YOUR GUIDE TO A CONNECTED ENVIRONMENT
Get your machines
on the same page.
Tether syncs dotfiles and global packages across your machines through a Git repository you own. It encrypts dotfiles by default. Package manifests stay readable.
Each machine signs a record of the packages it installed. A synced package installs on its own only when a machine you trust lists it, and it passes the package checks.
What Tether does
- Dotfile sync: AES-256-GCM encryption with a passphrase-protected key
- Package sync: Homebrew, npm, pnpm, bun, gem and uv
- Package checks: signed machine records, a release-age limit, OSV malware checks, install scripts off, and a Homebrew tap allowlist
- Profiles: choose the dotfiles and packages each machine gets
- Background daemon: syncs every 5 minutes
- Secret detection: scans team dotfiles for credentials. See Secret detection for the commands that scan
- Teams: share dotfiles and project secrets with age keys
Start here
- New to Tether: Install, then follow the Quick start
- On Tether 1.x: read Upgrade from 1.x before you upgrade the first machine
- A package does not install: see The Inbox and Troubleshooting
- All commands and settings: see Commands and Configuration