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Getting Started Guide

GNU Emacs is one grand ol’ adventure, let alone Doom Emacs. Before you start you’ll need to set up Emacs, Doom, and its packages, then learn how to take care of your new puppy slash operating system. This guide will walk you through installing, using, configuring and troubleshooting Doom Emacs.

If you feel like we’ve missed something, join us on our Discord server and let us know!

Table of Contents

Install

This is what you’ll have installed by the end of this guide:

  • Required:
    • Git 2.23+
    • Emacs 26.3+
    • ripgrep 11.0+
    • GNU Find
  • Optional:
    • fd 7.3.0+ – improves performance for many file indexing commands
    • GNU tar – needed to read compressed elisp files and install packages with package.el
    • GNU ls – to overcome limitations with BSD ls on MacOS or BSD systems
    • gcc or clang (preferred) – needed to build some module dependencies like irony-server, emacsqlite for magit, epdfinfo for pdf-tools or vterm

These packages ought to be available through the package managers of most Linux distributions, or homebrew & macports on macOS, or scoop/chocolatey on Windows. The following sections will go over how to install them, beginning with Emacs.

If any of these install instructions are outdated, or instructions for your OS is missing, let us know (or correct it yourself; pull requests are welcome).

Emacs & dependencies

On Linux

In the unusual case that Emacs is unavailable through your package manager, you’ll have to build it from source. Otherwise:

Arch Linux:

# required dependencies
pacman -S git emacs ripgrep
# optional dependencies
pacman -S clang tar fd

The above installs Emacs 26.3 (at the time of writing). If you’d prefer Emacs 27/28 (HEAD), it is available through the AUR in the emacs-git package.

Ubuntu:

# required dependencies
apt-get install git ripgrep
# optional dependencies
apt-get install tar fd-find clang

Only 25.3 is available on Ubuntu 18.04 (and 24.3 on Ubuntu 14 or 16), which Doom does not support. Extra steps are necessary to acquire 26.3:

add-apt-repository ppa:kelleyk/emacs
apt-get update
apt-get install emacs26

Fedora:

# required dependencies
sudo dnf install emacs git ripgrep
# optional dependencies
sudo dnf install tar fd-find clang multimarkdown ShellCheck

NixOS

On NixOS Emacs 26.3 can be installed via nix-env -Ai nixos.emacs, or permanently with the following added to etc/nixos/configuration.nix:

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
  # required dependencies
  git
  emacs    # Emacs 26.3
  ripgrep
  # optional dependencies
  coreutils # basic GNU utilities
  fd
  clang
];

To acquire Emacs 27/28+, look into nix-community/emacs-overlay, which can be quickly integrated into your configuration.nix with:

nixpkgs.overlays = [
  (import (builtins.fetchTarball https://github.com/nix-community/emacs-overlay/archive/master.tar.gz))
];

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
  emacsGit
];

openSUSE

Emacs 26.3

Check the package list and download the package for your distribution or manually install via zypper.

Example: installing on openSUSE Leap 15.1 (requires root):

zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/editors/openSUSE_Leap_15.1/editors.repo
zypper refresh
zypper install emacs

If you already have an older version of Emacs installed, you will be prompted to install the update candidate (Emacs 26.3).

ripgrep

Tumbleweed has ripgrep 11.0.2, which can be downloaded from the package list or installed manually (requires root):

zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:Factory/standard/openSUSE:Factory.repo
zypper refresh
zypper install ripgrep

On Leap 15.1 and 15.2 only ripgrep 0.8.1 is officially available. You will need to install Rust and build ripgrep from source; you can download Rust from the package list or install it manually via zypper.

Example: installing on openSUSE Leap 15.1 (standard, requires root):

zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:Leap:15.1:Update/standard/openSUSE:Leap:15.1:Update.repo
zypper refresh
zypper install rust

See the ripgrep documentation for instructions on building from source.

On macOS

MacOS users have many options for installing Emacs, but not all of them are well suited to Doom. Before we get to that you’ll need either the Homebrew or MacPorts package manager installed (you only need one):

With Homebrew

First, Doom’s dependencies:

# required dependencies
brew install git ripgrep
# optional dependencies
brew install coreutils fd
# Installs clang
xcode-select --install

For Emacs itself, these three formulas are the best options, ordered from most to least recommended for Doom (based on compatibility).

