Customization

This section explains how to adapt the configuration to your specific workflow, including local machine overrides and opinionated component toggles.

Machine-local Configuration

Secrets and API Keys

Overriding Configuration Variables

Fish Universal Variables

Opinionated Components (Minimal Mode)

Prompt and Theme

Machine-local Configuration

Place machine-specific settings that should not be committed to git in:

local.fish

$__fish_user_dots_path/local.fish

__fish_user_dots_path defaults to ~/.config/.user-dots/fish. Set a custom location with:

set -U __fish_user_dots_path /path/to/your/dots/fish

Typical uses: additional PATH entries, local aliases, hostname-specific env vars, work-specific tool configs.

For convenience, a git-ignored user-dots symlink in the fish config directory tracks $__fish_user_dots_path so the overlay can be browsed from ~/.config/fish/. It is created if missing and repointed if the path changes. Opt out by setting __fish_user_dots_symlink to a falsy value, or toggling “Dots link” off on the config-settings Paths page — this stops generation and removes any existing link. It only ever manages a symlink and never clobbers a real file or directory at that path.

Secrets and API Keys

secrets.fish

$__fish_user_dots_path/secrets.fish

Store API tokens, GPG keys, private credentials here. This file is never committed. It is sourced by local.fish directly, not by config.fish.

local.fish is sourced at the end of config.fish on every interactive session, so it and its companion secrets.fish can override anything set earlier.

Overriding Configuration Variables

Any variable set in local.fish after the main config loads takes effect. Example: to increase the scrollback history limit:

local.fish

set -gx SCROLLBACK_HISTORY_MAX_FILES 200

Fish Universal Variables

Some settings (fzf colors, theme) are stored in fish_variables via set -U. These are machine-local and git-ignored. Do not commit fish_variables.

Opinionated Components (Minimal Mode)

Every opinionated piece of this config is active by default but can be switched off through six category opt-out variables, each evaluated via __fish_variable_check. Set a variable to any falsy value (0, false, no, off, n) to disable its category; erase it or set a truthy value (1, true, yes, on, y) to re-enable. Unset means enabled.

An explicit per-category truthy value takes precedence over the master switch: setting __fish_config_opinionated=0 disables all unset categories, but a category with an explicit truthy value remains enabled regardless.

Variable	Disables
__fish_config_op_aliases	Command shadows and flag injection: ls->eza, cat->bat, cd->zoxide, rm->trash, less->ov, top->btop, ping->prettyping, ssh->kitten, du->duf/dust, mkdir/bash wrappers, history timestamps, grep/cp/mv/wget flag injection, help intercept, claude AGENTS.md auto-link
__fish_config_op_autoexec	Startup side-effects: Fisher bootstrap, theme apply, paru/yay wrapper generation, auto venv activation, WakaTime hook
__fish_config_op_overrides	Key and env overrides: Vi mode, exit->smart_exit, PAGER/MANPAGER, CDPATH, bang-bang system, autopair, puffer, starship prompt, theme colors, FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS, right prompt
__fish_config_op_integrations	Terminal/tool coupling: Kitty/ WezTerm window abbreviations, done notifications, spwin/tab/split, hist, logs, upgrade, WakaTime
__fish_config_op_logging	Logging & capture: scrollback capture on exit, paru/yay AUR log wrappers, Kitty watcher capture; sentinel file coordinates cross-process state
__fish_config_op_greeting	Greeting & first-run UI: per-session fish_greeting override (defines empty function late in config.fish to suppress distro greetings such as CachyOS fastfetch); first-run welcome banner in conf.d/first_run.fish

Examples:

# Disable command shadows only (rm becomes plain rm again):
set -U __fish_config_op_aliases off

# Full minimal mode — disable all six categories at once:
set -U __fish_config_opinionated 0

# Re-enable everything:
set -Ue __fish_config_opinionated

# Minimal mode but keep the greeting:
set -U __fish_config_opinionated 0
set -U __fish_config_op_greeting 1
# (erase both to go back to full-flavor defaults)

For an interactive alternative to setting these variables by hand, run config-settings — a full-screen TUI that flips any category (including C5 logging) on or off, per session or universally. See its entry in Section 5.

Note

• Command shadows (rm, cat, ls, …) react immediately; conf.d-level components (bindings, prompt, abbreviations, hooks) take effect in new shells.
• With aliases disabled, rm falls back to bare command rm — files are deleted permanently, not trashed.
• Disabled integration commands (spwin, tab, split, hist, logs, upgrade) print an error naming the variable that disabled them.
• On CachyOS, the distro fish config’s own aliases, history override, and bang-bang bindings are stripped per category as well.

