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Ghostty Vibe Coding Stack

A complete terminal-based AI coding environment for macOS (Apple Silicon). Replaces heavy IDEs with lightweight, composable tools for Claude Code / AI-assisted development.

How It Works

Follow these steps in order. Skip steps where the tool is already installed.

Copy this checklist and track progress:

Setup Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Pre-flight checks
- [ ] Step 2: Install Ghostty
- [ ] Step 3: Install CLI tools
- [ ] Step 4: Install fonts
- [ ] Step 5: Configure Ghostty
- [ ] Step 6: Configure Fish shell
- [ ] Step 7: Install Fish plugins
- [ ] Step 8: Configure lazygit
- [ ] Step 9: Configure yazi
- [ ] Step 10: Install Neovim + LazyVim
- [ ] Step 11: Set Ghostty as default terminal
- [ ] Step 12: Validate and verify

Step 1: Pre-flight Checks

Verify prerequisites before starting:

# Check macOS and architecture
uname -m  # expect: arm64
sw_vers --productVersion  # expect: 13.0+

# Check Homebrew
brew --version || echo "Homebrew not installed — install from https://brew.sh"

If Homebrew is missing, install it:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Check what is already installed to skip redundant steps:

for cmd in ghostty fish yazi lazygit nvim fzf zoxide atuin fd rg bat delta; do
  printf "%-10s: " "$cmd"
  which $cmd 2>/dev/null || echo "not installed"
done

Use this table to resolve any missing items:

Check	Fix
Homebrew not installed	Run the install script above
ghostty not found	Step 2: brew install --cask ghostty
Any CLI tool not found	Step 3: brew install <tool> (all tools installed together)
Architecture not arm64	This skill targets Apple Silicon; Intel Macs may have compatibility issues with some tools

Step 2: Install Ghostty

Check if Ghostty is already installed:

ls /Applications/Ghostty.app 2>/dev/null && echo "Ghostty installed" || echo "Not installed"

If not installed:

brew install --cask ghostty

Step 3: Install CLI Tools

Install all tools in one command (already-installed tools are skipped automatically):

brew install fish yazi lazygit neovim fzf zoxide atuin fd ripgrep bat git-delta

Step 4: Install Fonts

Ask the user which font setup they prefer before installing:

Option A: CJK-optimized (recommended for Chinese/Japanese/Korean users)

brew install --cask font-maple-mono-nf-cn font-sarasa-gothic font-jetbrains-mono-nerd-font

Option B: Latin-only (English-primary users)

brew install --cask font-jetbrains-mono-nerd-font

Step 5: Configure Ghostty

Read the complete config template from references/ghostty-config.md.

Before writing, ask the user about preferences:

• Theme: Run ghostty +list-themes to show options. Popular: Monokai Vivid, Rose Pine, TokyoNight Storm, Catppuccin Mocha
• Transparency: Whether to enable background opacity (some users prefer fully opaque)
• Font size: Default 15, adjust for their display

Check if config already exists before writing:

mkdir -p ~/.config/ghostty
ls ~/.config/ghostty/config 2>/dev/null && echo "Config exists" || echo "No config"

If config exists: show current content, ask the user:

• (A) Back up and replace: cp ~/.config/ghostty/config ~/.config/ghostty/config.backup.$(date +%s) then write new config
• (B) Skip: keep existing config
• (C) Show diff and merge: show differences, let user decide per-section

After writing, ALWAYS validate:

ghostty +validate-config

If validation shows theme errors, the theme name likely needs exact casing. Check with ghostty +list-themes | grep -i <name>.

Step 6: Configure Fish Shell

Read the complete config template from references/fish-config.md.

Ask the user if they want to register Fish as a login shell. Explain this means:

• Fish will be available in chsh as a login shell option
• It requires sudo to modify /etc/shells
• Their current shell remains the default unless they explicitly run chsh -s $(which fish) later

If the user agrees, register Fish:

grep -q "$(which fish)" /etc/shells || echo "$(which fish)" | sudo tee -a /etc/shells

Do NOT run chsh automatically. Only mention it as an optional next step if the user asks to make Fish their default shell.

Check if config already exists before writing:

mkdir -p ~/.config/fish/{completions,conf.d,functions}
ls ~/.config/fish/config.fish 2>/dev/null && echo "Config exists" || echo "No config"

If config exists: show current content, ask the user:

• (A) Back up and replace: cp ~/.config/fish/config.fish ~/.config/fish/config.fish.backup.$(date +%s) then write new config
• (B) Skip: keep existing config
• (C) Show diff and merge: show differences, merge section by section. Idempotency check: before adding init lines (fzf --fish | source, zoxide init fish | source, atuin init fish | source) or aliases, grep for them in the existing file to avoid duplicates.

After writing the config, validate Fish can parse it:

fish -n ~/.config/fish/config.fish && echo "Fish config syntax OK" || echo "Fish config has syntax errors"

If syntax errors are found, show the error output and fix the config before proceeding.

Import existing shell history into atuin:

fish -c "atuin import auto"

Step 7: Install Fish Plugins

Check if Fisher (plugin manager) is installed:

fish -c "type fisher" 2>/dev/null || fish -c "curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jorgebucaran/fisher/main/functions/fisher.fish | source && fisher install jorgebucaran/fisher"

Install Tide prompt:

fish -c "fisher install IlanCosman/tide@v6"

Step 8: Configure lazygit

Read the complete config template from references/lazygit-config.md.

The reference includes color themes for Monokai, TokyoNight, and Rose Pine. Match the lazygit theme to whichever Ghostty theme the user chose in Step 5.