  • emacs-plus: 
    brew tap d12frosted/emacs-plus
brew install emacs-plus
ln -s /usr/local/opt/emacs-plus/Emacs.app /Applications/Emacs.app
  • emacs-mac is another acceptable option. It offers slightly better integration with macOS, native emojis and better childframe support. However, at the time of writing, it lacks multi-tty support (which impacts daemon usage): 
    brew tap railwaycat/emacsmacport
brew install emacs-mac --with-modules
ln -s /usr/local/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app /Applications/Emacs.app
  • emacs is another acceptable option, **but does not provide a Emacs.app**: 
    brew install emacs
Where not to install Emacs from

These builds/forks have known compatibility issues with Doom and are very likely to cause issues later on. Do not use them:

  • emacsformacosx.com
  • brew cask install emacs (installs from emacsformacosx.com)
  • AquaMacs
  • XEmacs

With MacPorts

There are four ports (at time of writing) available through MacPorts, and they are all acceptable options:

Some of these ports do not add an emacs binary to your PATH, which is necessary for Doom’s installation process. You’ll have to do so yourself by adding this to your shell config:

# Add this to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile
export PATH="/Applications/MacPorts/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS:$PATH"

Or by creating a shim script at /usr/local/bin/emacs:

#!/bin/sh
/Applications/MacPorts/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs "$@"

On Windows

Support for Windows is immature so your mileage there will vary. Some have reported success using Doom with WSL or WSL2. The maintainer has only (lightly) tested installing Doom with chocolatey through git-bash.

If you manage to get Doom running on Windows and found this guide wasn’t enough or could be improved, please help us expand this section!

chocolatey / scoop

Chocolatey is the simplest to get Doom up and running with:

choco install git emacs ripgrep fd llvm

Scoop is also a viable way of installing Emacs. However, because Emacs is a GUI application, it is relegated to the ‘extras’ Scoop bucket and that will need to be enabled.

scoop bucket add extras
scoop install git emacs ripgrep fd llvm

You will need the HOME system variable set to C:\Users\USERNAME\, otherwise Emacs will treat C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming as your HOME, which causes issues.

It’s also a good idea to add C:\Users\USERNAME\.emacs.d\bin to your PATH.

A pre-existing PATH variable should already exist among your system variables. It contains a string of file paths separated by colons; pathA:pathB:pathC. Prepend the path to bin/doom to that string: C:\Users\username\.emacs.d\bin:pathA:pathB:pathC

WSL

WSL2

Doom Emacs

With Emacs and Doom’s dependencies installed, next is to install Doom Emacs itself:

git clone https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs ~/.emacs.d
~/.emacs.d/bin/doom install

doom install will set up your DOOMDIR at ~/.doom.d (if it doesn’t already exist) and will work you through the first-time setup of Doom Emacs.

If you’d like a more technical break down of doom install, it’s been translated into shell commands below, in the “Install Doom Manually” section.

The bin/doom utility

This utility is your new best friend. It won’t spot you a beer, but it’ll shoulder much of the work associated with managing and maintaining your Doom Emacs configuration, and then some. Not least of which is installation of and updating Doom and your installed packages.

It exposes a variety of commands. bin/doom help will list them all, but here is a summary of the most important ones:

  • bin/doom sync: This synchronizes your config with Doom Emacs. It ensures that needed packages are installed, orphaned packages are removed and necessary metadata correctly generated. Run this whenever you modify your doom! block or packages.el file.
  • bin/doom upgrade: Updates Doom Emacs (if available) and all its packages.
  • bin/doom env: (Re)generates an “envvar file”, which is a snapshot of your shell environment that Doom loads at startup. If your app launcher or OS launches Emacs in the wrong environment you will need this. **This is required for GUI Emacs users on MacOS.**
  • bin/doom doctor: If Doom misbehaves, the doc will diagnose common issues with your installation, system and environment.
  • bin/doom purge: Over time, the repositories for Doom’s plugins will accumulate. Run this command from time to time to delete old, orphaned packages, and with the -g switch to compact existing package repos.

Use bin/doom help to see an overview of the available commands that bin/doom provides, and bin/doom help COMMAND to display documentation for a particular COMMAND.

I recommend you add ~/.emacs.d/bin to your PATH so you can call doom directly and from anywhere. Accomplish this by adding this to your .bashrc or .zshrc file: export PATH=~/.emacs.d/bin:$PATH

Install Doom Manually

If you’d rather install Doom yourself, instead of rely on the magic of bin/doom install, here is its equivalent in bash shell commands (assuming hlissner/doom-emacs has been cloned to ~/.emacs.d):

# So we don't have to write ~/.emacs.d/bin/doom every time
PATH="$HOME/.emacs.d/bin:$PATH"

# Create a directory for our private config
mkdir ~/.doom.d  # or ~/.config/doom

# The init.example.el file contains an example doom! call, which tells Doom what
# modules to load and in what order.
cp ~/.emacs.d/init.example.el ~/.doom.d/init.el
cp ~/.emacs.d/core/templates/config.example.el ~/.doom.d/config.el
cp ~/.emacs.d/core/templates/packages.example.el ~/.doom.d/packages.el

# If your ISP or proxy doesn't allow you to install from
# raw.githubusercontent.com, then you'll have to install straight (our package
# manager) manually:
mkdir -p ~/.emacs.d/.local/straight/repos
git clone -b develop https://github.com/raxod502/straight.el ~/.emacs.d/.local/straight/repos/straight.el

# You might want to edit ~/.doom.d/init.el here and make sure you only have the
# modules you want enabled.

# Then synchronize Doom with your config:
doom sync

# If you know Emacs won't be launched from your shell environment (e.g. you're
# on macOS or use an app launcher that doesn't launch programs with the correct
# shell) then create an envvar file to ensure Doom correctly inherits your shell
# environment.
#
# If you don't know whether you need this or not, there's no harm in doing it
# anyway. `doom install` will have prompted you to generate one. If you
# responded no, you can generate it later with the following command:
doom env

# Lastly, install the icon fonts Doom uses:
emacs --batch -f all-the-icons-install-fonts

To understand the purpose of the ~/.doom.d directory and ~/.doom.d/init.el file, see the Configure section further below.

