Maxime HEBRARD

Posted on Jul 23, 2022 • Edited on Jul 27, 2022

Improved Shell (MacOS)

#macos #zsh #setup #terminal

MacOS comes with a default terminal, but it might be convenient to customized it to improve user experience.

Homebrew

Homebrew is a package manager for MacOS, we will use it to install all the software on Mac.

Open the web browser
Visite homebrew
Follow install instructions...

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

Proceed with installation
Follow instructions to add homebrew to your PATH

echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> /Users/hebrardms/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

To install software using homebrew:

Open the web browser
Visite homebrew
Search for the software
Copy the recipe
Open 'Terminal'
Paste the recipe and run the command.
Follow installation instructions...

Git

Git is a version control software. It is also wildely use to distribure software.

Open 'Terminal'
Install git from homebrew

brew install git

Check git version

git --version
# git version 2.30.1 (Apple Git-130)

Fonts

We will change the default font of the terminal in preparation for the theme we will install later.

Open the web browser
Visit powerlevel10K - Fonts
Install the recommended fonts (MenloLGS)
- Download the font files from the github links
- Open Font Book
- Click on '+' icon
- Select the MesloLGS files
- Click 'Open'

Color theme

Default terminal colors can be inappropriate. They do not play well with the theme we will install later.

Open the web browser
Visit tomorrow theme
Download the theme for 'OS X Terminal'
Open 'Terminal'
Navigate to the menu 'Terminal / Preferences...'
Navigate to the tab 'Profiles'
Below the list of profiles, click on '...'
Select 'Import...'
Select Tomorrow Night.terminal file
Click on 'Open'
In the list of profiles, select 'Tomorrow Night'
Click on 'Default'
Change font to 'Menlo LGS NF'

Oh My Zsh

MacOS come with a minimal terminal. In this section, we will configure the terminal to add some features and style using Oh My ZSH and the theme Powerlevel10k.

Open the web browser
Visite Oh My Zsh
Follow Install instructions...

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Powerlevel10K

Theme that add useful infomation right in the prompt.

Open the web browser
Visite powerlevel10k
Follow Powerlevel install instructions...

git clone --depth=1 https://gitee.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

Install zsh-autosuggestions plugin that provides autocompletion based on our previous commands

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

Install exa a modern replacement for ls.

brew install exa

Edit .zshrc to enable powerlevel theme

vim .zshrc

Press 'i' to enter insert mode
Uncomment options and edit file as follow...

# ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"
ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

DISABLE_MAGIC_FUNCTIONS="true"

DISABLE_LS_COLORS="true"

ENABLE_CORRECTION="true"

COMPLETION_WAITING_DOTS="true"

DISABLE_UNTRACKED_FILES_DIRTY="true"

plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions)

# Alias of ls using exa
if [ -x "$(command -v exa)" ]; then
    alias ls="exa --icons"
    alias ll="exa --icons --long"
    alias la="exa --icons --long --all --group"
    alias lt="exa --icons --long --all --group --git --tree"
fi

Press 'esc' to exit insert mode
Press ':' and 'x' end 'return' to save and quit the file
Update Terminal

source .zshrc

Follow instructions to customise the prompt

Check Config

Install neofetch from homebrew

brew install neofetch

Check config

neofetch

Next, I suggest you follow Environment Manager - Conda.

Top comments (3)

Ben Sinclair • Jul 23 '22

Oh My Zsh is an alternative to the default shell

I'm being picky, perhaps, but Oh My Zsh isn't a shell, zsh is... and zsh has been the default shell on Macs for a while because Apple doesn't want to use copyleft software.

I bring this up because there are a ton of articles which say the same thing, and it's misleading for new users, who are already going to be confused between the terminal, the shell, the command prompt, etc.