Terminal Setup

A curated one-command macOS terminal setup for zsh and the native Terminal.app. Installs a fast, modern shell environment with sensible defaults — optimized for speed and AI coding agents.

While it includes an optional Terminal.app dark theme profile, the shell configuration works in any terminal emulator — iTerm2, Ghostty, Alacritty, Kitty, WezTerm, VS Code integrated terminal, etc. The zsh config, prompt, and plugins are terminal-agnostic.

Quick Start

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dmythro/terminal-setup/main/setup-terminal.sh | bash

To undo everything:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dmythro/terminal-setup/main/reset-terminal.sh | bash

Features

• Fuzzy search for history, files, and directories (fzf)
• Fish-like autosuggestions and syntax highlighting
• Extended tab completions for hundreds of tools
• Prefix history search — type a command then press ↑
• 50K command history with deduplication and cross-session sharing
• Fast cross-shell prompt with git info and exec time (Starship)
• macOS-native word jumping and deletion (Option+Arrow, Option+Delete)
• Multiline command editing with Option+Enter
• Optional: tmux with mouse support, split panes, and clipboard integration
• Optional: dev tools — gh, bun, ripgrep, fd, zoxide, delta
• Optional: Terminal.app dark theme profile
• macOS 26 Tahoe true color support

What You Get

Core (always installed)

Package	What it does
Homebrew	macOS package manager (installed if missing)
fzf	Fuzzy finder — Ctrl+R for history, Ctrl+T for files
zsh-autosuggestions	Fish-like ghost text suggestions from history
zsh-syntax-highlighting	Commands turn green/red as you type
zsh-completions	Extended tab completions for hundreds of tools
Starship	Fast cross-shell prompt — git branch, status, language versions, exec time

Plus a hand-tuned ~/.zshrc with:

• 50K command history with deduplication and cross-session sharing
• Smart terminal tab titles showing current directory and command
• Aliases: ll, gs, gl, gd, .., ...

Optional — tmux

Package	What it does
tmux	Terminal multiplexer — split panes, persistent sessions, tabs

Includes a mouse-friendly ~/.tmux.conf:

• Auto-starts per terminal session (toggle with USE_TMUX=false in ~/.zshrc)
• Mouse support: drag to select and copy, drag borders to resize, scroll to browse
• 50K scrollback, true color support, no escape delay
• See Keyboard Shortcuts for keybindings

Optional — Dev Tools

Package	What it does
gh	GitHub CLI — PRs, issues, repos from the terminal
bun	Fast JS/TS runtime, bundler, and package manager
ripgrep (rg)	Fast recursive search (also powers fzf file search)
fd	Fast find alternative (also powers fzf directory search)
zoxide (z)	Smart cd — learns your frequent directories
delta	Beautiful git diff with syntax highlighting and line numbers

Optional — AI Coding Agents

The setup includes an optional section for installing AI coding agent CLIs via Homebrew. Each agent is offered individually so you can pick the ones you use.

Agent	Install	Open Source	Provider
OpenCode	brew install opencode	Yes (MIT)	Independent
Claude Code	brew install --cask claude-code	No	Anthropic
Codex	brew install --cask codex	Yes (Apache 2.0)	OpenAI
Gemini CLI	brew install gemini-cli	Yes (Apache 2.0)	Google
Aider	brew install aider	Yes (Apache 2.0)	Independent

Each agent requires its own API key or login. See the respective docs for setup.

Optional — Terminal.app Profile

A dark theme profile (Dmythro.terminal) imported directly into Terminal.app:

• Dark background, MonaspiceNe NFM 14pt, 120x36 window
• Set as default profile on import
• Use Option as Meta key pre-configured in the plist (may need manual toggle — the script will remind you)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shell (with or without tmux)

These are zsh-level bindings — they work in any terminal, with or without tmux.

Key	Action
Ctrl+R	Fuzzy search history (fzf)
Ctrl+T	Fuzzy find files (fzf)
Alt+C	Fuzzy find and cd into directory (fzf)
↑ / ↓	Prefix history search (type first, then arrow)
→	Accept autosuggestion
Tab	Menu-driven completion
Ctrl+A / Ctrl+E	Beginning / end of line
Ctrl+W	Delete word backward
Ctrl+U	Delete to start of line
Option+← / Option+→	Jump word backward / forward
Option+Delete	Delete word forward (stops at / . -)
Option+Backspace	Delete word backward
Option+Shift+Backspace	Delete to start of line
Option+Enter	Insert literal newline (multiline editing)

Requires Use Option as Meta Key enabled in Terminal.app (Settings > Profiles > Keyboard). The included terminal profile has this pre-configured.

tmux (Prefix = Ctrl+B)

These only work inside a tmux session. For the full list of default tmux keys, see tmuxcheatsheet.com.

Key	Action
Prefix + |	Split pane vertically
Prefix + -	Split pane horizontally
Prefix + h/j/k/l	Navigate panes (left/down/up/right)
Prefix + H/J/K/L	Resize panes by 5 (repeatable)
Prefix + c	New window (keeps current path)
Prefix + n / p	Next / previous window
Prefix + z	Zoom/unzoom pane
Prefix + x	Close pane
Ctrl+K	Clear current pane — reset screen, wipe scrollback, redraw prompt

Arrow keys are intentionally unbound in tmux to avoid conflicts with Option+Arrow word jumping in zsh.