Component Reference

The following tables detail every component in each category. Use this reference to understand exactly which behaviors change when you toggle a category variable.

C1 — Command Shadows

Disabling __fish_config_op_aliases restores standard system behavior for all of these commands.

Command / Alias	Active behavior	Disabled fallback
ls	eza -l -a –icons –hyperlink	system ls
cat	bat syntax-highlighted; dirs → ls	/usr/bin/cat
cd	zoxide frecency-based navigation	fish builtin cd
rm	moves files to trash (recoverable)	command rm (permanent)
less	$PAGER → ov → less → more → cat	system less
du	duf (disk overview) or dust (dir tree)	system du
top	btop resource monitor	system top
ping	prettyping –nolegend animation	system ping
ssh	kitten ssh in Kitty terminal	system ssh
rg	rg –hyperlink-format=kitty	system rg
mkdir	verbose path-tree display on creation	mkdir -p silently
bash	XDG bashrc + $SHELL reset on exit	system bash
history	timestamps prepended to every entry	fish builtin history
cp / mv	forced -i confirmation prompt	cp / mv unmodified
wget	forced –continue (resume downloads)	system wget
grep/fgrep/egrep	forced –color=auto	system grep variants
dir / vdir	forced –color=auto	system dir / vdir
help config	intercepts “help config” → config-help	fish builtin help
claude	auto-links AGENTS.md as CLAUDE.md before launch	command claude
edit	multi-editor launcher (GUI/term + fallbacks)	$EDITOR/nvim/nano/vi

When C1 is disabled, rm uses bare command rm with no wrapper — files are permanently deleted, not trashed. There is no intermediate safety net.

C2 — Startup Side-Effects

These run automatically without any user action. Disabling __fish_config_op_autoexec prevents all of them.

Component	Trigger	What it does
Fisher bootstrap	First shell only	Downloads and installs fisher
Fisher update	After bootstrap	Installs all fish_plugins entries
Catppuccin Mocha theme	First shell only	Applies theme via fish_config
paru wrapper	Every startup	Writes ~/.local/bin/paru wrapper
yay wrapper	Every startup	Writes ~/.local/bin/yay wrapper
Python venv activation	On every cd	Sources .venv/bin/activate.fish
WakaTime command hook	On every command	Reports to WakaTime API
Auto-pull fast-forward	On entering a repo	Background ff-only git pull
user-dots symlink	Every startup	Links $__fish_config_dir/user-dots to $__fish_user_dots_path

When C2 is disabled: no Fisher install, no theme application, no paru/yay wrapper generation, no automatic venv activation, no WakaTime reporting, no auto-pull (the PWD handler is never registered), and the user-dots convenience symlink is not created. The symlink is git-ignored and only ever managed as a symlink — a real file or directory at that path is left untouched. The symlink has its own opt-out independent of C2: set __fish_user_dots_symlink to a falsy value (or toggle “Dots link” off on the config-settings Paths page) to stop generating it and remove any existing link — honoured even when C2 is enabled. Managed by the __fish_user_dots_link helper. The first-run completion marker (__fish_config_first_run_complete) is still set so the init does not re-run on subsequent shells.

Python venv activation fires on every directory change. If a directory uses direnv (.envrc present), direnv takes priority and auto-venv is skipped for that directory.

Auto-pull fast-forwards opted-in repositories in the background when you cd into them. The fish-config repo is always covered; other repos are added with the auto-pull command (see its entry in the functions reference). It only ever fast-forwards a clean repo whose branch has an upstream — never rebases, merges, or overwrites work — so it is a no-op on dirty trees, divergent branches, or repos without a remote. The handler fires once per repo entry (not on every sub-directory cd). The registry is machine-local at $__fish_user_dots_path/auto-pull.list (defaults to ~/.config/.user-dots/fish/auto-pull.list) and is never committed.

C3 — Key and Environment Overrides

These change fundamental shell behavior: how keys work, which pager opens, and what the prompt looks like. Disabling __fish_config_op_overrides removes all of them.

