How To Make Your Boring macOS Terminal Amazing With Alacritty

I recently switched from iTerm2 to Alacritty and in this video I show you everything I do to create a minimal, amazing & fast terminal setup with it on macOs. I've really enjoyed this change. Hope you guys enjoy the video!
✍🏽 Blog Post With Code & Commands: bit.ly/3y2VhHw
💻 Source Code/Dotfiles: bit.ly/4cFlPyq
UPDATE: After making this video, many of you recommended WezTerm and I decided to give it a try. It's awesome, so thank you! Though Alacritty works great, WezTerm is a bit better in my opinion. I've added a ~/.wezterm.lua config file to the repo: github.com/josean-dev/dev-env.... This is all you need to change to have pretty much the same setup as the one shown in this video, but with WezTerm instead. Thanks!
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🔗 Helpful Links
Alacritty configuration docs: bit.ly/4dm4ATc
Toml spec: app.bitly.com/Bo3blEqCFMW/lin...
Alacritty Themes: bit.ly/3Qq2GqI
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⏰ Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
00:29 - Install homebrew
01:23 - Install alacritty
01:55 - Install git
02:02 - Install nerd font
02:32 - Create config file
03:30 - Window configuration
05:03 - Font configuration
05:32 - True colors (for tmux)
05:52 - Setup p10k theme
07:38 - Setup theme colors
09:46 - Better history completion
11:20 - zsh-autosuggestions
11:54 - zsh-syntax-highlighting
12:43 - eza (better ls)
13:13 - zoxide (better cd)
14:25 - Setup tmux
15:59 - Conclusion

[@joseanmartinez]

UPDATE: After making this video, many of you recommended WezTerm and I decided to give it a try. It's awesome, so thank you! Though Alacritty works great, WezTerm is a bit better in my opinion. I've added a ~/.wezterm.lua config file to the repo: github.com/josean-dev/dev-environment-files/blob/main/.wezterm.lua. This is all you need to change to have pretty much the same setup as the one shown in this video, but with WezTerm instead. Thanks!

[@chandebrec5856]

In what way(s) is WezTerm a bit better? For that matter, in what *perceptible" ways is Alacritty faster than iTerm2 -- what tasks would make the speed difference noticeable?

[@shouryasharma9228]

@@chandebrec5856 +1

[@user-ms7qr6bi6v]

Thanks to upload very useful contents. I used the wezterm config file you uploaded, but it's inconvenient because I can't see the tabs.

[@chrislacey89]

Would also be keen to hear your thoughts. WezTerm seems more configurable & has much better documentation. Any other big things to note?

[@BrunoSantosX]

WezTerm is another accelerated GPU terminal Emulator?

[@scottfwalter]

I've been using Alacritty for a couple months so I didn't pick up many tips from that section. However, your history keybindings tips were awesome. That was worth the price of the whole video.

[@akshitgupta4749]

Awesome. Just setup my config last month and had to research a lot. It's great finally someone did the hard work and dropped the vid. Also can you make a video on setting up fish terminal?

[@wheaten1]

Fantastic tutorial. Thanks for the clear instructions and blog.

[@alonelyproducer663]

hi, i recently discoverd your channel, all i may say is, thank you, wow. Good quality, well presented, not bloated with unuseful information. Thanks!!!!

[@MrArso99]

thank you for this video. For eza i recommand two aliases. The first the one you show The seconds alias ll="eza -l" to show permissions and users

[@Liltsco]

Flawless as always! Great job!

[@utvikler-no]

Yet again there are some gems here ☺️👍

[@joseanmartinez]

Thanks!

[@pokiandboki1224]

Great video!! may i ask how to make the transparent effect that can see through ur desk? I wanna make some chill setup video like this!! Thanks I'm ur big fan

[@joseanmartinez]

Hey guys! I’ve been using Alacritty recently and have really enjoyed it because its simple and suits my nvim/tmux workflow well. That said, there’s other great options out there I haven’t tried yet like Kitty, Wezterm or Warp. I might look into them in the future, but use whatever works well for you! Hope you enjoy the video!