Check if config already exists before writing:

mkdir -p ~/.config/lazygit
ls ~/.config/lazygit/config.yml 2>/dev/null && echo "Config exists" || echo "No config"

If config exists: show current content, ask the user:

• (A) Back up and replace: cp ~/.config/lazygit/config.yml ~/.config/lazygit/config.yml.backup.$(date +%s) then write new config
• (B) Skip: keep existing config
• (C) Show diff and merge: show differences, let user decide per-section

After writing, validate the YAML is parseable by lazygit:

lazygit -c ~/.config/lazygit/config.yml --version && echo "lazygit config OK" || echo "lazygit config may have issues"

If lazygit is not yet available, validate YAML syntax with:

python3 -c "import yaml; yaml.safe_load(open('$HOME/.config/lazygit/config.yml'))" && echo "YAML syntax OK" || echo "YAML syntax error"

Step 9: Configure yazi

Read the complete config template from references/yazi-config.md.

Check if config already exists before writing:

mkdir -p ~/.config/yazi
ls ~/.config/yazi/yazi.toml 2>/dev/null && echo "Config exists" || echo "No config"

If config exists: show current content, ask the user:

• (A) Back up and replace: cp ~/.config/yazi/yazi.toml ~/.config/yazi/yazi.toml.backup.$(date +%s) then write new config
• (B) Skip: keep existing config
• (C) Show diff and merge: show differences, let user decide per-section

After writing, validate the TOML is parseable:

python3 -c "import tomllib; tomllib.load(open('$HOME/.config/yazi/yazi.toml', 'rb'))" && echo "yazi config OK" || echo "TOML syntax error"

Step 10: Install Neovim + LazyVim

Check if nvim config already exists:

ls ~/.config/nvim/init.lua 2>/dev/null && echo "Nvim config exists" || echo "No config"

If config exists, ask the user:

• (A) Back up and replace: cp -r ~/.config/nvim ~/.config/nvim.backup.$(date +%s) then clone fresh
• (B) Skip: keep existing Neovim config

If no existing config (or user chose A), clone to a temp directory first so a failed clone does not destroy the existing config:

NVIM_TMP=$(mktemp -d)
git clone https://github.com/LazyVim/starter "$NVIM_TMP/nvim" && rm -rf "$NVIM_TMP/nvim/.git"

Only replace the config after a successful clone:

rm -rf ~/.config/nvim
mv "$NVIM_TMP/nvim" ~/.config/nvim
rm -rf "$NVIM_TMP"

If the clone fails, inform the user that their existing config (or backup) is untouched and suggest retrying when network is available.

Tell the user: first time opening nvim, LazyVim auto-installs all plugins — wait about 30 seconds.

Step 11: Set Ghostty as Default Terminal (Optional)

Ask the user if they want Ghostty to replace their current default terminal in Finder's "Open in Terminal".

If yes, read the Swift helper from references/set-default-terminal.md and run it.

Step 12: Validate and Verify

Run final verification:

echo "=== Tool Versions ==="
for cmd in fish yazi lazygit nvim fzf zoxide atuin fd rg bat delta; do
  printf "%-10s: " "$cmd"
  $cmd --version 2>&1 | head -1
done

echo ""
echo "=== Ghostty Config ==="
ghostty +validate-config 2>&1 || echo "Config OK (no output = no errors)"

echo ""
echo "=== Fish Shell ==="
fish -c "echo Fish is working"

Present the user with a summary of what was installed and configured, plus the quick reference below.

Quick Reference

Alias	Command
y	yazi (file manager)
yy	yazi with cd-on-exit
lg	lazygit
v	nvim
cc	claude
z <keyword>	zoxide smart cd

Ghostty Shortcut	Action
Cmd+D	Vertical split
Cmd+Shift+D	Horizontal split
Cmd+Alt+Arrow	Navigate splits
Ctrl+`	Quick Terminal (global)

Fish Key	Action
Tab	Accept autosuggestion
Alt+Tab	Accept one word
→	Completion menu
Ctrl+R	History search (atuin)

Recovery / Rollback

If new config breaks something, open Terminal.app (macOS built-in, always available) and run the appropriate fix:

Broken	Fix
Ghostty won't launch or renders wrong	mv ~/.config/ghostty/config ~/.config/ghostty/config.broken — Ghostty uses defaults on next launch
Fish shell broken on startup	mv ~/.config/fish/config.fish ~/.config/fish/config.fish.broken — Fish loads without custom config
Want to revert Fish as login shell	chsh -s /bin/zsh
Want to remove Fish from /etc/shells	`sudo sed -i '' '|/fish$
lazygit or yazi broken	Delete the config file (~/.config/lazygit/config.yml or ~/.config/yazi/yazi.toml) — tool reverts to defaults
Neovim/LazyVim broken	rm -rf ~/.config/nvim — if you have a backup: cp -r ~/.config/nvim.backup.<timestamp> ~/.config/nvim
Any config with .backup.<timestamp>	cp <file>.backup.<timestamp> <file> to restore the backed-up version

Troubleshooting

Theme names require exact casing with spaces:

• Wrong: rose-pine, tokyo-night
• Correct: Rose Pine, TokyoNight Storm
• List available: ghostty +list-themes
• Validate config: ghostty +validate-config

Cmd+V does not paste images into Claude Code (Ghostty bug, Discussion #10117):

• Use Ctrl+V instead, or drag-and-drop image files

Fish key binding syntax differs from Zsh:

• Wrong: bind -k right complete (-k is zsh syntax)
• Correct: bind right complete
• Also override raw escape: bind \e\[C complete

Chinese text too large or misaligned:

• Add CJK font as first font-family entry
• Set adjust-cell-height = 20%

List available fonts: ghostty +list-fonts

List available themes: ghostty +list-themes