Install Doom alongside other configs (with Chemacs)

Chemacs is a bootloader for Emacs. It allows you to switch between multiple Emacs configurations. Here is a quick guide for setting it up with Doom Emacs as the default config:

  1. First, install Doom somewhere: 
    git clone https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs ~/doom-emacs
~/doom-emacs/bin/doom install
  2. Download the Chemacs’ startup script to ~/.emacs: 
    wget -O ~/.emacs https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plexus/chemacs/master/.emacs

    WARNING: the ~/.emacs.d directory must not exist for this to work.

  3. Create ~/.emacs-profiles.el with a list of your Emacs profiles. This file is structured like a .dir-locals.el file. Here is an example with Doom (as the default), Spacemacs, and Prelude: 
    (("default"   . ((user-emacs-directory . "~/doom-emacs")))
 ("spacemacs" . ((user-emacs-directory . "~/spacemacs")))
 ("prelude"   . ((user-emacs-directory . "~/prelude"))))

To start Emacs with a specific config, use the --with-profile option:

emacs --with-profile spacemacs

If no profile is specified, the default profile is used.

External/system dependencies

Doom is comprised of modules which provide most of its features, including language support and integration with external tools. Many of them have external dependencies that you must install yourself. You’ll find what a module needs and how to install them in that module’s README.org file or by running bin/doom doctor.

Use M-x doom/help-modules (bound to SPC h d m or C-h d m) to jump to a module’s documentation from within Doom, otherwise, place your cursor on a module in your doom! block (in ~/.doom.d/init.el) and press K to jump to its documentation (or gd to jump to its source code). C-c g k and C-c g d for non-evil users, respectively.

Otherwise, check out the Module Index.

Keep in mind that documentation is an ongoing effort. Some modules may not have README.org files yet.

Update & Rollback

Doom is an active project and many of its 300+ packages are in active development as well. It is wise to occasionally update. Doom strives to make this as painless a process as possible.

The bin/doom script provides one simple command for upgrading Doom and your packages:

doom upgrade   # or 'doom up'

If you want to update Doom manually, doom upgrade is equivalent to:

cd ~/.emacs.d
git pull        # updates Doom
doom clean      # Ensure your config isn't byte-compiled
doom sync       # synchronizes your config with Doom Emacs
doom update     # updates installed packages

To upgrade only your packages (and not Doom itself):

doom upgrade --packages

To minimize issues while upgrading, avoid modifying Doom’s source files. All your customization should be kept in your DOOMDIR (e.g. ~/.doom.d). Read the Configure section for more on configuring Doom.

Rollback

The bin/doom script doesn’t currently offer rollback support for Doom or its packages (yet).

Up/Downgrading Emacs

Important: you may encounter errors after up/downgrading Emacs. Emacs bytecode is generally not forward compatible. You will have to recompile or reinstall your packages to fix this, i.e.

  • doom build, to rebuild all your installed packages,
  • Or delete ~/.emacs.d/.local then doom sync to reinstall them

Migrate

If you’re here from another Emacs distribution (or your own), here are a few things to be aware of while you convert your old config to Doom:

  • Doom does not use package.el to manage its packages, but use-package does! You will see errors if you have :ensure ... properties in your use-package blocks. Remove these and, instead, add package! declarations to ~/.doom.d/packages.el to install your packages.

    See “Package Management”, earlier in this guide.

(This section is incomplete)

From vanilla Emacs

Have you migrated from your own config? Help me flesh out this section by letting me know what kind of hurdles you faced in doing so. You’ll find me on our Discord server.

From Spacemacs

Have you migrated from Spacemacs? Help me flesh out this section by letting me know what kind of hurdles you faced in doing so. You’ll find me on our Discord server.

Configure

Doom looks for your private configuration in:

  1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/doom
  2. or ~/.doom.d

This directory is referred to as your DOOMDIR.

You can override the location of your DOOMDIR by changing the environment variable of the same name. Symlinks will work as well.

doom install will deploy three files to your DOOMDIR:

init.el
Where you’ll find your doom! block, which controls what Doom modules are enabled and in what order they will be loaded.

This file is evaluated early in the startup process, before any other module has loaded.

config.el
Where 99.99% of your private configuration should go. Anything put here will run after all other modules have loaded.
packages.el
Where you declare what packages to install and where from.

Note: do not use M-x customize or the customize API in general. Doom is designed to be configured programmatically from your config.el, which can conflict with Customize’s way of writing variables to custom-file.