[@myhstic]

I switched from warp to kitty. I feel warp is getting slower and more bloated than it was in the beginning

[@aldredd]

I've been trying out warp - I'm a lighter terminal user than a lot of other users, so find warp's prompts when I want to do something specific a huge help, and encourages me to use it more

[@davemeech]

I have been using warp and enjoying it for the most part, but I am getting big I shouldn't be using it on my work machine vibes from it given it requires a login. This is compelling me to switch!

[@74Bagas]

kitty, alacritty, wezterm, can't go wrong. installed all, except kitty. and i prefer alacritty for main terminal, wezterm for "just in case". tried warp, it's not for me, it was fun though.

[@patricorgi]

Hi Josean, great video! May I ask that how do you record a single window with shadow so you can overlay the recording to a background video?

[@ilyeshammadi7278]

Thanks for the video. I used Alacritty for almost a year on Mac. But I switched to Wezterm due to the lack of features in Alacrttiy compared to Wezterm. Font ligatures was for me the reason to switch to Wezterm and also Lua config.

[@joseanmartinez]

I'll have to check it out! Thanks

[@themarksmith]

Just installed Wezterm - seems great!

[@danielstoddart]

@@themarksmith Nothing against Wezterm, but it's still developed by one guy, right? That kind of gives me pause. I prefer projects where there's little chance of them going away.

[@themarksmith]

@@danielstoddart Good point, but it does seem to be a great mix of iTerm2 and Kitty...

[@costerik]

Hey 👋, Thanks for your videos! you rocks! quick question, why did you set the env. variable TERM to xterm-256color? I'm curious about it.

[@dinakanwamu5676]

Hey great video keep up the good work, watched an old setup video recently, the section about internet sharing for testing websites on mobile. Can you do a video or short explaining how it’s done. Or any resources you can share on how you got this done.🙏

[@vredurs]

Awesome video, thanks a lot

[@kasiezhang]

nice video, thanks josean.

[@tompov227]

Using Meslo as your font. Great Taste!

[@andriimartynov]

Hello. Thanks for you videos. Why don't you use something to manage your dot files?

[@jeffersonspringfield1785]

I absolutely love your Coolnight theme. I was poking around your Git repo hoping to find that theme for VS Code. I know you like Neovim but did you ever construct a Coolnight for VS Code?

[@ericlindell3777]

Great vid!

[@rodriidamn98]

Amazing videos 🎉

[@rodhash]

Great video man .. I just wish Alacritty would support font fallback but from what I saw in their GH repo, issue #957 is opened since 2017

[@HellhammerHH]

Awesome! Are you using any enhanced versions of Ranger/Dirvish, too?

[@StoneColdET_]

Another banger. Commenting for the algorithm 🎉

[@joseanmartinez]

Thank you!

[@lupionpe]

What made you decide to use Alacritty? I am experimenting with Wez

[@Adverse191]

Thanks for the video. What key switches you use?

[@LorenzoBettini]

Thanks for the video! In Linux I use Ctrl right and left to move one word, but that doesn't work in macOS terminals, including alacritty.. do you experience that as well?

[@itisciprian]

using warp with tmux and nvim with the same config I had in iterm2 . I do not wanna make the switch yet. Keep using iterm2 from time to time but warp is fast - 2 fast- and as a bonus - it got AI. BTW after watching your videos o am switched also to a wireless corne xiao build. Can you share your layers ? thank you and chapeau!

[@RS_DEVOPS]

very, very, very good!!! 👍👍👍

[@joseanmartinez]

Thanks!

[@sirhmvfx3496]

Thank you so much for this video.... but does it really take so long for eza to install?

[@vladgonzalez3325]

I love your videos. !Great work, my man!

