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Have chezmoi create a directory, but ignore its contents

For directories like ~/src where you want the directory created but not its contents managed:
1

Create the directory in source state

mkdir -p $(chezmoi source-path)/src
chezmoi will create this directory when you run chezmoi apply.
2

Add a .keep file

touch $(chezmoi source-path)/src/.keep
This ensures git tracks the directory while chezmoi ignores the .keep file.
chezmoi automatically creates .keep files when you add an empty directory with chezmoi add.

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Ensure that a target is removed

Create a .chezmoiremove file in the source directory with patterns of files to remove: 
# Remove old config files
.oldconfig
*.backup

# Machine-specific removals
{{- if eq .chezmoi.hostname "work-laptop" }}
.personal-scripts
{{- end }}
Always preview with --dry-run first. .chezmoiremove is a template, so you can remove different files on different machines. Negative matches (prefixed with !) and targets in .chezmoiignore will never be removed.

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Manage part, but not all, of a file

chezmoi provides two approaches for managing partial file contents:
A modify_ script receives the current file content on stdin and outputs the modified content:
#!/bin/sh
# Replace 'old' with 'new' in the file
sed 's/old/new/g'
If the file doesn’t exist, stdin will be empty and the script must write a complete file to stdout.

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Manage a file’s permissions, but not its contents

Use the create_ attribute to manage permissions without changing file contents:
Create an empty file with the desired attributes:
# Ensures ~/.kube/config has 0600 permissions
touch $(chezmoi source-path)/dot_kube/private_config
chezmoi will apply permission changes from private_, executable_, and readonly_ attributes without modifying contents.
This approach creates the file if it doesn’t exist.

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Handle configuration files which are externally modified

Some programs modify their own config files. To track these changes, use symlinks:
1

Copy config to source directory

cp ~/.config/Code/User/settings.json $(chezmoi source-path)
2

Tell chezmoi to ignore this file

echo settings.json >> $(chezmoi source-path)/.chezmoiignore
3

Create a symlink to the source file

mkdir -p $(chezmoi source-path)/private_dot_config/private_Code/User
echo -n "{{ .chezmoi.sourceDir }}/settings.json" > $(chezmoi source-path)/private_dot_config/private_Code/User/symlink_settings.json.tmpl
The private_ prefix is used because ~/.config and ~/.config/Code are private by default.
4

Apply the changes

chezmoi apply -v
Now when the program modifies its config, it modifies the file in your source state.

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Populate ~/.ssh/authorized_keys with your public SSH keys from GitHub

chezmoi can retrieve public SSH keys from GitHub:
~/.local/share/chezmoi/dot_ssh/authorized_keys.tmpl
{{ range gitHubKeys "$GITHUB_USERNAME" -}}
{{   .Key }}
{{ end -}}
This will populate ~/.ssh/authorized_keys with all public keys from your GitHub account.
You can use similar template functions for other services like gitLabKeys and gitHubLatestRelease.

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