● fish

382 2026-08-14 note ♑︎

fish (Friendly Interactive Shell) is a smart and user-friendly command line shell for macOS, Linux, and other Unix-like systems. It features syntax highlighting, autosuggestions, and tab completions that work out of the box.

Installation

brew install fish

Key Features

• Syntax highlighting as you type
• Autosuggestions based on history
• Intelligent tab completions
• Clean scripting syntax
• Universal variables for persistence

Configuration

Configuration lives in ~/.config/fish/config.fish. For detailed setup and customization, see fish Configurationfish configuration lives in ~/.config/fish/config.fish. Unlike bash/zsh, fish doesn't use . for sourcing files—use source instead. Setup Set fish as your default shell: bash Add fish to /etc/shells echo /opt/homebrew/bin/fish | sudo tee -a /etc/shells Set as default shell chsh….

Commands

For navigation, history, variables, and built-in functions, see fish Commandsfish provides intuitive commands for navigation, history, and variable management. Navigation bash Directory navigation cd # Change directory cd .. # Parent directory cd - # Previous directory pushd . # Push directory to stack popd # Pop directory from….

Scripting

fish scripting is cleaner than bash with modern syntax. For scripting details, see fish Scriptingfish scripting is cleaner and more readable than bash, with modern syntax and better error handling. Script Structure fish #!/usr/bin/env fish Comments start with # echo "Hello, world!" Variables fish Set variables set name "World" Use variables echo "Hello, $name"….

Integration

fish integrates well with modern tools:

• starshipstarship is a minimal, fast, and customizable prompt for any shell. It's written in Rust and provides informative prompts while staying extremely fast. starship works with fish, bash, zsh, and other shells. Installation bash brew install starship Setup Add to… for prompts
• kittykitty is a fast, feature-rich, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator. It's written in C and uses OpenGL for rendering, making it significantly faster than traditional terminal emulators while supporting modern features like tabs, split windows, and keyboard-driven operation. Installation bash brew install… for terminal integration
• Fisher for plugin management

fish provides a modern, user-friendly shell experience with powerful features out of the box, making it an excellent choice for both beginners and advanced users who want a more intuitive command line experience.

Resources

• Official Website - Main fish shell website
• Documentation - Complete documentation
• Tutorial - Interactive tutorial
• GitHub Repository - Source code and development
• Interactive Use - Interactive shell features