Ghostty, Nushell, & Starship Configuration

Configuration for Ghostty terminal, Nushell shell, and Starship prompt.

🚀 Features

• Nushell: Modern shell with structured data pipelines
• Ghostty: Fast, native, feature-rich terminal emulator
• Starship: Minimal, blazing-fast, customizable prompt
• CLI Tools: bat, fd, fzf, ripgrep, zoxide integration
• Interactive Navigation: FZF-powered file/directory browsing with previews
• Aliases: Organized by category (defaults, git, docker)
• Keybindings: Efficient keyboard shortcuts for common tasks
• Clean Structure: Modular configuration files for easy maintenance
• Catppuccin Mocha Theme: My favorite color scheme

📋 Prerequisites

Install these tools for full functionality:

# Core tools (required)
brew install nushell ghostty starship

# CLI tools
brew install bat fd fzf ripgrep zoxide

# Development Tools (optional; highly recommended)
brew install mise git-delta lazygit

# Editors - Neovim and Cursor
brew install neovim
# also install Cursor from https://cursor.sh

📁 File Structure

~/Library/Application Support/nushell/  (this repository)
├── README.md              # This file
├── .gitignore             # Git ignore patterns
│
├── config.nu              # Main Nushell config
├── env.nu                 # Environment variables
├── aliases_defaults.nu    # CLI tool aliases
├── aliases_git.nu         # Git-related aliases
├── aliases_docker.nu      # Docker-related aliases
├── navigation.nu          # FZF functions & keybindings
├── integrations.nu        # External tool loader
├── integrations_setup.sh  # Executable; auto-generates integrations directory
│
├── integrations/          # Auto-generated (gitignored)
│   ├── starship.nu        # Generated by: starship init nu
│   ├── zoxide.nu          # Generated by: zoxide init nushell
│   └── mise.nu            # Generated by: mise activate nu
│
├── ghostty/
│   └── config             # Ghostty terminal config
│
└── starship/
    ├── starship.toml      # Full Starship config (symlinked to ~/.config/)
    └── starship.toml.minimal  # Minimal Starship config (symlinked as starship.toml to ~/.config/)

Note: On Linux, this would be ~/.config/nushell/. Configs use $nu.default-config-dir which works on all platforms.

🔧 Installation - macOS

🍎 Primary Platform: These instructions are for macOS where this config is actively used and tested. While the Nushell configs themselves are cross-platform, the setup script may need adjustments for Linux/Windows. Contributions for other platforms are very welcome!

The following steps should be done in a bash/zsh shell using any terminal other than Ghostty.

Note: Ghostty will be configured in Step 3. For now, use Terminal.app, iTerm2, or another terminal emulator.

1. Backup existing configuration (Proceed to Step 2 if not existing)

# View config and back it up
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/nushell
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/nushell ~/Library/Application\ Support/nushell.backup

# You should see both nushell and nushell.backup
ls ~/Library/Application Support/

# Stop existing nu processes (if any) and delete nushell
killall nu
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/
rm -rf nushell # try sudo rm -rf nushell if permission denied

2. Clone this repository

<repo-url> e.g https://github.com/arvi/ghostinnu.git

git clone <repo-url> ~/Library/Application Support/nushell
cd ~/Library/Application Support/nushell
ls -la

3. Run integrations setup script

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/nushell

# Use nushell - ignore sourced_file_not_found - will be auto-generated by script below
nu

# Make sure script is executable then setup integrations directory and symlinks
chmod +x integrations_setup.sh
./integrations_setup.sh

4. Restart Nushell & Ghostty

# Restart nushell
# if not in nushell directory
    # nu
    # cd `~/Library/Application Support/nushell`
source config.nu

Close and reopen Ghostty terminal to apply all configurations.

Explore usage guide or quickly check core tools which ghostty nu starship.

🖥️ Editor Integration

Cursor (VS Code)

To use Nushell as your default terminal in Cursor and enable Alt keybindings:

1. Open Cursor Settings (Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Type and select "Open Settings (JSON)"
3. Add (or modify) the following configuration:

{
    // Set Nushell as default terminal
    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.osx": "nu",

    // Enable Alt keybindings
    "terminal.integrated.macOptionIsMeta": true, // or "left"q

    // Terminal profiles
    "terminal.integrated.profiles.osx": {
        "nu": {
            "path": "/opt/homebrew/bin/nu", // Use path from "which nu"
            "args": []
        },
        "bash": {
            "path": "/bin/bash"
        },
        "zsh": {
            "path": "/bin/zsh"
        }
    }
}

What this does:

• Sets Nushell as your default terminal in Cursor
• Left and right Options (⌥) key works as Alt for keybindings (Alt+C, Alt+Z, etc.)
• Keeps bash and zsh available as alternative profiles

Note: Restart Cursor after making these changes.

