Change to Fish

MacOS Terminal, usually zsh, looks ugly and boring. The solution: Switch to Fish

Switching from Zsh to Fish Shell on macOS: A Step-by-Step Guide

Zsh (Z Shell) is the default shell on macOS, but some users prefer Fish (Friendly Interactive Shell) for its simplicity, user-friendly features and intuitive scripting capabilities. If you’re considering making the switch from Zsh to Fish on macOS, this guide will walk you through the process.

Step 1: Install Homebrew

Before installing Fish, you need to have Homebrew installed. If you haven’t installed it yet, run the following command in your terminal:

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

Once the installation is complete, verify that Homebrew is installed by running:

brew --version

Step 2: Install Fish Using Homebrew

With Homebrew installed, you can install Fish by running:

brew install fish

Once installed, confirm the installation with:

fish --version

Step 3: Set Fish as Your Default Shell

To make Fish your default shell, first add it to the list of valid shells:

echo "/opt/homebrew/bin/fish" | sudo tee -a /etc/shells

Then, change your default shell:

chsh -s /opt/homebrew/bin/fish

Restart your terminal or log out and back in to apply the changes.

Step 4: Customize Fish with fish_config

Fish provides an interactive web-based configuration tool that allows you to easily customize your prompt, functions, and colors. Simply run:

fish_config

This will open a browser window where you can tweak your settings interactively.

Now that Fish is your default shell, you can enjoy its powerful features. If you ever need to revert to Zsh, you can switch back using:

chsh -s /bin/zsh

For more information, check out the official Fish shell documentation: https://fishshell.com/