Override	What it replaces or sets
Vi mode	fish_vi_key_bindings replaces default Emacs mode
XDG variables	Sets global XDG Base Directory variables
PATH setup	Prepends custom bin directories to the PATH
exit → smart_exit	exit wrapper that captures scrollback before closing
PAGER=ov	ov used by git, man, and all $PAGER-aware tools
MANPAGER=bat pipeline	man pages rendered with syntax highlighting
CDPATH=. ~/projects ~	bare dir names resolve against ~/projects and ~
Bang-bang system	! and $ keys expand history; !^, !, !-N, !?str?, ^old^new abbreviations; six expand_bang_ helpers
Autopair	( [ { " ' auto-close to (), [], {}, "", ''
Puffer key intercepts	. ! $ * keys intercepted for smart expansion
Starship prompt	fish_prompt replaced by Starship + OSC 133 markers
Catppuccin colors	30+ fish_color_* variables set to Mocha palette
FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS	FZF themed to Catppuccin Mocha colors
Right prompt	fish_right_prompt: exit code (on failure) + dim timestamp; always rendered; Docker context added when starship+C3 active

The bang-bang system spans key_bindings.fish, abbr.fish, puffer.fish, and six expand_bang_*.fish functions. All are gated together — disabling C3 removes the entire bang-expansion system at once.

When C3 is disabled, exit falls back to builtin exit with no scrollback capture, no Kitty IPC, and no file I/O on exit. The scrollback capture block is independently controlled by C5 (see below).

C4 — Terminal and Tool Integration

These features couple the shell to specific external tools. Disabling __fish_config_op_integrations disables all of them.

Component	Requires
~60 Kitty/WezTerm abbrs	Active Kitty or WezTerm session (:w, :wv, :wh, :t, etc.)
Done desktop notifications	Graphical desktop with a notification daemon
spwin	Kitty or WezTerm
tab	Kitty, WezTerm, or Konsole
split	Kitty or WezTerm
hist	fzf + wl-copy (Wayland clipboard)
logs	fzf + ov; reads from ~/.terminal_history/
upgrade	paru or yay (Arch Linux only)
WakaTime hook	wakatime CLI and a configured API key

Disabled integration commands (spwin, tab, split, hist, logs, upgrade) print a colored error to stderr naming the variable that disabled them rather than silently failing.

C5 — Logging and Capture

Five components capture shell output to disk. Disabling __fish_config_op_logging skips all capture and removes the logging wrappers.

Component	What it captures
Scrollback capture	Terminal session output saved to: ~/.terminal_history/scrollback_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.log
tmux pane capture	Continuous pane stream via pipe-pane, saved to: ~/.terminal_history/tmux_<session>-w<win>-p<pane>_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.log
zellij pane capture	Pane scrollback snapshot on shell exit, saved to: ~/.terminal_history/zellij_<session>-p<pane>_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.log
paru wrapper	All paru/AUR output captured to: ~/.terminal_history/paru_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.log
yay wrapper	All yay/AUR output captured to: ~/.terminal_history/yay_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.log
Kitty watcher	watcher.py captures scrollback when Kitty closes

The tmux capture starts automatically when fish launches inside any tmux pane ($TMUX is set). It uses tmux’s native pipe-pane to stream all pane output directly to disk without an intermediate process. Each fish shell session gets its own log file; a new log is created on each shell start (including exec fish and new splits). Before each new log, the oldest tmux_*.log files are pruned (by modification time) to keep the total within SCROLLBACK_HISTORY_MAX_FILES, matching the paru/yay wrapper behaviour.

The zellij capture works differently: Zellij has no live output-streaming facility like pipe-pane, so the log is taken as a one-shot snapshot when the shell exits, via zellij action dump-screen --full --ansi (the –ansi flag preserves color). The dump is captured on the fish process’s stdout and written to the log file by fish itself (not via --path, which would make the zellij server write the file). A fish_exit handler (registered whenever $ZELLIJ is set) writes the pane’s full scrollback and then prunes old zellij_*.log files the same way. Because the capture happens at exit, toggling __fish_config_op_logging takes effect on the next exit with no restart or sentinel coordination needed — the C5 guard is re-checked when the handler fires.

LIMITATION — zellij capture only fires on a clean shell exit (typing exit, Ctrl-D, or a logout), because that is when the fish_exit handler runs. It does NOT capture when you close a pane or quit zellij through zellij itself:

• Closing a pane signals the shell and tears the pane down concurrently, so even if the handler runs, dump-screen may find the pane buffer already gone.

• Quitting zellij kills the zellij server, and dump-screen needs a live server to read from — there is nothing left to snapshot.

This is a structural difference from tmux, NOT a bug. tmux streams pane output to disk continuously via pipe-pane, so whatever was printed is already saved no matter how the pane dies. Zellij can only snapshot, and the only reliable snapshot point from the shell is a clean exit. To guarantee a zellij pane is logged, end the session with exit or Ctrl-D rather than zellij’s close-pane or quit actions.