Clipboard

Context	How to copy
tmux	Mouse drag to select — automatically copied to macOS clipboard on release. Or Prefix + [ to enter copy mode, select text, press Enter or y to copy.
Terminal.app	Native selection with Cmd+C to copy (standard macOS behavior)

AI Coding Agents Comparison

A brief comparison to help you choose. All are terminal-based agents that can edit files, run commands, and work with your codebase.

	OpenCode	Claude Code	Codex	Gemini CLI	Aider
Default model	Multi-model	Claude Sonnet	GPT-4.1	Gemini 2.5 Pro	Multi-model
Multi-model support	10+ models	Claude family	OpenAI family	Gemini family	30+ models
Agentic (edits + runs)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Git integration	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MCP support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Open source	Yes (MIT)	No	Yes (Apache 2.0)	Yes (Apache 2.0)	Yes (Apache 2.0)
Pricing	API usage	API usage	API usage	Free tier + API	API usage

Last updated: February 2026. Agent capabilities evolve quickly — check the official docs for current features.

macOS 26 Tahoe

macOS 26 (Tahoe) introduced the first major Terminal.app update in 24 years:

• 24-bit true color — colors render exactly as specified (no more 256-color approximation)
• Powerline font support — Starship and other prompt tools can display icons and glyphs natively
• Liquid Glass themes — new built-in visual design

This setup automatically detects macOS 26+ and enables COLORTERM=truecolor for full color support. The tmux config uses tmux-256color with true color overrides.

Check your version: Apple menu > About This Mac, or run sw_vers -productVersion in Terminal. macOS 26.3 is the current stable release (February 2026).

Nerd Fonts

To get the most out of Starship's icons and glyphs on macOS 26, use a Nerd Font — a regular coding font patched with thousands of extra glyphs (file icons, git symbols, language logos). The fonts below all support programming ligatures and are available via Homebrew:

Note: Terminal.app on macOS 26 only renders calt (contextual alternates) — it does not support liga/dlig ligatures. For full ligature rendering, use iTerm2, Kitty, or WezTerm.

Font	By	Ligatures	Box Drawing	Install
Geist Mono	Vercel	Yes (SS11)	Partial	brew install --cask font-geist-mono-nerd-font
Cascadia Code	Microsoft	Yes	Complete	brew install --cask font-caskaydia-mono-nerd-font
Monaspace	GitHub	Yes	Complete	brew install --cask font-monaspice-nerd-font
Iosevka	Belleve Invis	Yes	Complete	brew install --cask font-iosevka-nerd-font

Geist Mono — ligatures are off by default; enable Stylistic Set 11 (SS11) in your terminal's font settings. Box drawing characters were added in v1.5.0 but some intersections are missing (e.g. ├), causing fallback to the system font — TUI apps with tables (lazygit, btop, opencode) may show gaps at those points. Cascadia Code and Monaspace have complete box drawing and render gapless tables.

Monaspace — 5 variants (Neon, Argon, Xenon, Radon, Krypton) with "texture healing" for readability and variable weight support.

Iosevka — extremely narrow and customizable, good for small screens and split panes.

After installing, set the font in Terminal.app: Settings > Profiles > Font > Change.

Preview and compare fonts at programmingfonts.org.

Why This Setup

Setting up a productive terminal on a fresh Mac takes time. This script does it in one command with interactive prompts — no frameworks, no plugin managers, no bloat. Just Homebrew packages and plain config files.

The zsh configuration is optimized for working with AI coding agents:

• Option+Enter inserts a literal newline for multiline command editing
• Large scrollback (50K lines in both zsh and tmux) for reviewing agent output
• Fast prompt (Starship is written in Rust) that doesn't slow down rapid command execution
• ripgrep + fd integration for agents that rely on fast file search
• zoxide for quick directory jumping across project repos
• delta for readable diffs when reviewing agent-generated changes
• tmux for persistent sessions that survive disconnects

Files

File	Purpose
setup-terminal.sh	Interactive setup — installs packages, writes configs
reset-terminal.sh	Interactive reset — removes configs, optionally uninstalls packages
Dmythro.terminal	Terminal.app profile plist (dark theme)
AGENTS.md	Instructions for AI coding agents working on this repo

Reset

The reset script interactively undoes everything:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dmythro/terminal-setup/main/reset-terminal.sh | bash

• Replaces ~/.zshrc with a minimal version (keeps Homebrew and ~/.local/bin paths)
• Removes ~/.tmux.conf and ~/.config/starship.toml
• Optionally resets Terminal.app profile to Basic
• Optionally uninstalls all Homebrew packages added by the setup

Roadmap

• Interactive TUI installer via npx / bunx (checkboxes, step previews, config presets)
• Profile presets (minimal, full, agent-focused)
• Linux support
• Dotfile backup before overwriting

License

MIT