# 7. CUSTOMIZATION **Sections:** [Index](index.md) | [1. Configuration Variables](1-configuration-variables.md) | [2. Path Setup](2-path-setup.md) | [3. Key Bindings](3-key-bindings.md) | [4. Abbreviations](4-abbreviations.md) | [5. Functions Reference](5-functions-reference.md) | [6. Dependency Catalog](6-dependency-catalog.md) | **7. Customization** | [8. Fisher Plugins](8-fisher-plugins.md) | [9. Installation](9-installation.md) | [10. Personalization](10-personalization.md) | [11. Viewing This Manual](11-viewing-this-manual.md) --- ## Machine-local Configuration Place machine-specific settings that should not be committed to git in: ~/.config/.user-dots/fish/local.fish Typical uses: additional PATH entries, local aliases, hostname-specific env vars, work-specific tool configs. ## Secrets and API Keys ~/.config/.user-dots/fish/secrets.fish Store API tokens, GPG keys, private credentials here. This file is never committed. Both files are sourced at the end of config.fish on every interactive session, so they 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: # in 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-toggle — a full-screen TUI that flips any category (including C5 logging) on or off, per session or universally. See its entry in Section 5. Notes: - 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 When C2 is disabled: no Fisher install, no theme application, no paru/yay wrapper generation, no automatic venv activation, no WakaTime reporting, and no auto-pull (the PWD handler is never registered). 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 ~/.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 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_-w-p_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.log zellij pane capture Pane scrollback snapshot on shell exit, saved to: ~/.terminal_history/zellij_-p_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 installs a version-marked 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): ~/.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" ---