[aslatter]

I didn't invent this, but I have a headless "config" checkout, and have a git-alias which sets my home-directory as the work-tree:

   git init --bare $HOME/.config/repo
   alias config='/usr/bin/git --git-dir=$HOME/.config/repo --work-tree=$HOME'
   config config --local status.showUntrackedFiles no

Then I can do things like "config add", "config commit", and "config push".