[@loo_9]

my tip is to create an alias in Arc for my current terminal (i use “terminal” although it shadows the terminal app). since i frequently try out terminals, browsers, etc. i don’t want to remember the name of the app i currently or open the wrong one by mistake

[@benarcher372]

Now we're talking! Alacritty ftw. You still use zsh 🙂 (coming up: 'how to switch to bash') Thanks /Ben

[@user-dw8hq5ni9e]

Hi @joseanmartinez do u know how to add the standard mac border, as it is right now its borderless on mac. Thanks !

[@kamalkamals]

what is technical reason to choose alacritty instead of kitty or other ?

[@TerenceKearns]

very helpful

[@alborisninvel3714]

Have you tried Kitty? It's even better.

[@joseanmartinez]

Haven’t tried it, but heard good things!

[@ivantedja5072]

I encounter this error brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts Error: homebrew/cask-fonts was deprecated. This tap is now empty and all its contents were either deleted or migrated. Have any of you had the same problem?

[@user-hh4br5tk5p]

Well done, nive rice you have there!

[@joseanmartinez]

Thanks!

[@RogerioGoSantos]

Top of my friend, you could make Kitty's terminal a friend.

[@louissenderler6866]

hi, I like you keyboard!

[@integrii]

TIL you can brew internal nerdfonts

[@krisvanderven2367]

I know you also use(d) yabai, did you get Alacritty to work with yabai? When I use Alacritty now it is never managed by yabai and whatever I do it stays a floating window. Maybe it's because I also set it up as buttonless?

[@joseanmartinez]

Hmm that's weird, it works fine for me.

[@krisvanderven2367]

@@joseanmartinez weird indeed, will keep looking for a solution. It is stopping me from using Alacritty.

[@joseanmartinez]

@@krisvanderven2367 Maybe try updating both yabai and alacritty?

[@krisvanderven2367]

@@joseanmartinez when I changed "assign to all desktops" it worked. Never knew that option was on. #facePalm This video helped me switch!

[@themarksmith]

Excellent video but the CTRL+a and SHIFT+I does nothing... also CTRL+hkl... doesn't move panes... most likely my own config screwing things up!

[@TheMk6488]

Same here. Nothing happens when I press CTRL+a and SHIFT+i.

[@aceaspadesblack7399]

The wizard overwrote my entire .zshrc file; that's a lot of work to erase. I've got a backup, but that's not something which was mentioned in the wizard, or the video, definitely something to keep note of.

[@NikhilKumar-cl7rj]

After adding ls alias using eza I am unable to use ls -l command to see the permission related details of files but alternatively I can use eza -l to get all the file permission details

[@joseanmartinez]

Yeah you can change the alias to something like just “eza” with no arguments and use “ls -long” afterwards which is the argument you need for eza

[@joseanmartinez]

Actually, just changed the blog post to make the alias be "ls=eza --icons=always". Thanks for pointing this out.

[@NikhilKumar-cl7rj]

@@joseanmartinez you are welcome boiii

[@TBO76]

FYI be sure to check that logos actually mathc at around 6:30 an arabic symbol was being displayed instead of an up arrow. Might lead to some unusual behavior if not careful!

[@miguelv06]

Are you using qwerty layout on your keyboard?

[@joseanmartinez]

Yep!

[@dexmark5]

Is it ok to have 2 terminal setups on your computer? like iTerm2 and Alacritty running at the same time

[@joseanmartinez]

Sure! The colorschemes will be different, but that’s fine.

[@micaelviana]

Why do two terminals open at the same time? Is it not easier to use tabs?

[@joseanmartinez]

I was just answering as to whether its ok to have two setups. It is, but I personally just use one and use tmux for all my sessions, windows and panes.

[@dexmark5]

@@micaelviana i like to change from minimall to full info ones for diffrent ones that's why :)

[@Tranuc-up6sp]

oh great now i have to uninstall iterm2 that i just install yesterday

[@jimmahgee]

That’s a vibe

[@BiGreDNoSecoMpAny]

Tomorrow you will install Warp, then you find the next KZbinr who’s using the built-in MacOS Terminal for simplicity, then again someone tells you about an open source Warp alternative, only to switch back to Alacritty the day after 🙏 prayers to all of us clueless devs :(

[@Feedback406]

I use both Iterm2 you can view images with You can’t do that with alacrity

[@AllenGodswill-im3op]

Lol 😂, you can use both.

