Pimp your Terminal

Hint: Stop using Terminal

So you’ve finally started feeling comfortable around your Terminal application on the Mac. You do all that git stuff, and all that rvm thing. And install; and you clone, and move files around and even sometimes chmod whole folders! You’ve built your relationship with the command line.

It’s time to take it to the next step: ditching it. You won’t be using Terminal anymore. It’s time to start looking for other, more powerful options. iTerm for example is the one I like the best. It’s easily customizable and allows for some serious time-saving keybindings.

iTerm

Simply go to the iTerm website and download it. This is how I set it up:

Fonts

I usually choose a larger font (13 or 14 points is ok), and give it a bigger vertical spacing (a.k.a. line-height). Check the picture for my current settings, but feel free to experiment until you find what works best for you.

System-wide hot key

This is crucial for speed. What it allows is for you to access the shell any time you want without having to use the dreaded mouse (or touchpad). I set it to alt+space. Like this:

Window size

I like to have a full-sized terminal window to avoid distractions, but that’s up to you. Choose what you feel works best. Find the settings for that under Profiles > Window

Now for the good part…

Bash-it up

Ok so you now have a Terminal substitute… It’s time to add some features to the mix. Revan’s awesome bash-it project lets you add themes to your terminal, common aliases and even comunity-created plugins. I couldn’t recommend it enough. Installation is very straightforward. It’s all in the github repo. Go check it out.

The commands i use the most are:

bash-it show aliases
bash-it enable alias general
bash-it enable alias osx

Learn to create bash scripts

Granted. This is not an easy move. But the benefits are well worth it. You’ll be able to automate tasks and save a lot of time in the end.

Go pimp your Terminal.