Doom provides the setq! macro for triggering defcustom setters.

Modules

Doom consists of around 130 modules. A Doom module is a bundle of packages, configuration and commands, organized into a unit that can be enabled or disabled by adding or removing them from your doom! block (found in $DOOMDIR/init.el).

If $DOOMDIR/init.el doesn’t exist, you haven’t installed Doom yet. See the “Install” section above.

Your doom! block will look something like this:

;; To comment something out, you insert at least one semicolon before it. The
;; Emacs Lisp interpreter will ignore whatever follows.
(doom! :lang
       python        ; this module is not commented, therefore enabled
       ;;javascript  ; this module is commented out, therefore disabled
       ;;lua         ; this module is disabled
       ruby          ; this module is enabled
       php)          ; this module is enabled

It controls what modules are enabled and in what order they are loaded. Some modules have optional features that can be enabled by passing them flags, denoted by a plus prefix:

(doom! :completion
       (company +auto)
       :lang
       (csharp +unity)
       (org +brain +dragndrop +gnuplot +hugo +jupyter)
       (sh +fish))

Different modules support different flags. Flags that a module doesn’t recognize will be silently ignored. You’ll find a comprehensive list of available modules and their supported flags summarized in the Module Index.

IMPORTANT: don’t forget to run bin/doom sync after changing your doom! block, then restart Emacs for the changes to take effect.

Run doom doctor to determine if there are any issues with your doom! block, such as duplicate or misspelled modules.

Package management

**Doom Emacs does not use package.el** (the package manager built into Emacs). Instead, it uses its own declarative package manager built on top of Straight.

If you are coming from another Emacs distro (or vanilla Emacs), be wary of the :ensure property in use-package blocks, because it will attempt (and fail) to install packages through package.el.

Packages are declared in packages.el files located in Doom’s modules. This applies to your DOOMDIR as well, which is considered a module. You can install your own packages in ~/.doom.d/packages.el.

If a package is installed without an accompanying package! declaration (e.g. with M-x package-install or M-x straight-use-package), it will be uninstalled the next time you run bin/doom sync or bin/doom purge.

Installing packages

To install a package, add a package! declaration for it to DOOMDIR/packages.el:

;; Install a package named "example" from ELPA or MELPA
(package! example)

;; Or tell Doom to not manage a particular package at all.
(package! example :ignore t)

package! will return non-nil if the package is cleared for install and hasn’t been disabled elsewhere. Use this fact to chain package dependencies together. e.g.

(when (package! example)
  (package! plugin-that-example-depends-on))

Installing packages from external sources

To install a package straight from an external source (like github, gitlab, etc), you’ll need to specify a MELPA-style straight recipe:

Here are a few examples:

;; Install it directly from a github repository. For this to work, the package
;; must have an appropriate PACKAGENAME.el file which must contain at least a
;; Package-Version or Version line in its header.
(package! example
  :recipe (:host github :repo "username/my-example-fork"))

;; If the source files for a package are in a subdirectory in said repo, use
;; `:files' to target them.
(package! example :recipe
  (:host github
   :repo "username/my-example-fork"
   :files ("*.el" "src/lisp/*.el")))

;; To grab a particular branch or tag:
(package! example :recipe
  (:host gitlab
   :repo "username/my-example-fork"
   :branch "develop"))

;; If a package has a default recipe on MELPA or emacsmirror, you may omit
;; keywords and the recipe will inherit the rest of the recipe from their
;; original.
(package! example :recipe (:branch "develop"))

;; If the repo pulls in many unneeded submodules, you can disable recursive cloning
(package! example :recipe (:nonrecursive t))

;; A package can be installed straight from a git repo by setting :host to nil:
(package! example
  :recipe (:host nil :repo "https://some/git/repo"))

The specification for the package! macro’s :recipe is laid out in Straight.el’s README.

IMPORTANT: Run bin/doom sync whenever you modify packages.el files to ensure your changes take effect.

Pinning packages to specific commits

All of Doom’s packages are pinned by default. A pinned package is a package locked to a specific commit, like so:

(package! evil :pin "e00626d9fd")

To unpin a package, use the unpin! macro:

(unpin! evil)

;; It can be used to unpin multiple packages at once
(unpin! evil helm org-mode)

;; Or to unpin all packages in modules
(unpin! (:lang python ruby rust) (:tools docker))

;; Or to unpin an entire category of modules
(unpin! :completion :lang :tools)

;; This will work too, if you prefer the syntax, but it provides no concise
;; syntax for unpinning multiple packages:
(package! helm :pin nil)

Though it is highly discouraged, you may unpin all packages and make Doom Emacs rolling release:

(unpin! t)

Unpinning all packages is discouraged because Doom’s modules are designed against the pinned versions of its packages. More volatile packages (like lsp-mode, ein and org) change rapidly, and are likely to cause breakages if unpinned.

Instead, it’s a better idea to selectively unpin packages, or repin them to the exact commit you want.