[@owenbrown5992]

Why not just use warp? I’ve been using it for over a year now and absolutely love it

[@joseanmartinez]

I haven’t tried it, but I like that Alacritty is open source and it works well with my tmux/nvim workflow

[@owenbrown5992]

@@joseanmartinez I do like how it seems to build around the default Mac terminal. I just feel like Warp is already to go out of the box. Not much set up, but you still have ability to do plenty of customization

[@bailout00]

My issue with this sort of thing has always been that I'm in 10-20 different shells every day, having customization in one and not in another gets real frustrating

[@OzzyMoto2K10]

What keyboard is that?

[@MStoica]

What keyboard is that? 🥰

[@joseanmartinez]

MX Corne v3

[@teamvigod]

How did you get your Neovim to look like that???

[@joseanmartinez]

I have a full guide on my Neovim setup here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKGkeGZ4fdqlmq8si=ZuH80PQ1RTwWm3Uk

[@okumamusicth3602]

How to fullscreen?

[@jrreed47]

kitty or wezterm all day

[@JMac___]

Is there a reason you’re not using your wireless corne anymore?

[@joseanmartinez]

I’ve been using both. I started a small shop where I have wired corne pcbs (splittype.com) and made one for myself and like it on my desk, but I still use the wireless one on the go.

[@konakonaxiong7621]

hmmm,我在想有没有办法一打开Ala就直接是3 个很酷的 tmux session！

[@desireco]

Maybe if you care about productivity you could use Fish :)

[@johnfrusciante8080]

alacritty with tmux is slow, isn't it?

[@siuyutpang2335]

oh alacritty config file has blur option now

[@Noah-rm4br]

6:30 that was not an arrow though, that was an arabic letter..

[@ianm1837]

I see where this is going.. when are you installing Arch? 😜 Alacritty is great. Maybe a bit limited compared to some others, but it's the terminal I find myself using the most.

[@sanchit5764]

Why do i see this video the day I switched to Windows. Tx Microsoft

[@BrazenNL]

I like ligatures, so Alacritty is out for me. Wezterm wins.

[@tommycallsuback]

bro just use Warp terminal

[@joseanmartinez]

I haven’t tried it yet, but I like that Alacritty is open source and works well with my nvim/tmux workflow

[@eeknud]

Big fan of Warp, especially now it’s on Mac and Linux. However, their endgame has to be subscription or something so it will get down to paid vs open at some point. Happy to pay if it gives me features that I need and so far it does.

[@danwroy]

UPDATE LAZY

[@javenwang]

kitty is faster than alacritty

[@joseanmartinez]

Have heard good things about Kitty, Alacritty is pretty fast too!

[@zheil9152]

Watching people burn all of the milliseconds of “saved time” by advertising their slightly faster alternative will never not be funny

[@fschlegelone]

nobody notices that they are both fast as fck

[@jeroAhumada]

I tried kitty but there's some issues with tmux, and the main developer says he hates tmux so he have no plans to fix them, that's why I stuck with iterm2. Now with this video, I think I'm gonna try alacritty

[@fschlegelone]

@@jeroAhumada hahah yeah thats why kitty introduced their own session & pane management

[@elgreengroo]

It's strange that for someone who makes everything so convenient for himself, you completely ignore the autocomplete capabilities of the command line and type everything in its entirety....

[@joseanmartinez]

Its for the tutorial, to make things clear and easy to follow

[@miyu545]

The best way to make a MAC amazing is to use a Windows PC.

[@jwr6796]

That boots Linux.

[@chandebrec5856]

Can always tell the Windows users by their rendering of "Mac" in all uppercase as if it were "IBM".