README.md

ghostty-dev-setup

A colorful, fast, plugin-manager-free terminal setup for macOS developers: Ghostty + zsh + Starship + tmux + a modern git workflow, all themed with Catppuccin Mocha.

• 🎨 One theme everywhere: Ghostty, the prompt, tmux, fzf, bat and git diffs all match
• ⚡ Fast: about 0.15s shell startup
• 🔒 Nothing hidden: everything comes from official Homebrew packages, there are no curl | sh installers and no plugin managers pulling code from random repos, and it never uses sudo
• ↩️ Reversible: every file it replaces is backed up and ./uninstall.sh restores it
• 🧩 Easy to tweak: plain config files, plus a ~/.zshrc.local for your own settings

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Quick start

git clone https://github.com/PacketCowboy/ghostty-dev-setup.git ~/ghostty-dev-setup
cd ~/ghostty-dev-setup
./install.sh --dry-run    # see exactly what it will do
./install.sh              # do it

Then quit Ghostty completely (Cmd+Q) and reopen it.

Requirements: macOS, Homebrew, and git (xcode-select --install).

Option	Effect
--dry-run	Print every action, change nothing
--copy	Copy configs instead of symlinking them (use this if you'll delete or move the repo folder)
--no-brew	Don't install packages
--no-omz	Don't install Oh My Zsh
-y	Don't ask for confirmation

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What it installs

Packages (see Brewfile): Ghostty, JetBrains Mono and Meslo Nerd Fonts, starship, tmux, zsh-autosuggestions, zsh-syntax-highlighting, eza, bat, fd, fzf, zoxide, fastfetch, git, git-delta, lazygit, gh. It also installs Oh My Zsh, cloned from its official repo with git clone, only if you don't already have it.

Configs (symlinked from this repo by default):

Your file	From
~/.zshrc	config/zsh/zshrc
~/.config/starship.toml	config/starship/starship.toml
~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf	config/tmux/tmux.conf
~/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config.ghostty	config/ghostty/config.ghostty
~/.config/git/dev.gitconfig	config/git/dev.gitconfig

Your ~/.gitconfig is never replaced. The installer adds a single [include] line pointing at dev.gitconfig, and your name, email and other settings stay exactly as they were.

It also creates ~/.zshrc.local for your own settings if you don't have one, and makes your shell history readable only by you (chmod 600 ~/.zsh_history).

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Cheatsheet

Ghostty

Keys	Action
Ctrl+`	Drop-down terminal from any app (needs Accessibility permission)
Cmd+D / Cmd+Shift+D	Split right / split down
Cmd+Opt+Arrows	Move between splits
Cmd+Shift+Enter	Zoom a split
Cmd+Shift+,	Reload config

Shell

Command / Keys	Action
Ctrl+R	Fuzzy search history
Ctrl+T	Fuzzy find a file (with preview)
Alt+C	Fuzzy jump to a folder
Ctrl+Space	Accept the gray suggestion
Esc Esc	Put sudo in front of the last command
cd foo	zoxide: jump to the best-matching folder you've visited; cdi = interactive
ls / ll / lt	eza with icons / long listing + git status / tree
cat	bat (syntax highlighted)
mkcd dir	Make a folder and cd into it
reload	Restart the shell

Git

Command	Action
lg	lazygit (full-screen git UI)
gcof	Fuzzy-pick a branch and check it out
gshow	Browse commits with diff preview
glo	Pretty commit graph
gs	Short status
gundo	Undo last commit, keep changes
gwip	Quick "wip" commit (skips hooks; local use only)
git amend / git last / git lg	Amend without editing / show last commit / graph of all branches
+ every Oh My Zsh git alias	gst, gco, gcb, gp, gl, …

Git defaults: diffs go through delta, pull rebases, the first push on a new branch sets up the remote, conflicts use zdiff3, branches are sorted by most recent, and rerere (reuse recorded conflict resolutions) is on.

tmux (prefix = Ctrl+a)

Keys	Action
t / t name	Attach to or create session "main" / "name" (tl list, tk name kill)
prefix | or prefix \ / prefix -	Split side by side / top and bottom
Alt+Arrows	Move between panes (no prefix)
Shift+←/→	Previous / next window (no prefix)
prefix h j k l / H J K L	Move between / resize panes
prefix c / prefix z	New window / zoom pane
prefix g	lazygit popup
prefix f	Fuzzy session switcher
prefix t	Floating scratch shell
prefix S	New named session
prefix Enter	Copy mode (v select, y copy to the Mac clipboard)
prefix r	Reload config

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Make it yours

Want to…	Do this
Add PATHs, aliases, env vars	Put them in ~/.zshrc.local (never overwritten)
Change the prompt style	starship preset --list, then starship preset tokyo-night -o ~/.config/starship.toml
Change Ghostty's theme	ghostty +list-themes, then edit theme = in config/ghostty/config.ghostty
Change the font	Edit font-family; list fonts with ghostty +list-fonts
Use Ctrl+b as tmux prefix	Edit the top of config/tmux/tmux.conf
Override a git default	Set it in your own ~/.gitconfig (your settings win)
Track your changes	Fork this repo; with the default symlink mode your edits are already live in the repo

Symlink mode (default): your config files point into this folder, so edits here take effect right away and git pull brings in updates. Don't move or delete the folder; if you plan to, use --copy.

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Uninstall

./uninstall.sh            # restore from the latest backup
./uninstall.sh --dry-run  # preview

Backups live in ~/.ghostty-dev-setup-backups/<timestamp>/. Homebrew packages, Oh My Zsh and ~/.zshrc.local are left in place; the uninstaller prints the command to remove the packages.

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Security notes

• Every package comes from the official homebrew/core and homebrew/cask sources; no third-party sources (brew tap) are added.
• The installer never uses sudo, never pipes a download into a shell, and only writes inside your home folder.
• No tmux, zsh or vim plugin managers are used.
• Things worth knowing about:
  • copy-on-select = clipboard (Ghostty): highlighted text goes to the clipboard, which other apps can read. Remove the line if you handle secrets often.
  • The drop-down terminal hotkey needs macOS Accessibility permission. Don't grant it, or delete the keybind = global: line, if you don't want that.
  • Shell history: start a command with a space to keep it out of history (handy for anything containing a token).
  • tmux allow-passthrough on: lets programs inside tmux talk to Ghostty directly (needed for inline images). Set it to off if you don't need that.

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Layout

.
├── install.sh / uninstall.sh
├── Brewfile
└── config/
    ├── ghostty/config.ghostty
    ├── zsh/zshrc
    ├── starship/starship.toml
    ├── tmux/tmux.conf
    └── git/dev.gitconfig

Credits

Ghostty · Starship · Catppuccin · Oh My Zsh · Nerd Fonts · eza · bat · fd · fzf · zoxide · delta · lazygit · tmux

License

MIT