Disabling packages

The package! macro possesses a :disable property:

(package! irony :disable t)
(package! rtags :disable t)

Once a package is disabled, use-package! and after! blocks for it will be ignored, and the package is removed the next time you run bin/doom sync. Use this to disable Doom’s packages that you don’t want or need.

There is also the disable-packages! macro for conveniently disabling multiple packages:

(disable-packages! irony rtags)

IMPORTANT: Run bin/doom sync whenever you modify packages.el files to ensure your changes take effect.

Changing a recipe for a included package

If a Doom module installs package X from one place, but you’d like to install it from another (say, a superior fork), add a package! declaration for it in your DOOMDIR/packages.el. Your private declarations always have precedence over modules (even your own).

;; in modules/editor/evil/packages.el
(package! evil) ; installs from MELPA

;; in DOOMDIR/packages.el
(package! evil :recipe (:host github :repo "username/my-evil-fork"))

To install a package only if a built-in package doesn’t exist, use :built-in 'prefer:

(package! so-long :built-in 'prefer)

IMPORTANT: Run bin/doom sync whenever you modify packages.el files to ensure your changes take effect.

Using/loading local packages

Say you have a local elisp package you want to install. You have two options:

Adjust your load-path

Emacs searches for packages in your load-path. Add the path to your package and Emacs will find it when it tries to load it. e.g.

(add-load-path! "lisp/package")

;; or

(use-package my-package
  :load-path "/path/to/my/package")

:local-repo

Alternatively, you can specify a :local-repo in a package!’s :recipe declaration:

(package! my-package :recipe (:local-repo "/path/to/my/package"))

;; Don't forget to use :files to include files in an unconventional project structure:
(package! my-package
  :recipe (:local-repo "/path/to/my/package"
           :files ("*.el" "src/lisp/*.el")))

Remember to run doom sync to rebuild your package after you’ve changed it, and to re-index any autoloads in it.

Configuring Doom

Configuring packages

If your configuration needs are simple, the use-package!, after!, add-hook! and setq-hook! macros are your bread and butter.

;;; ~/.doom.d/config.el (example)
(setq doom-font (font-spec :family "Fira Mono" :size 12))

;; Takes a feature symbol or a library name (string)
(after! evil
  (setq evil-magic nil))

;; Takes a major-mode, a quoted hook function or a list of either
(add-hook! python-mode
  (setq python-shell-interpreter "bpython"))

;; These are equivalent
(setq-hook! 'python-mode-hook python-indent-offset 2)
(setq-hook! python-mode python-indent-offset 2)

(use-package! hl-todo
  ;; if you omit :defer, :hook, :commands, or :after, then the package is loaded
  ;; immediately. By using :hook here, the `hl-todo` package won't be loaded
  ;; until prog-mode-hook is triggered (by activating a major mode derived from
  ;; it, e.g. python-mode)
  :hook (prog-mode . hl-todo-mode)
  :init
  ;; code here will run immediately
  :config
  ;; code here will run after the package is loaded
  (setq hl-todo-highlight-punctuation ":"))

For more flexibility, the use-package-hook! is another option, but should be considered a last resort (because there is usually a better way). It allows you to disable, append/prepend to and/or overwrite Doom’s use-package! blocks. These are powered by use-package’s inject-hooks under the hood.

use-package-hook! must be used before that package’s ~use-package!~ block. Therefore it must be used from your private init.el file.

;;; ~/.doom.d/init.el (example)
;; If a :pre-init / :pre-config hook returns nil, it overwrites that package's
;; original :init / :config block. Exploit this to overwrite Doom's config.
(use-package-hook! doom-themes
  :pre-config
  (setq doom-neotree-file-icons t)
  nil)

;; ...otherwise, make sure they always return non-nil!
(use-package-hook! evil
  :pre-init
  (setq evil-magic nil)
  t)

;; `use-package-hook' also has :post-init and :post-config hooks

Reloading your config

You may find it helpful to have your changes take effect immediately. For things that don’t require a complete restart of Doom Emacs (like changing your enabled modules or installed packages), you can evaluate Emacs Lisp code on-the-fly.

  • Evil users can use the gr operator to evaluate a segment of code. The return value is displayed in the minibuffer or in a popup (if the result is large enough to warrant one).

    gr works for most languages, but using it on Elisp is a special case; it’s executed within your current session of Emacs. You can use this to modify Emacs’ state on the fly.

  • Non-evil users can use C-x C-e to run eval-last-sexp, as well as M-x +eval/buffer-or-region (on SPC c e).
  • Another option is to open a scratch buffer with SPC x, change its major mode (M-x emacs-lisp-mode), and use the above keys to evaluate your code.
  • An ielm REPL is available by pressing SPC o r (+eval/open-repl-other-window).
  • There’s also M-: or SPC ;, which invokes eval-expression, which you can use to run elisp code inline.

While all this is helpful for reconfiguring your running Emacs session, it can also be helpful for debugging.

Binding keys

  • define-key
  • global-set-key
  • map!
  • undefine-key!
  • define-key!

