Document minimal config files

[texastoland]

3 New "Tips"

• Minimal configs vs starting from defaults
• std path add to simplify editing the system path
• set-env from nu_scripts to simplify editing nested configs

Additional Amendments:

• Explained more concretely why env.nu vs config.nu
• Explained why upsert is necessary
• Reworded the editors section and removed parts about old Nu versions
• Brief note about config.nu not loading non-interactively
• Simplify nuopen command to alias
• Reformatted $env.PATH snippet more conventionally
• Changed 2 heading levels to improve TOC
• Extra links in general

[fdncred]

I'm not sure I'd recommend set-env in our official docs when it's not officially a part of nushell yet.

[texastoland]

Yeah that's why I didn't imply it's standard in any way. Just makes a day 1 tricky task easier. I have no reservation about removing that block regardless!

Pasting here in case we ever add it back:

::: tip
Try downloading the [`set-env`](https://github.com/nushell/nu_scripts/blob/main/stdlib-candidate/std-rfc/set-env.nu) command in order to _merge_ nested `$env` values at any depth:

```nu
set-env config.<field name> <field value>
```

You can optionally `--append` list settings such as [hooks](/book/hooks.md).
:::

[fdncred]

I'm fine with path add since it's in the stdlib, just not set-env since it's not there yet. Maybe you just deleted the wrong one?

[texastoland]

My bad fixed 🙉

[texastoland]

@fdncred I added 2 infra lines to enable my live preview in the description:

+const [ciUser, ciRepo] = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY?.split('/') ?? []

 export default defineUserConfig({
+  base: ciRepo && ciUser !== 'nushell' ? `/${ciRepo}/` : '/',

1. Get the user and repo from the GitHub action (or else undefined)
2. If there's a fork it changes the base URL otherwise (nushell org and local build) it uses the default

[fdncred]

to enable my live preview in the description

I'd guess this isn't a good idea because it's specific to your environment and no one else's.

[texastoland]

You can try it in your own fork by enabling actions there 💯

[fdncred]

Are you saying this is a github thing or something specific to your env vars?

[texastoland]

Added comments for maintenance:

+// default env from the deploy GitHub action
+// e.g. ciUser = nushell and ciRepo = nushell.github.io
+// both default to undefined if the env is undefined
 const [ciUser, ciRepo] = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY?.split('/') ?? []

 export default defineUserConfig({
+  // set the base URL to ciRepo dir if it's a fork
+  // keep the default root if not
   base: ciRepo && ciUser !== 'nushell' ? `/${ciRepo}/` : '/',

Also in CONTRIBUTING.md:

## Enabling a Preview URL From Your Fork

Just enable GitHub actions in your repo settings. That's all! It will start deploying the next time you push to `main`.

[fdncred]

ok, thanks