The Kitty watcher is managed by the kitty-logging command: it symlinks the watcher (fish-config-watcher.py) into the Kitty config directory and wires it into kitty.conf via a managed block. Inside Kitty, a non-blocking per-session reminder points first-time users at kitty-logging install until they install or run kitty-logging dismiss. Install affects new Kitty windows only; runtime disable is still handled by the .logging_disabled sentinel.

Logging coordination via sentinel file

C5 uses a sentinel file to synchronize state between the shell and out-of-process components (the Kitty watcher and all running shells):

.logging_disabled

~/.config/fish/.logging_disabled

Disabling __fish_config_op_logging:

1. Creates the sentinel immediately in every open shell.

2. Removes ~/.local/bin/paru and ~/.local/bin/yay logging wrappers; bare /usr/bin/paru and /usr/bin/yay are used instead.

3. Kitty’s watcher.py reads the sentinel on each save attempt and skips capture — no Kitty restart required.

4. smart_exit stops saving scrollback logs.

5. Stops tmux pipe-pane capture in every open fish shell inside tmux.

Re-enabling __fish_config_op_logging:

1. Removes the sentinel in every open shell.
2. Regenerates paru/yay logging wrappers in ~/.local/bin/.
3. Kitty watcher resumes capture on the next session exit.
4. Restarts tmux pipe-pane capture in every open fish shell inside tmux.

Changes propagate to all running shells through an event handler that fires whenever __fish_config_op_logging changes — no shell restart needed.

Note: C3 and C5 compose independently. C3 controls whether the smart_exit wrapper is active at all; C5 controls only the scrollback-capture block inside it. With C3 disabled, exit is plain builtin exit regardless of C5.

C6 — Greeting and First-Run UI

Component	What it shows
First-run welcome banner	One-time message on first interactive session
fish_greeting override	Empty function defined late in config.fish to suppress distro greetings (e.g. CachyOS sets fish_greeting to fastfetch by default)

When C6 is disabled, no greeting is printed by this config. Any greeting set by the distro or other configs runs normally — this config simply does not override it.

Prompt and Theme

Starship

The primary prompt is Starship, initialized by conf.d/starship.fish. Configure it via ~/.config/starship.toml.

conf.d/starship.fish defines a fish_prompt wrapper that only activates when starship is in PATH. It emits OSC 133;A (prompt start) immediately before Starship renders and OSC 133;B (input start) immediately after, placing both markers on the prompt line itself. This allows ov to use them as sticky section headers when browsing scrollback logs. Without Starship, fish’s built-in prompt handles these markers automatically.

Catppuccin Fallback Prompt

When Starship is absent or C3 overrides are disabled, a built-in nim-style two-line prompt activates from functions/fish_prompt.fish. No external dependencies — fish builtins only.

Layout:

┬─[user@host:~/path] (main) ╰─>$

Elements:

user Yellow (Catppuccin Yellow); red if root @host Blue (local) or Teal (SSH) ~/path prompt_pwd abbreviation (Catppuccin Text) (main) Current git branch in Catppuccin Pink; omitted outside repos ─[V:name] Active Python venv basename; omitted when none ─[N/I/R/V] Vi-mode indicator when vi bindings are active ┬─ / ╰─> Connector lines: Catppuccin Green on success, Red on failure

The right prompt (fish_right_prompt.fish) always renders, regardless of C3 state. On failure it shows a red ✘ and the exit code; on success it shows only the dim timestamp. When starship is installed and C3 is enabled, the active Docker context is also shown (if non-default):

✘ 1 󰡨 myctx Fri Jun 12 00:51:21 2026 ← failed, starship+C3 active ✘ 1 Fri Jun 12 00:51:21 2026 ← failed, fallback prompt Fri Jun 12 00:51:21 2026 ← success (no ✘)

FZF

FZF is themed to Catppuccin Mocha via FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS set in integrations/fzf.fish. The colors applied:

Background: #1E1E2E (base) #313244 (surface0) Foreground: #CDD6F4 (text) Highlights: #F38BA8 (red) #CBA6F7 (mauve) #B4BEFE (lavender)

To customize, override FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS in local.fish.

Catppuccin Mocha Syntax Highlighting

The Catppuccin Mocha theme ships with this config in themes/ and is applied on first run via conf.d/first_run.fish. Colors are stored in fish_variables (universal). To switch variants, install a different theme from themes/:

fish_config theme save “Catppuccin Latte”

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