Modern Terminal Setup (2026)

A blazing-fast, beautiful terminal configuration optimized for developer productivity — managed with chezmoi for one-command rampup on a new machine. See New Machine Setup below.

⚡ Performance

• Startup time: ~0.6s (down from 3.4s with Oh-My-Zsh!)
• Instant prompt: ~50ms perceived startup
• Optimizations: Lazy-loading for nvm/rbenv/jenv, cached completions, minimal plugins

🎨 Stack

• Terminal: Ghostty - Fast, native terminal
• Multiplexer: cmux - Terminal/agent workspace manager
• Shell: Zsh (vanilla, no Oh-My-Zsh framework)
• Prompt: Starship - Fast, customizable prompt
• Theme: Gruvbox Dark with Nerd Font icons
• Font: MesloLGS Nerd Font Mono
• Dotfile manager: chezmoi - this repo IS the chezmoi source directory

🚀 New Machine Setup (fastest rampup)

This repo doubles as the chezmoi source directory — it's not copy-pasted, it's applied.

1. Homebrew + chezmoi

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew install chezmoi

2. Pull down and apply every managed dotfile in one shot

chezmoi init --apply pstember/boot

This clones the repo to ~/.local/share/chezmoi and writes:

• ~/.zshrc
• ~/.config/ghostty/config
• ~/.config/starship.toml
• ~/.config/cmux/cmux.json (written 600)

README.md, Brewfile, and the screenshots folder are reference-only (.chezmoiignore) — they never get written into $HOME.

3. Install every tool this setup depends on

brew bundle --file ~/.local/share/chezmoi/Brewfile

This is a curated list (top-level installs only — dependencies resolve automatically), so it won't clutter the new machine with the ~90 transitive packages brew bundle dump would otherwise include.

4. Recreate local-only secrets

.zshrc sources ~/.zsh_secrets if present, which is never committed (this repo is public). These are workplace/context-specific tokens that don't belong in a generic public dotfiles repo and won't come to a new machine by default — recreate only what that machine actually needs:

umask 077
touch ~/.zsh_secrets
chmod 600 ~/.zsh_secrets
# then add whatever export lines this machine needs

5. Reload

source ~/.zshrc

That's it — five commands, no manual file copying, no guessing which dotfile goes where.

🔁 Keeping in sync afterward

Source of truth lives at ~/.local/share/chezmoi (this repo, cloned). Day to day:

# after editing a live config file (e.g. ~/.zshrc):
chezmoi add ~/.zshrc
cd ~/.local/share/chezmoi && git commit -am "update zshrc" && git push

# to pull changes made from another machine:
chezmoi update        # git pull + apply in one step

# to refresh the Brewfile after installing something new:
cd ~/.local/share/chezmoi && brew bundle dump --file=Brewfile --force
# then hand-filter: `brew leaves` is the top-level formula list; drop anything
# that's just a dependency before committing, to keep the file lean.

Never run chezmoi add ~/.zshrc blindly without checking for secrets first — this repo is public. Run a secrets scanner (gitleaks, trufflehog, or equivalent) over the diff before committing.

🔧 Configuration Details

Modern CLI Replacements

The setup includes modern alternatives to standard commands:

Old	New	Description
ls	eza	Better file listing with icons
cat	bat	Syntax highlighting & line numbers
grep	rg	Blazing fast search
find	fd	Fast, user-friendly file finder
cd	zoxide	Smart directory jumping (frecency-based)
top	bpytop	Beautiful resource monitor
ping	prettyping	Colorful ping with statistics
diff	delta	Beautiful git diffs

Key Features

Fuzzy Finding (fzf):

• Ctrl+R - Search command history
• Ctrl+T - Search files with preview
• Alt+C - Navigate directories with preview

Smart Navigation:

• cd <partial-path> - Jump to frequently used directories (zoxide)
• .3, .4, .5 - Quick parent directory navigation

Lazy Loading:

• nvm, rbenv, and jenv load on-demand (~800ms faster startup)

Useful Aliases:

• ll - Detailed file listing
• la - Long listing with git status
• lt - Tree view (2 levels)
• gst - Git status
• src - Reload shell config

Custom Functions

mcd <dir>        # Create directory and cd into it
extract <file>   # Extract any archive type
trash <file>     # Move to macOS trash instead of rm
copypath         # Copy current path to clipboard
copyfile <file>  # Copy file contents to clipboard

🎯 Performance Optimizations

Lazy Loading

Heavy tools load only when needed:

• nvm - Loads on first nvm, node, npm, or npx call
• rbenv - Loads on first rbenv call
• jenv - Loads on first jenv call
• thefuck - Run enable-thefuck to activate

Completion Caching

Zsh completion cache refreshes only once per day, saving ~200ms on startup.

Minimal Plugins

No Oh-My-Zsh framework overhead. Only essential plugins:

• zsh-syntax-highlighting (command validation)
• zsh-autosuggestions (history-based suggestions)

Initialization Order

IMPORTANT: The .zshrc file follows a specific initialization order to prevent conflicts:

1. All environment variables, paths, and aliases load first
2. zoxide initializes near the end (before Starship)
3. Starship prompt initializes last (must be final)

This order is critical for zoxide to function correctly. If you modify .zshrc and see a zoxide configuration warning, ensure eval "$(zoxide init zsh --cmd cd)" appears just before the Starship initialization at the end of the file.

📁 Repository Structure

Chezmoi's naming convention: dot_ → ., private_ → mode 600.

.
├── dot_zshrc                       # → ~/.zshrc
├── dot_config/
│   ├── ghostty/
│   │   └── config                  # → ~/.config/ghostty/config
│   ├── starship.toml               # → ~/.config/starship.toml (Gruvbox theme)
│   └── cmux/
│       └── private_cmux.json       # → ~/.config/cmux/cmux.json (mode 600)
├── Brewfile                        # curated top-level brew formulae/casks — repo-only, ignored on apply
├── .chezmoiignore                  # keeps README/Brewfile/screenshots out of $HOME
└── README.md                       # this file

Not chezmoi-managed (legacy, pre-dating this setup, harmless dead weight since chezmoi ignores dot-prefixed source entries): .bash_profile, .wezterm.lua, .gitconfig (placeholder, never the real one), .config/ghostty, .config/starship.toml, .zshrc at repo root. Safe to delete manually if you want a tidier tree.

🎨 Customization

Change Prompt Theme

Edit ~/.config/starship.toml or browse Starship presets.

Change Terminal Colors

Edit ~/.config/ghostty/config to change theme or adjust font size.

Add More Aliases

Add custom aliases to the "MAKE TERMINAL BETTER" section in .zshrc.