Configure iTerm2 and Vim like a Pro

Introduction

Every time when I got a new computer or reinstalled the macOS, the first thing I would like to do is to set up my terminal and make it look cool. There are several tools I always like to gear up for the terminal including the following:

• iTerm2
• Oh My Zsh
• Powerlevel10k (The coolest theme for Zsh)
• Vim Airline (Vim status bar)
• NERDTree (A file system tree for Vim)
• FZF (fuzzy finder)

There are already a lot of great articles that teach people how to install and configure the above tools, however, in order to set them up correctly, usually I need to refer to at least 5 separate articles and it took me a while to figure out the necessary steps, and most importantly I don’t remember what I did last time. So I decided to put all I have learned together and write them down, this article will show you how to install and configure all the above tools with necessary and concrete steps, and hope it helps.

Ok let’s get started.

Instructions

Step 1. Install iTerm2

Make sure you have Homebrew installed, if not, simply paste the following in your Terminal:

$ /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

During the above installation, you may be asked to install the command line developer tools for xcode-select command, go ahead and install it and then finish the Homebrew installation, once it’s completed, you will be able to use brew command to install iTerm2.

$ brew cask install iterm2

Step 2. Install Oh My Zsh

Oh My Zsh is a framework for managing Zsh configuration and it comes with many helpful plugins, themes etc to make you enjoy shell scripting. Install Oh My Zsh is simple:

$ sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Step 3. Install and Configure Powerlevel10k Theme

Powerlevel10k is a fast reimplementation of Powerlevel9k which is probably the most popular Powerline theme for Zsh.

Run the following commands to install Powerlevel10k:

$ git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ~/powerlevel10k
$ echo 'source ~/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme' >>! ~/.zshrc

Now launch iTerm2 and let’s configure Powerlevel10k theme using the configuration wizard.

First install the Meslo Nerd Font, type y. Once the font is installed, restart iTerm2 and continue with the configuration. The wizard will then verify if the font is installed properly by asking you whether you can see some symbols correctly including a diamond, a lock, a Debian logo and some other icons, type y if you see them.

Next choose a prompt style:

The Rainbow style is very popular, I usually go with that. After choosing the prompt style, there are several styles for you to choose, including:

• Show current time?
• Display icons?
• Enable transient prompt?
• Prompt separators, heads, tails, height, spacing, and flow

Once it’s done, apply the changes to ~/.zshrc.

Now the Powerlevel10k theme is installed and your screen may look like this:

I don’t like the color, let’s fix it, open iTerm2 preferences dialog, go to Profiles > Colors, choose Solarized Dark color preset:

Now your screen should look like the following, the color looks much better, isn’t it?

Well done, we just completed the basic setup for our iTerm2. Let’s move on to configure Vim.

Step 4. Install and Configure Vim Airline

Vim Airline is an awesome Vim plugin that polishes the status bar, it provides a lot of styles.

In order to install Vim Airline, let’s ask a Vim plugin manager to help us, I use Vim Plug, run the following command to install it.

$ curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

Once Vim Plug is installed, edit ~/.vimrc:

call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline'
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline-themes'
call plug#end()

Save the changes and exit Vim. Now reopen Vim and type in :PlugInstall and hit Enter.

Now both Vim Airline and Vim Airline Themes are installed. If you open a file, you should be able to see the status bar like the following:

The status bar doesn’t look like the one from Vim Airline official website, that’s because we have to configure the fonts, run the following commands to install the missing fonts for powerline theme:

$ git clone https://github.com/powerline/fonts.git --depth=1
$ cd fonts
$ ./install.sh
$ cd ..
$ rm -rf fonts

Finally, edit ~/.vimrc and add the following line:

let g:airline_powerline_fonts = 1

This will automatically populate the g:airline_symbols dictionary with the powerline symbols.

Now our Vim editor should have a better look:

Step 5. Install and Configure FZF

FZF allows you to do fuzzy search for files and folders in the Terminal and Vim, we can use brew to install it.

$ brew install fzf
# To install useful key bindings and fuzzy completion:
$ $(brew --prefix)/opt/fzf/install

Follow the prompts and answer y(yes), once it’s done, the following has been added to ~/.zshrc:

[ -f ~/.fzf.zsh ] && source ~/.fzf.zsh

Add some useful FZF options in the ~/.zshrc:

[ -f ~/.fzf.zsh ] && source ~/.fzf.zsh
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS=‘—height=40% —preview=“cat {}” —preview-window=right:60%:wrap’

Basically it tells FZF to show the preview window when performing the search.

Now when you type infzf and Enter in iTerm2, FZF will search in the current directory:

Use arrow keys to navigate the files, and you will see a preview window on the right.

Another way to use FZF is to type in some command and then **<TAB>, for example, vim **<TAB>:

To use FZF in Vim, add the following line to ~/.vimrc:

set rtp+=/usr/local/opt/fzf

Save it and relaunch Vim, type in :FZF command in Vim, you will now be able to search for the file to edit:

Great, we now completed the setup of FZF!

Step 6. Install and Configure NERDTree

NERDTree allows us to navigate the directory inside Vim editor, to install it, let’s use Vim Plug, add the following in bold in ~/.vimrc:

call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline'
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline-themes'
Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree'
call plug#end()
let g:airline_powerline_fonts = 1
let g:NERDTreeDirArrowExpandable = '▸'
let g:NERDTreeDirArrowCollapsible = '▾'
autocmd StdinReadPre * let s:std_in=1
autocmd VimEnter * if argc() == 0 && !exists("s:std_in") | NERDTree | endif

Run :PlugInstall command in Vim to complete the plugin installation:

Now NERDTree plugin is installed, to see the directory tree, in Vim editor, type in command :NERDTree:

Well done, now you can easily navigate the directory inside Vim!

Step 7. Set color scheme for Vim

To make our Vim look more professional, I choose OneDark theme.

To install the theme for Vim, first run the following command in iTerm2:

$ git clone https://github.com/joshdick/onedark.vim.git ~/onedark
$ cd ~/onedark
$ mkdir ~/.vim/colors
$ cp colors/onedark.vim ~/.vim/colors/
$ cp autoload/onedark.vim ~/.vim/autoload/

Then edit ~/.vimrcand add the following:

colorscheme onedark
syntax on
set number
highlight Normal ctermbg=None
highlight LineNr ctermfg=DarkGrey

Now our Vim should look much prettier :)

Conclusion

As you can see, the whole process involves a lot of referencing, I hope this article can help you set up your own development environment around iTerm2 and Vim.

Happy coding!

References

1. How to Jazz Up Your Bash Terminal — A Step By Step Guide With Pictures [link]
2. macOS ohmyzsh + tmux + vim + iTerm2 + Powerlevel9k = Badass terminal [link]
3. Beautifying your terminal with Zsh, Prezto, & Powerlevel9k [link]
4. How to Customize your Terminal with ZSH [link]
5. Solarized [link]