Shell Settings

My personal shell settings, heavily customised and refined over the years.

Files

File	Description
.shenv	Shared env vars and PATH setup — sourced by all shells
.zshenv	Zsh: always loaded; sources .shenv for non-login shells
.zprofile	Zsh: login shell; sources .shenv
.zshrc	Zsh: interactive shell config, completions, prompt, keybindings
.profile	Bash: login shell; delegates to .bashrc and sets locale
.bashrc	Bash: interactive shell config, completions, prompt
.aliases	Shared aliases and shell functions (git, ls, cd, kubectl, etc.)
.gitignore_global	Global gitignore
.gitconfig	Git config (symlinked to ~/.gitconfig by setup.sh)
.tmux.conf	Tmux config
.ghci / .ghc	GHCi config
alacritty.toml	Alacritty terminal config
.scripts/	Personal utility scripts (added to PATH by .shenv)
zsh-completes/	Extra zsh completions (symlinked to ~/.zsh/zsh-completes/)

Setup

Run setup.sh to symlink all dotfiles into ~/. It also:

• Links config → ~/.ssh/config (machine-specific, gitignored)
• Links alacritty.toml → ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.toml
• Creates ~/.zsh/ and links zsh-completes/ into it

Run brew-setup.sh on macOS to install packages via Homebrew.

Zsh Load Order

Context	Files loaded
Always	zshenv
Login only	zshenv → zprofile → zlogin
Interactive only	zshenv → zshrc
Login + Interactive	zshenv → zprofile → zshrc → zlogin

Common contexts: a new tmux window or SSH session is login+interactive; a plain terminal tab is interactive only; running a script is neither.

Arch & Zsh

Arch resets PATH after sourcing .zshenv, forcing PATH setup into .zprofile. To handle this without duplicating logic, .shenv is sourced from both .zshenv (non-login) and .zprofile (login). Zsh also sets typeset -U path to deduplicate PATH entries across nested/re-sourced shells; bash deduplicates manually via awk at the end of .shenv.

Git Config

.gitconfig is symlinked to ~/.gitconfig by setup.sh.

Workflow settings:

• pull.rebase = true — avoids accidental merge commits on pull
• rebase.autosquash = true — auto-applies fixup!/squash! prefixes
• merge.conflictstyle = zdiff3 — shows common ancestor in conflict markers
• rerere.enabled = true — remembers conflict resolutions across repeated rebases

Diff: core.pager = delta routes all diff output through delta for syntax-highlighted, navigable diffs (n/N between hunks).

Large repo performance:

• core.fsmonitor + core.untrackedCache — FSEvents-backed monitor so status/add/commit stop rescanning the whole tree.
• index.version = 4 + index.skipHash — a leaner, faster index.
• fetch.writeCommitGraph — keeps the commit-graph fresh for fast log/blame/merge-base; fetch.prune tidies deleted remote branches.

Per-repo operational levers for very large repos:

git maintenance start                    # prefetch + repack on a schedule
git clone --filter=blob:none <url>       # partial clone
git sparse-checkout set --cone <dirs>    # check out only what you need

Zsh Plugins

Sourced conditionally from common install paths (Homebrew ARM/Intel, Arch, Debian):

• zsh-autosuggestions — Fish-like inline suggestions from history; right arrow or End to accept
• zsh-syntax-highlighting — colours commands red/green as you type (sourced last, as required)

Tools

Key tools wired up in the config:

Tool	Wired up in	Notes
bat	.shenv, .aliases	MANPAGER for syntax-highlighted man pages; cat aliased to bat
fzf	.zshrc	Fuzzy finder; uses fd for file listing and bat for previews
zoxide	.zshrc	Smart cd; z <query> jumps to frecent dirs, zi for interactive selection
delta	gitconfig_template	Pager for all git diff output
direnv	.zshrc	Per-directory env var loading

Licensing

BSD-licensed. Written and maintained by David Terei.