I’ve always liked the original jazik/termenv project—it’s a clean Ansible playbook that bootstraps a great terminal environment. But after living in it for a while, I found myself wanting tighter macOS support, automatic iTerm2 provisioning, and some Kubernetes-focused tooling. I decided to fork the project and build out those extra pieces. The result is TermForge, my refreshed take on the “terminal in a box” idea.

Why Fork Instead of PR?

Initially, I explored incremental improvements to the upstream repo. Pretty quickly the changes snowballed—new playbooks, an opt-in name change, macOS-only roles, documentation rewrites, and Kubernetes helpers that modify multiple files. Rather than disrupt the original’s scope, I forked it and leaned into a new project identity while crediting the original work.

Feature Highlights

1. Cross-Platform Shell Stack

  • Linux: still uses native package managers with sudo.
  • macOS: now leans on Homebrew/Homebrew Cask for zsh, tmux, fonts, Node, and iTerm2.
  • Automatic zsh detection: resolves the installed zsh path (/opt/homebrew/bin/zsh on Apple Silicon) before making it the login shell and adds it to /etc/shells.
  • dircolors on macOS: Homebrew coreutils + an alias block ensure dircolors works even though macOS doesn’t ship it.

Try it:

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ansible-playbook -i hosts --ask-become-pass termforge.yml --tags "zsh,zsh-dircolors-solarized"

2. iTerm2 Provisioning (macOS)

  • Installs iTerm2 via Homebrew Cask when it isn’t already present.
  • Skips automatically if /Applications/iTerm.app exists (no errors when you’ve already installed it manually).

Target the role alone:

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ansible-playbook -i hosts --ask-become-pass termforge.yml --tags iterm2

3. Fonts + UI Polish

  • Nerd Fonts downloader installs Fira Mono by default (or any archive you specify).
  • On macOS, fonts land in ~/Library/Fonts/<Font>, so they appear instantly without fc-cache.
  • iTerm2 post-install instructions in the README walk through selecting the Nerd Font, enabling ligatures, or pointing iTerm2 at your sync folder.

4. Neovim Stack (Lua, Telescope, Treesitter, Copilot Optional)

  • Installs Neovim plus ripgrep for Telescope.
  • Copies a ready-to-use Lua config (keymaps, plugins, LSP).
  • Optional neovim-copilot.yml playbook installs Copilot/CopilotChat later.
  • CSpell role ensures Node/npm, installs cspell, drops config, and injects keymaps for diagnostics.

Install Copilot later:

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ansible-playbook -i hosts neovim-copilot.yml

5. Kubernetes Helpers

  • New kubernetes-tools role checks whether kubectl is already in your PATH.
  • If yes:
    • macOS: installs k9s and kubectx via Homebrew (kubectx ships kubens, so no extra formula needed).
    • Linux: downloads the k9s binary tarball, installs to /usr/local/bin, clones the kubectx repo, and symlinks both kubectx and kubens.
  • If kubectl isn’t present, the entire role quietly skips—no bloat until you actually work with clusters.

Force only the helper role:

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ansible-playbook -i hosts termforge.yml --tags k8s-tools

6. Quality-of-Life Tweaks

  • fzf install includes the oh-my-zsh plugin wiring plus default options (--height 40% --layout=reverse --border).
  • tmux role installs the theme, sets base-index 1, and adds Smart Vim/Tmux navigation bindings.
  • README now documents:
    • macOS-specific prerequisites (Homebrew install, interpreter warning, how to set ANSIBLE_PYTHON_INTERPRETER).
    • Tag usage and role combinations.
    • Docker + Vagrant test setups with updated instructions for the renamed termforge.yml.
    • A refreshed Neovim cheat sheet and screenshots.

Usage Overview

Clone + Run

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git clone https://github.com/Mazafard/TermForge.git
cd TermForge
ansible-playbook -i hosts --ask-become-pass termforge.yml
  • termenv.yml still exists but now just imports termforge.yml, so legacy scripts keep working.

Customize with Tags

Examples:

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ansible-playbook -i hosts termforge.yml --skip-tags iterm2
ansible-playbook -i hosts termforge.yml --tags "neovim,k8s-tools"

Installing Fonts

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ansible-playbook -i hosts nerdfonts.yml -e "font_name=Hack"

Then switch your terminal profile to the new font (iTerm2 instructions are in the README).

Takeaways

Forking let me move fast: rename the project, reorganize docs, and add the macOS/Kubernetes-specific pieces without forcing upstream to accept a big opinionated overhaul. If you want:

  • A cross-platform terminal bootstrap,
  • Automatic iTerm2 setup,
  • Neovim ready for Lua/LSP/Copilot,
  • tmux/fzf/oh-my-zsh defaults,
  • Nerd Fonts and dircolors working on macOS,
  • Kubernetes helpers that only appear when you actually use kubectl,

…then TermForge is worth a spin.

The code’s on GitHub, the README covers all the details, and you can run the playbook piecemeal or all at once. Happy forging!