Fish Shell Configuration Guide

Fish (Friendly Interactive Shell) is a modern, user-friendly command line shell with powerful features like syntax highlighting, autosuggestions, and smart tab completions.

📦 Installation & Setup

Installing Fish Shell

sudo pacman -S fish

Initial Setup Process

1. Test Fish temporarily (recommended first step):

   fish

2. Install Fisher (Plugin Manager):

   curl -sL https://git.io/fisher | source && fisher install jorgebucaran/fisher

3. Install Tide Prompt (Modern, fast prompt):

   fisher install ilancosman/tide

4. Set Fish as default shell:

   sudo chsh $USER -s /usr/bin/fish

   Important

   Logout and login again for the change to take effect. You can verify with echo $SHELL.

⚙️ Configuration

Essential Plugins

Install these useful plugins with Fisher:

# Better file listing
fisher install PatrickF1/fzf.fish

# Enhanced directory navigation
fisher install jethrokuan/z

# Node.js version manager
fisher install jorgebucaran/nvm.fish

# Git integration
fisher install jhillyerd/plugin-git

Config File Location

Fish configuration is stored in:

~/.config/fish/config.fish

🔗 Useful Aliases

Add these to your ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

Alias	Command	Description
..	cd ..	Go up one directory
...	cd ../..	Go up two directories
....	cd ../../..	Go up three directories
cl	clear	Clear terminal
src	source ~/.config/fish/config.fish	Reload Fish config
ll	eza -la --color=always --group-directories-first	Detailed file listing
ls	eza -a --color=always --group-directories-first	Enhanced file listing
update-mirrors	sudo pacman-mirrors --fasttrack 5 && sudo pacman -Syu	Update Manjaro mirrors
grep	grep --color=auto	Colorized grep

Adding Aliases

To add a persistent alias, edit your config file:

# Open config file
nano ~/.config/fish/config.fish

# Add alias (example)
alias ll "eza -la --color=always --group-directories-first"

🎨 Customization

Tide Prompt Configuration

Configure your prompt with:

tide configure

This will guide you through:

• Prompt style selection
• Color scheme options
• Information display preferences

💡 Pro Tips

Key Features to Learn

1. Autosuggestions: Fish suggests commands as you type (based on history)

   • Press → or Tab to accept suggestion

2. Syntax Highlighting: Invalid commands are highlighted in red

   • Valid commands appear in blue/white
   • Existing files/paths are underlined

3. Smart Tab Completion: Context-aware completions

   • Works with command options, file paths, git branches, etc.

4. History Search: Type partial command and press ↑

   • Searches through command history

Useful Key Bindings

Key Combination	Action
Ctrl + R	Search command history
Alt + ←/→	Move by word
Alt + ↑/↓	Move by line in multiline commands
Ctrl + A/E	Move to beginning/end of line
Ctrl + K	Delete from cursor to end of line

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Fish not starting after setting as default:

# Check if fish path is correct
which fish
# Update shell path if needed
sudo chsh $USER -s $(which fish)

📚 Further Reading

• Official Fish Documentation
• Fisher Plugin Directory
• Tide Prompt Documentation
• Fish Community Plugins