Neovim

If using Neovim inside Nushell, your shell configuration automatically applies. No additional setup needed!

📖 Usage Guide

Keybindings

Keybinding	Action	Use Case
Ctrl+R	Search command history	Find previously used commands
Ctrl+T	Insert file path	Build commands: git add <Ctrl+T>
Alt+C	Browse & change directory	Navigate to any folder recursively
Alt+Z	Jump to frequent directory	Quick access to often-used dirs

Power Functions (Type and press Enter)

Command	Description	Example
f	Browse files (returns path)	f → select → get filename
fv	Browse and open in nvim	fv → select → opens in nvim
fo	Browse and open with default app	fo → select → opens PDF/etc
fc	Browse and display contents	fc → select → shows with bat
rgf "pattern"	Search file contents (includes hidden)	rgf "TODO" → find in .eslintrc, etc.
rgfa "pattern"	Search everything (ignores .gitignore)	rgfa "API_KEY" → search node_modules too

Improved CLI Tools

Old	New	Description
cat	bat	Syntax highlighting, line numbers
find	fd	Faster, simpler, respects .gitignore
grep	rg	Ripgrep - much faster searching
cd	z	Zoxide - smart directory jumping

Quick Commands

# Navigation
..                    # Up one directory (zoxide)
...                   # Up two directories
-                     # Jump to previous directory
zz                    # Interactive directory jump

# File viewing
cat file.txt          # View with syntax highlighting (bat)
catl file.txt         # View without decorations
cata file.txt         # View with paging

# Finding files
fdf                   # Find files only
fdd                   # Find directories only
fda                   # Find all (including gitignored)

# Searching content
rg "pattern"          # Search in files
rgi "pattern"         # Case-insensitive search
rgl "pattern"         # Just show filenames
rga "pattern"         # Search all (including gitignored)

# Editors
v file.txt            # Open in nvim
vi file.txt           # Open in nvim
cs file.txt           # Open in Cursor
cu file.txt           # Open in Cursor
o file.pdf            # Open with default app

# Utilities
ll                    # List with sorting
la                    # List all with sorting
ls  dir1 dir2         # List contents of one or more directories
psf                   # Browse processes interactively
envf                  # Browse environment variables

🎨 Customizations

Add Own Aliases

Create a new file (e.g., aliases_custom.nu):

# My custom aliases
alias myalias = echo "Hello!"

Then source it in config.nu:

source ($nu.default-config-dir | path join "aliases_custom.nu")

Modify Keybindings

Edit navigation.nu and adjust the keybindings section. After changes:

source ($nu.default-config-dir | path join "config.nu")

Change Theme

Edit config.nu and modify the $env.config.color_config section. Current theme is Catppuccin Mocha.

🔄 Updating Integration Files

To update starship, zoxide, or mise, regenerate their integration files:

starship init nu | save -f ($nu.default-config-dir | path join "integrations/starship.nu")
zoxide init nushell | save -f ($nu.default-config-dir | path join "integrations/zoxide.nu")
mise activate nu | save -f ($nu.default-config-dir | path join "integrations/mise.nu")

🖥️ Platform Differences

Platform	Config Location
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/nushell/
Linux	~/.config/nushell/
Windows	%APPDATA%\nushell\

Use $nu.default-config-dir in configs for cross-platform compatibility.

📚 Learning Resources

• Nushell Book
• Nushell Cookbook
• Modern Unix Tools
• FZF Wiki
• Ghostty and Vim Cheatsheets

🤝 Contributing

Feel free to:

• Add custom aliases
• Improve documentation
• Extend CLI tools, themes, configs
• Report issues

📝 Notes

• The integrations/ folder contains auto-generated files - don't edit them directly
• Use def for complex functions with pipes, alias for simple replacements
• Power functions require Enter to activate, keybindings are just key presses
• Aliases are organized by category for easy maintenance
• All configs use $nu.default-config-dir for cross-platform compatibility

🐛 Troubleshooting

Alt key not working on macOS?

Add to Ghostty config (~/.config/ghostty/config):

macos-option-as-alt = true

Note: Restart Ghostty after making this change.

Keybinding not working?

Check if another keybinding conflicts:

$env.config.keybindings | where modifier == alt and keycode == char_c

Note: If you see multiple entries with the same modifier+keycode, you have a conflict.

Where is my config directory?

echo $nu.default-config-dir

How to view my current configuration?

$env.config
$env.config.keybindings
$env.HOME

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🚀 All set! Made with ❤️ for me and fellow terminal enthusiasts.