Writing your own modules

Load order

Module files are loaded in a precise order:

  1. ~/.emacs.d/early-init.el (Emacs 27+ only)
  2. ~/.emacs.d/init.el
  3. $DOOMDIR/init.el
  4. {~/.emacs.d,$DOOMDIR}/modules/*/*/init.el
  5. {~/.emacs.d,$DOOMDIR}/modules/*/*/config.el
  6. $DOOMDIR/config.el

Location

Doom searches for modules in ~/.emacs.d/modules/CATEGORY/MODULE/ and $DOOMDIR/modules/CATEGORY/MODULE/. If you have a private module with the same name as an included Doom module, yours will shadow the included one (as if the included one never existed).

Doom refers to modules in one of two formats: :category module or category/module.

File structure

A module consists of several files, all of which are optional. They are:

modules/
  category/
    module/
      test/*.el
      autoload/*.el
      autoload.el
      init.el
      config.el
      packages.el
      doctor.el

init.el

This file is loaded early, before anything else, but after Doom core is loaded.

Use this file to:

  • Configure Emacs or perform setup/teardown operations that must be set early; before other modules are (or this module is) loaded.
  • Reconfigure packages defined in Doom modules with use-package-hook! (as a last resort, when after! and hooks aren’t enough).
  • To change the behavior of bin/doom.

Do not use this file to:

  • Configure packages with use-package! or after!
  • Preform expensive or error-prone operations; these files are evaluated whenever bin/doom is used.

config.el

This file is the heart of every module.

Code in this file should expect that dependencies (in packages.el) are installed and available, but shouldn’t make assumptions about what modules are activated (use featurep! to detect them).

Packages should be configured using after! or use-package!:

;; from modules/completion/company/config.el
(use-package! company
  :commands (company-mode global-company-mode company-complete
             company-complete-common company-manual-begin company-grab-line)
  :config
  (setq company-idle-delay nil
        company-tooltip-limit 10
        company-dabbrev-downcase nil
        company-dabbrev-ignore-case nil)
   [...])

For anyone already familiar with use-package, use-package! is merely a thin wrapper around it. It supports all the same keywords and can be used in much the same way.

packages.el

This file is where package declarations belong. It’s also a good place to look if you want to see what packages a module manages (and where they are installed from).

A packages.el file shouldn’t contain complex logic. Mostly conditional statements and package!, disable-packages! or depend-on! calls. It shouldn’t produce side effects and should be deterministic. Because this file gets evaluated in an environment isolated from your interactive session, code within should make no assumptions about the current session.

See the ”Package Management” section for details.

autoload/*.el OR autoload.el

Functions marked with an autoload cookie (;;;###autoload) in these files will be lazy loaded.

When you run bin/doom autoloads, Doom scans these files to populate autoload file in ~/.emacs.d/.local/autoloads.el, which will tell Emacs where to find these functions when they are called.

For example:

;; from modules/lang/org/autoload/org.el
;;;###autoload
(defun +org/toggle-checkbox ()
  (interactive)
  [...])

;; from modules/lang/org/autoload/evil.el
;;;###autoload (autoload '+org:attach "lang/org/autoload/evil" nil t)
(evil-define-command +org:attach (&optional uri)
  (interactive "<a>")
  [...])

doctor.el

This file is used by make doctor, and should test for all that module’s dependencies. If it is missing one, it should use the warn!, error! and explain! macros to inform the user why it’s a problem and, ideally, a way to fix it.

For example, the :lang cc module’s doctor checks to see if the irony server is installed:

;; from lang/cc/doctor.el
(require 'irony)
(unless (file-directory-p irony-server-install-prefix)
  (warn! "Irony server isn't installed. Run M-x irony-install-server"))

Additional files

Sometimes, it is preferable that a module’s config.el file be split up into multiple files. The convention is to name these additional files with a leading +, e.g. modules/feature/version-control/+git.el.

There is no syntactical or functional significance to this convention. Directories do not have to follow this convention, nor do files within those directories.

These additional files are not loaded automatically. You will need to use the load! macro to do so:

;; from modules/feature/version-control/config.el
(load! +git)

The load! macro will try to load a +git.el relative to the current file.

Flags

A module flag is an arbitrary symbol. By convention, these symbols are prefixed with a + or a -, to respectively denote the addition or removal of a feature. There is no functional significance to this notation.

A module may choose to interpret flags however it likes. They can be tested for with the featurep! macro:

;; Has the current module been enabled with the +my-feature flag?
(when (featurep! +my-feature) ...)

;; It can be used to check the presence of flags in other modules:
(when (featurep! :lang python +lsp) ...)

Module cookies

A special syntax exists called module cookies. Like autoload cookies (;;;###autoload), module files may have ;;;###if FORM at or near the top of the file. FORM is read determine whether or not to ignore this file when scanning it for autoloads (doom sync) or byte-compiling it (doom compile).

Use this to prevent errors that may occur if that file contains (for example) calls to functions that won’t exist if a certain feature isn’t available to that module, e.g.

