dotfiles/docs/shell/index.mdx

---
title: Shell
description: fish, bash, and zsh with shared aliases, the starship prompt, iris and atuin, and the ~/.local/bin scripts.
sidebar:
  label: Overview
---

fish is the main interactive shell. fish and zsh both run under [iris](/shell/iris) for an inline completion menu; bash uses atuin for history. All three share aliases, the prompt, and ports of the cd-style helper functions. General-purpose tools are POSIX or bash scripts in `~/.local/bin`, so each has a single implementation that all three shells call.

| Page | Covers |
| --- | --- |
| [fish](/shell/fish) | `~/.config/fish`: `config.fish`, every `conf.d/` file (PATH, env, aliases, ssh-agent, tool init, secrets by name), vi-mode key bindings, the cyberdream theme, completions, the nvm.fish plugin, and every function in `functions/` |
| [bash and zsh](/shell/bash-zsh) | `~/.bashrc`, `~/.zshrc`, zsh and bash key bindings, `~/.config/shell/aliases.sh`, per-shell function ports |
| [Aliases](/shell/aliases) | Every alias from `.chezmoidata/aliases.yaml` plus the fish-only and shell-specific ones |
| [Scripts](/shell/scripts) | Every general-purpose executable in `~/.local/bin` (`pj`, `ghn`, `gop`, `mtime-sort`, `atuin-pick`, …) |
| [Starship](/shell/starship) | `~/.config/starship.toml`: format, modules, symbols, cyberdream palette |
| [iris](/shell/iris) | `~/.config/iris/config.toml`: the inline completion menu that wraps fish and zsh, zoxide `cd`, key ownership |
| [atuin](/shell/atuin) | `~/.config/atuin`: bash history search settings, cyberdream theme |

## Shared across shells

| Concern | fish | bash | zsh |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Aliases | `conf.d/20-aliases.fish` (hand-maintained) | `~/.config/shell/aliases.sh` (rendered from YAML) | same as bash |
| Prompt | starship + transient prompt | starship | starship |
| History | fish's own history, browsed through iris (hishtory also sourced if installed) | atuin | zsh's own history, browsed through iris, plus suvadu if installed |
| Completion menu | iris | bash completion | iris |
| Key bindings | vi mode plus custom binds | atuin defaults plus picker keys | emacs keymap plus ports of the fish binds |
| cd-style helpers | `functions/*.fish` | `~/.config/bash/functions/*.bash` | `~/.config/zsh/functions/*.zsh` |
| Directory jumping | `cd` wrapper with zoxide fallback, `zoxide init` | `cd` wrapper | `cd` wrapper with zoxide fallback, `zoxide init` |

## Theme

fish syntax colors, `FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS`, the starship palette, and the atuin theme all use **cyberdream** ([cyberdream.nvim](https://github.com/scottmckendry/cyberdream.nvim)). In fish, `40-tools.fish` also replays quickshell's wallpaper-generated terminal color sequences if that file exists.

## Role gating

Everything in this section applies on every role (`desktop`, `laptop`, `mac`, `server`) except `~/.config/fish/auto-Niri.fish`. That file is applied only on Linux `desktop`/`laptop` machines, along with the rest of the [desktop layer](/desktop).

## Packages

`.chezmoidata/packages.yaml` supplies the shell tooling on Arch (pacman) and macOS (Homebrew): `fish`, `starship`, `atuin`, `zoxide`, `fzf`, `fd`, `ripgrep`, `eza`, `bat`, `jq`, `gum`, `glow`, `yazi`, `lazygit`, and `zsh-syntax-highlighting`. The packages script runs `pacman -S --needed` on Arch and `brew install` on macOS. See [chezmoi scripts](/chezmoi/scripts).