Layering mise on daft

Starting state

A team running daft alone. The daft.yml handles install, services, and cleanup; tool versions are managed externally — devs use system Node and Python from Homebrew, or whatever single-language manager they happen to have (one team member uses nvm, another rbenv, a third does nothing and runs whatever node --version returns).

# daft.yml — abridged
hooks:
  worktree-post-create:
    jobs:
      - name: install-deps
        run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
      - name: services-up
        run: docker compose up -d --wait
        needs: [install-deps]

The README has a "Required versions" line ("Node 22, Python 3.13") that the team ignores half the time. Bugs that "only repro on Alex's machine" have started turning out to be Node 22 vs 20 mismatches.

The reach for daft + mise: pin tool versions declaratively in one file that activates on cd, so "what version of Node does this project use" becomes a non-question.

What changes

A new mise.toml at the root pins tools and (optionally) exports non-secret env defaults. Each dev installs mise once and adds shell activation. mise's activation switches versions on cd; the daft hook inherits the parent shell's PATH, so binaries like pnpm resolve to the pinned versions.

daft.yml doesn't strictly need to change. Adding mise install as the first job is a small upgrade: missing versions install eagerly on worktree create rather than prompting on the user's first cd.

Recipe

Three things land.

1. mise.toml at the repo root:

# mise.toml
[tools]
node = "22"
python = "3.13"

2. mise installed and activated in each dev's shell rc (one-time, per dev):

brew install mise
echo 'eval "$(mise activate zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc

(Or the bash / fish equivalent.)

3. (Optional) prepend mise install to daft.yml so missing versions install eagerly on worktree create:

# daft.yml — prepend to worktree-post-create
- name: install-tool-versions
  run: mise install

- name: install-deps
  run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
  needs: [install-tool-versions]

A fresh daft start feature/x now lands in a worktree where node and python resolve to the pinned versions. Existing daft hooks consume them transparently. The README's "Required versions" line goes away — mise.toml is the source of truth.

Variants

By what mise covers in the new setup.

Just tool versions ([tools] only)

The minimal Recipe. mise pins versions; nothing else. Non-secret env defaults stay in your shell rc or in a .env you load some other way.

Tools + non-secret env defaults ([tools] + [env])

Add an [env] block for committed defaults:

# mise.toml
[tools]
node = "22"
python = "3.13"

[env]
NODE_ENV = "development"
LOG_LEVEL = "debug"
DATABASE_URL = "postgres://localhost/myapp_dev"

mise activates these on cd. Because mise.toml is committed, only non-secret values belong here — placeholders, log levels, development-environment URLs.

Tools + env + dotenv (_.file = ".env")

For real per-dev secrets, point mise at a gitignored .env:

# mise.toml
[env]
_.file = ".env"
NODE_ENV = "development"

Each dev fills in their own .env; mise loads it on cd alongside the committed [env] defaults.

Idempotency & safety

mise activation and mise install are both idempotent — re-running either is a near-no-op when state is already correct.

Don't put real secrets in mise.toml

mise.toml is committed. Anything in [env] ships to the repo and into git history. Use _.file = ".env" (with .env gitignored) or a vault fetch pattern. See Env vars & secrets.

Where to next

• Adopting from mise — the steady-state recipe for daft + mise teams (which you now are).
• Declarative envs — deeper on mise's [tools] / [env] / [tasks] semantics.
• Layering direnv on daft — the alternative if you'd rather have direnv than mise.