dotfiles, runtimes or your terminal.

	dudu	chezmoi	mackup
Dotfiles	✅	✅	✅
Packages	✅	Via scripts	❌
Runtimes (Node, Python...)	✅	Via scripts	❌
Terminal settings	✅	✅	✅
Secret masking	✅	Via password manager	❌
One-command backup and restore	✅	❌	✅
Interface in Portuguese and Spanish	✅	❌	❌

dudu's bet is simple: one flow for the whole setup.

Built for developers who don't think in English

Here's something most CLI tools ignore: millions of developers don't use English as their first language.

dudu speaks English, Portuguese and Spanish, and picks the right one automatically from your system. No flags, no config. You just run it, and it talks to you in your language.

This wasn't an afterthought. It was a design decision from day one, because a tool that feels foreign is a tool people stop using.

Pure bash, zero dependencies

dudu is written in pure bash and runs on the bash 3.2 that ships with macOS. Nothing to install first, no runtime to manage. The test suite runs on macOS, Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch.

When dudu saves your day

New laptop: go from unboxing to coding without the ritual
Fresh install: formatted your machine? Bring everything back
Second machine: keep your work and personal setups in sync
Distro hopping: try a new Linux distro without losing your environment

Honest limitations

dudu currently runs on macOS and Linux. Windows isn't supported yet.

It's a young project, and I'd rather tell you that upfront than have you find out the hard way.

Help me shape what comes next

I'd love your input on two questions:

What do you always have to reinstall or reconfigure on a new machine that dudu should capture?
Which tool is missing from the list above? Each one is a single file, so new collectors are easy to add, and contributions are welcome.

Drop your answer in the comments. I read every one.

And if dudu looks useful to you, a ⭐ on GitHub goes a long way. My next goal is getting dudu into the official Homebrew repository, which requires a minimum number of stars, forks and watchers.

Your next setup should be a command, not a chore.

DEV Community: João Henrique