;;;###if (featurep! +lsp)
;;;###if (not (locate-library "so-long"))

Remember that these run in a limited, non-interactive sub-session, so do not call anything that wouldn’t be available in a Doom session without any modules enabled.

Autodefs

An autodef is a special kind of autoloaded function or macro which Doom guarantees will always be defined, whether or not its containing module is enabled (but will no-op without evaluating its arguments when it is disabled).

You can browse the available autodefs in your current session with M-x doom/help-autodefs (SPC h d u or C-h d u).

What distinguishes an autodef from a regular autoload is the ;;;###autodef cookie:

;;;###autodef
(defun set-something! (value)
  ...)

An example would be the set-company-backend! function that the :completion company module exposes. It lets you register company completion backends with certain major modes. For instance:

(set-company-backend! 'python-mode '(company-anaconda))

Common mistakes when configuring Doom Emacs

Having helped many users configure Doom, I’ve spotted a few recurring oversights that I will list here, in the hopes that it will help you avoid the same mistakes:

Packages are eagerly loaded

Using use-package! without a deferring keyword (one of: :defer :after :commands :defer-incrementally :after-call) will load the package immediately. This causes other packages to be pulled in and loaded, which will compromise many of Doom’s startup optimizations.

This is usually by accident. Choosing which keyword to use depends on the needs of the package, so there is no simple answer to this.

Manual package management

A lot of Emacs documentation and help will contain advice to install packages with package.el’s API (e.g. package-install) or with use-package’s :ensure keyword). You are free to do this, if it is your preference, but otherwise, Doom has its own package management system.

Migrating use-package code to Doom is usually a case of removing the :ensure keyword and adding a (package! PACKAGENAME) to ~/.doom.d/packages.el (and running doom sync to sync your config).

Using org-babel-do-load-languages to load your babel packages

You don’t need org-babel-do-load-languages. Doom lazy loads babel packages based on the language name in #+BEGIN_SRC blocks needed. As long as the babel plugin is installed and the plugin is named after its language (e.g. #+BEGIN_SRC rust will load ob-rust), you don’t need to do anything else.

There may be some special cases, however. Doom tries to handle a couple of them (e.g. with ob-jupyter, ob-ipython and ob-async). If you are experiencing errors while trying to use a certain language in org src blocks, check out the :lang org module documentation for details on how to add support for it.

Using delete-trailing-whitespaces or whitespace-cleanup to manage leftover whitespace

(add-hook 'after-save-hook #'delete-trailing-whitespace)
;; or
(add-hook 'after-save-hook #'whitespace-cleanup)

These two lines are a common sight in Emacs configs, but they are unnecessary for Doom Emacs. We already use the more sophisticated wsbutler to manage extraneous whitespace. However, you might have the impression that it isn’t working. That’s because wsbutler works in two unusual ways, meant to be less imposing than its alternatives:

  1. It only cleans up trailing whitespace on lines that you’ve touched (but always strips newlines at EOF).

    Why do this? Because I believe file-wide reformatting should be a deliberate act (and not blindly automated). If it is necessary, chances are you’re working on somebody else’s project – or with other people, but here, large scale whitespace changes could cause problems or simply be rude. We don’t endorse PRs that are 1% contribution and 99% whitespace!

    However, if it’s truly deliberate, M-x delete-trailing-whitespaces and M-x whitespace-cleanup are available to be called deliberately, instead.

  2. wsbutler replaces trailing whitespace and newlines with virtual whitespace. This is whitespace that only exists in the Emacs buffer, but isn’t actually written to the file.

    Why do this? Because you might have wanted to use that space for something in your current editing session, and it would be inconvenient for the editor to delete it before you got to it.

    If you use it, it’s there. If you don’t, it isn’t written to the file.

Troubleshoot

When problems arise, you should be prepared to collect information in order to solve them, or for the bug report you’re about to write. Both Emacs and Doom provide tools to make this easier. Here are a few things you can try, first:

  • Investigate the *Messages* log for warnings or error messages. This log can be opened with SPC h e, C-h e or M-x view-echo-area-messages.
  • Look up errors/warnings on the FAQ and Doom’s issue tracker. It is possible that a solution for your issue already exists. The FAQ can be searched from inside Doom with SPC h d f (or C-h d f for non-evil users).
  • Run bin/doom doctor on the command line to diagnose common issues with your environment and config. It will suggest solutions for them as well.
  • bin/doom clean will ensure the problem isn’t stale bytecode in your private config or Doom core. If you haven’t used bin/doom compile, there’s no need to do this.
  • bin/doom sync will ensure the problem isn’t missing packages or outdated autoloads files
  • bin/doom build will ensure the problem isn’t stale package bytecode or broken symlinks.
  • bin/doom update will ensure that your packages are up-to-date, eliminating issues that originate from upstream.
  • If you happen to know what module(s) are relevant to your issue, check their documentation (press <leader> h m to jump to a module’s documentation). Your issue may be documented.
  • If possible, see if the issue can be reproduced in vanilla Emacs (Emacs without Doom) and/or vanilla Doom (Doom without your private config). Doom’s sandbox can help you check.
  • Ask for help on our Discord server. It is the quickest way to get help, sometimes straight from Doom’s maintainer, who is very active there.

