Changing up the terminal
Tags: developertools, iterm2, terminal, fish
Published: 2018-04-24 22:50:25

---
title: Changing up the terminal
published: true
description: A quick way to change up your terminal.
tags: developer-tools, iTerm2, terminal, fish
---

![Cover of the Image](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/3mtnq2d1yd4uvsy1njc3.png)

As iOS developers, we don’t use the terminal that much so when we use it we don’t expect a lot from the classic one (terminal.app)

That was my case as well until I started using it a lot more cause of my University classes and also working on open source projects like Cocoapods. I knew that I needed a better option, but I didn’t know where to start and that’s why I write this piece. It includes my thoughts on the new terminal setup & a tutorial on how to get started and customize yours.

Another reason that made me want to change my terminal was a screenshot of @mennenia’s terminal. I really enjoyed her setup and the colors of the themes.

## Download iTerm 2

Before customizing the terminal we need to download a better alternative from the classic one. Many developers prefer iTerm2. It has a lot of advantages and you can download it [here](https://www.iterm2.com)

## Setting up the Hotkey
For easy access to the terminal, you need to set up a hotkey for it. This is one of the reasons I love iTerm2.

1. Go to Preferences (CMD+) and to the “keys” tab
2. Click on the “Show/Hide iTerm2 with a system-wide hotkey”
3. Choose the key that you prefer (I use alt+space)
4. Another thing you can do is change the opacity of the background (I prefer the opacity at 100%)

Try it!

![keys](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/697rpwhm9t9ra655z20o.png)

## Fish
Working on different projects at my University I need my shell to do a ton more than it actually does right. Searching the internet and asking a couple of developers I found Fish.

Fish suggests things/ previous commands as you type. Also, you can autocomplete using the right arrow.

I highly suggest downloading Fish using homebrew `brew install Fish`. If you don’t have homebrew I recommend you download it and learn more about it. If you don’t like it you can find more installation info about Fish [here](http://fishshell.com).

## Customized Themes

Last but not least I wanted a new terminal setup because my previous one was not so pretty haha.

Fish has an “oh my” version which allows for easy theming. Check it out here
First I followed Maxim’s setup and I chose the agnoster theme. Because it helped me read better the lines and I was impressed by the customization.

![agnoster](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/u3v62cp5n7vw0in7q6no.png)

Another thing you can do is to download iTerm2 Profiles and themes from [here](https://github.com/oh-my-fish/oh-my-fish/blob/master/docs/Themes.md#agnoster). I decided to go for the n0tch2k because I like that it has some bright pastel colors.

![themes](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/adqd3heo9gqcp3cshbnp.png)

After a couple of months using the n0tch2k theme, I decided to make the [toothpaste](toothpaste theme sublime) theme made by Cat Noone available to iTerm2. I already using it on Xcode and I was super impressed. 

![toothpaste](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/juqwy2myn38ipburfvjw.png)

## Fonts

![toothpaste-fonts](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/w8sx0qn00e09ft436oau.png)

Now that you’re done with the theming of your terminal, it’s time to pick a “powerline” font that you like. I followed Maxim’s advice and I went for the HACK font. You can find and download all the fonts from [here](https://github.com/powerline/fonts)


![fonts](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/pwk0wpnju3qmn5mvlq9f.png)


## Conclusion

It was so fun writing this post and sharing my process behind how I changed the terminal and how it helped me learn more about Fish among other things.

_Enjoy what you read? Spread the love by liking and sharing this piece. Have thoughts or questions? Reach out to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/agisilaosts) or in the comments below. This post was originally published on [Medium](https://medium.com/the-adventures-of-an-ios-developer/https-medium-com-the-adventures-of-an-ios-developer-changing-up-the-terminal-eba17638f03b)._