add/re-add on external_ files

[SafetyMary]

What exactly are you trying to do?

Following instructions from the docs (https://www.chezmoi.io/user-guide/include-files-from-elsewhere/#use-git-submodules-in-your-source-directory). I have set up git submodule managed directory, prefixed by external_ to prevent incompetible file names in the submodule.

However when i run chezmoi re-add on edited files (files edited directly without running chezmoi edit due to it being a lock file, lazy-lock.json from LazyVim specificially) it created a new file in .local/shared/chezmoi/ without the external_ prefix, forcing me to manually handle the config changes rather than running the chezmoi re-add workflow. I wonder if there is any naive way in chezmoi to handle this.

What have you tried so far?

I have also tried to find if there are any appropreate flags for chezmoi re-add and chezmoi add that i can use but found none suitable for my case.

Where else have you checked for solutions?

• I have read chezmoi's user guide, and not found the answer.
• I have searched chezmoi's reference guide, and not found the answer.
• Other, please give details.

Output of chezmoi doctor

Details

$ chezmoi doctor
RESULT    CHECK                       MESSAGE
warning   version                     v2.70.0, built by build.opensuse.org
ok        latest-version              v2.70.0
ok        os-arch                     linux/amd64 (openSUSE Tumbleweed)
ok        uname                       Linux localhost.localdomain 6.19.10-1-default #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Wed Mar 25 11:02:57 UTC 2026 (a439317) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
ok        go-version                  go1.25.8 (gc)
ok        executable                  /usr/bin/chezmoi
ok        config-file                 found ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml, last modified 2026-03-30T16:48:55+08:00
ok        source-dir                  ~/.local/share/chezmoi is a git working tree (clean)
ok        suspicious-entries          no suspicious entries
ok        working-tree                ~/.local/share/chezmoi is a git working tree (clean)
ok        dest-dir                    ~ is a directory
error     hardlink                    failed creating hardlink from ~/.local/share/chezmoi to /tmp: link ~/.local/share/chezmoi/.chezmoi-doctor-hardlink-test /tmp/chezmoi-doctor2135625695/.chezmoi-doctor-hardlink-test: invalid cross-device link
ok        symlink                     created symlink from .new-name to .old-name
ok        umask                       022
ok        cd-command                  found /usr/bin/fish
ok        cd-args                     /usr/bin/fish
info      diff-command                not set
ok        edit-command                found /usr/bin/nvim
ok        edit-args                   /usr/bin/nvim
ok        git-command                 found /usr/bin/git, version 2.53.0
ok        merge-command               found /usr/bin/vimdiff
ok        shell-command               found /usr/bin/fish
ok        shell-args                  /usr/bin/fish
info      age-command                 age not found in $PATH
ok        gpg-command                 found /usr/bin/gpg, version 2.5.18
info      pinentry-command            not set
info      1password-command           op not found in $PATH
info      bitwarden-command           bw not found in $PATH
info      bitwarden-secrets-command   bws not found in $PATH
info      dashlane-command            dcli not found in $PATH
info      doppler-command             doppler not found in $PATH
info      gopass-command              gopass not found in $PATH
info      keepassxc-command           keepassxc-cli not found in $PATH
info      keepassxc-db                not set
info      keeper-command              keeper not found in $PATH
info      lastpass-command            lpass not found in $PATH
info      pass-command                pass not found in $PATH
info      passhole-command            ph not found in $PATH
info      protonpass-command          pass-cli not found in $PATH
info      rbw-command                 rbw not found in $PATH
info      vault-command               vault not found in $PATH
info      secret-command              not set

[Lockszmith-GH]

Have you considered using .chezmoiexternals instead of a git submodule?

Here is an example.

My .chezmoiexternals includes this template:

".config/nvim":
  type: "git-repo"
  url: "https://code.lksz.me/szmedia/kickstart-modular.nvim.sz.git"
  clone.args: --branch sz
  pullr.args: --autostash --rebase
  refreshPeriod: "168h"

this way chezmoi will git pull whenever the external's

I found this to be easier to maintain personally, as it's just teh .gitignore on that repo.

[SafetyMary]

Using .chezmoiexternals would have the same issue for me. My goal is for changes in local .config (e.g. a lock file) to be "added" back into .local/share/chezmoi then be git add/commit/push to an external personal git that is not part of my chezmoi git repo (e.g. through git submodules).

[Lockszmith-GH]

Sorry I'm not checking in more frequently, but I am interested in helping you with this.

Can you please give me a concrete example?
State the path where a git repo (submodule/external) would populate content.
Then the file you want to track with (either chezmoi or git).

I think if I think of explicit I might be able to think of a solution that works for you.

[SafetyMary]

My .local/share/chezmoi is a git repo. I also have another seperate git repo for my lazyvim config. To manage my lazyvim config inside chezmoi, i have recreated .local/share/chezmoi/private_dot_config/external_nvim/, adding my lazyvim git repo as a git submodule.

Inside the lazyvim config directory, there is a specific file lazy-lock.json which keeps track of lazyvim plugin versions and hashes.

Imagine the following situation,

1. I open LazyVim and trigger plugin updates inside the application
2. All plugins are updated with new hashes written into .config/nvim/lazy-lock.json
3. Now .config/nvim has the new plugin hashes and .local/share/chezmoi/private_dot_config/external_nvim/ has the old hashes
4. Running chezmoi add/re-add will create a new file .local/share/chezmoi/private_dot_config/nvim/ which is not what i wanted.
5. I had to manually copy .config/nvim/lazy-lock.json to overwrite .local/share/chezmoi/private_dot_config/external_nvim/lazy-lock.json
6. Now i can perform git add/commit/push inside .local/share/chezmoi/private_dot_config/external_nvim/ to update my git remote/origin

Is there a chezmoi native way to handle this without manually copying files into .local/share/chezemoi/? Ideally through some chezemoi add/re-add command?

[Lockszmith-GH]

So designating these 2 git repos:

• chezmoi repo - locally at .local/share/chezmoi
• nvim repo - content ending in .config/nvim, currently a sub-module of the chezmoi repo.

My suggestion:
I would suggest removing the submodule from the chezmoi repo.
Instead, have the following in your .chezmoiexternals.yaml.tmpl:

".config/nvim":
  type: "git-repo"
  url: "https://github.com/...."
  clone.args: --branch main
  pullr.args: --autostash --rebase
  refreshPeriod: "168h"

cz update and cz apply will pull changes from the externals, based on the refreshPeriod.

As long as none of the files within the submodule are to be managed by chezmoi, and they are all entirely managed by git, any change you want to save to your nvim repo, will be a git operation within .config/nvim.

If you want the .config/nvim/lazy-lock.json to be managed by chezmoi, add it to the .gitignore in the nvim repo, and cz add ~/.config/nvim/lazy-lock.json
NOTE: I did not define exact: in the .chezmoiexternals - which allows for this.

If I misunderstood your setup, please let me know where I took the wrong turn.
If this isn't what you're after, don't despair - we can figure it out.

[SafetyMary]

Thanks for the detailed explaination. Your suggestion seems to be working. I used .chezmoiexternal.{format} without the 's' as .chezmoiexternals/ seems to be for directories (https://www.chezmoi.io/reference/special-directories/chezmoiexternals/)