If none of these things have helped you, then it’s time to open a bug report. See ”Reporting Issues” in the contributing guidelines on how to file an effective bug report.

Looking up documentation and state from within Emacs

…

Variables, functions, faces, etc.

Emacs is a Lisp interpreter whose state you can access on-the-fly with tools provided to you by Emacs itself. They’re available on the SPC h prefix by default. Use them to debug your sessions.

Here are some of the more important ones:

  • describe-variable (SPC h v)
  • describe-function (SPC h f)
  • describe-face (SPC h F)
  • describe-bindings (SPC h b)
  • describe-key (SPC h k)
  • describe-char (SPC h ')
  • find-library (SPC h P)

You can also evaluate code with eval-expression (M-; or SPC ;).

For Doom Modules, packages, autodefs, etc.

doom/open-news (SPC h n)
…
doom/open-manual (SPC h D)
…
doom/describe-module (SPC h d)
Jumps to a module’s documentation.
doom/describe-autodefs (SPC h A)
Jumps to the documentation for an autodef function/macro. These are special functions that are always defined, whether or not their containing modules are enabled.
doom/describe-package (SPC h p)
Look up packages that are installed, by whom (what modules) and where jump to all the places it is being configured.
doom/info
…

How to extract a backtrace from an error

If you encounter an error while using Doom Emacs, you’re probably about to head off and file a bug report (or request help on our Discord server). Before you do, please generate a backtrace to include with it.

To do so you must enable debug-on-error then recreate the error.

Enabling debug-on-error

There are three ways to enable debug-on-error:

  1. Start Emacs with emacs --debug-init. Use this for errors that occur at startup.
  2. Evil users can press SPC h d d and non-evil users can press C-h d d.
  3. If the above don’t work, there’s always: M-x toggle-debug-on-error

Now that debug-on-error is on, recreate the error. A window should pop up with a backtrace.

A backtrace from bin/doom

If the error you’ve encountered is emitted from bin/doom, you can re-run the same command with the -d or --debug switches to force it to emit a backtrace when an error occurs. The DEBUG environment variable will work to.

doom -d sync
doom --debug install
DEBUG=1 doom update

Note: switch order is important. -d / --debug must come right after doom and before the subcommand. This will be fixed eventually.

Evaluating Elisp on-the-fly

Often, you may find it helpful for debugging to evaluate some Emacs Lisp. Here are couple things you can do:

  • Use M-; (bound to eval-expression),
  • SPC x will open a scratch buffer. M-x emacs-lisp-mode will change it to the appropriate major mode, then use +eval:region (gr) and +eval:buffer (gR) to evaluate code,

How to determine the origin of a bug

Testing in Doom’s sandbox

“The sandbox” is one of Doom Emacs’ features; it is a test bed for running elisp in a fresh instance of Emacs with varying amounts of Doom loaded (none at all, all of it, or somewhere in between). This can be helpful for isolating bugs to determine who you should report a bug to.

If you can recreate a bug in vanilla Emacs than it should be reported to the developers of the relevant packages or, perhaps, the Emacs devs themselves.

Otherwise, it is best to bring it up on the Doom Emacs issue list, rather than confusing and inundating the Emacs community with Doom-specific issues.

Opening the sandbox

There are three common ways to access the sandbox:

  • SPC h E (for evil users)
  • C-h E (for non-evil users)
  • M-x doom/sandbox

Doing any of the above will pop up a *doom:sandbox* window. What you enter into this buffer will be executed in the new instance of Emacs when you decide to launch it.

Launching the sandbox

You have four options when it comes to launching the sandbox:

C-c C-c
This launches “vanilla Emacs”. Vanilla means nothing is loaded; purely Emacs and nothing else. If you can reproduce an error here, then the issue likely lies in the plugin(s) you are testing or in Emacs itself.
C-c C-d
This launches “vanilla Doom”, which is vanilla Emacs plus Doom’s core. This does not load your private config, nor any of Doom’s (or your) modules.
C-c C-p
This launches “vanilla Doom+”. That is, Doom core plus the modules that you have specified in the doom! block of your private config (in ~/.doom.d/init.el). This does not load your private config, however.
C-c C-f
This launches “full Doom”. It loads Doom’s core, your enabled modules, and your private config. This instance should be identical to the instance you launched it from.

All new instances will inherit your load-path so you can access any packages you have installed.

Testing packages in the sandbox

Instances of Emacs launched from the sandbox have inherited your load-path. This means you can load packages – even in Vanilla Emacs – without worrying about installing or setting them up. Just (require PACKAGE) and launch the sandbox. e.g.

(require 'magit)
(find-file "~/some/file/in/a/repo")
(call-interactively #'magit-status)

Bisecting your private config

Bisecting Doom Emacs