> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.jylhis.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# init.el

> Main Emacs configuration entry point

# init.el

`init.el` is deliberately tiny. Its only jobs are:

1. Register MELPA, MELPA-stable, and NonGNU ELPA as fallback archives for anything Nix does not ship.
2. Put `lisp/` on the load-path.
3. Point `custom-file` at `var/custom.el` so `M-x customize` has somewhere to scribble.
4. Refresh archive contents on first run, then `require` each module in the right order.

Everything else — GC, encoding, theme, modeline, keybindings, package configuration — lives in `early-init.el` or one of the `lisp/init-*.el` modules.

## Package archives

```elisp theme={}
(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa"        . "https://melpa.org/packages/")        t)
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa-stable" . "https://stable.melpa.org/packages/") t)
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("nongnu"       . "https://elpa.nongnu.org/nongnu/")    t)
```

Nix (or the devenv shell in development) provides most packages via `load-path`, so `use-package` finds them without touching the network. The archives above only come into play for packages that Nix does not ship.

## Load path

```elisp theme={}
(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "lisp" user-emacs-directory))
```

## Custom file

```elisp theme={}
(setq custom-file (locate-user-emacs-file "var/custom.el"))
```

`custom.el` is write-only: Jotain never loads it back. The declarative config in git remains the single source of truth; the file exists only so `M-x customize` has somewhere to scribble without touching `init.el`.

## Module loading

`init.el` then `require`s each module in order. See [Modules](/architecture/modules) for what each file owns and the full load order.

```elisp theme={}
(require 'init-core)         ; GC, encoding, var/ paths, sane defaults
(require 'init-keys)         ; Global keymap and leader-key setup
(require 'init-ui)           ; Theme, modeline, fonts, frame tweaks
(require 'init-tabs)         ; Workspace tabs via tab-bar-mode
(require 'init-help)         ; helpful + built-in help tweaks
(require 'init-docs)         ; Surface jotain.info under C-h i
(require 'init-editing)      ; Electric pairs, delsel, whitespace, region tools
(require 'init-completion)   ; Vertico, marginalia, orderless, consult, corfu
(require 'init-navigation)   ; Dired + dirvish, project, windmove, winner
(require 'init-vc)           ; vc + magit + diff-hl + forge
(require 'init-prog)         ; prog-mode, treesit, eglot, flymake, eldoc, compile
(require 'init-snippets)     ; tempel snippets + eglot-tempel LSP expansion
(require 'init-project)      ; project + projection + compile-multi
(require 'init-ai)           ; claude-code-ide, gptel, mcp
(require 'init-shell)        ; eshell, comint, ielm
(require 'init-terminal)     ; ghostel terminal + tty integration (kkp, clipetty)
(require 'init-systems)      ; sops, logview, auth-source-1password
(require 'init-tracking)     ; keyfreq, wakatime, activity-watch
(require 'init-writing)      ; jinx, markdown-mode, denote, pdf-tools
(require 'init-org)          ; org, org-modern, capture templates

(require 'init-lang-nix)
(require 'init-lang-rust)
(require 'init-lang-python)
(require 'init-lang-web)
(require 'init-lang-devops)
(require 'init-lang-data)
(require 'init-lang-systems)
```