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Ghostty’s shell integration provides enhanced terminal features like semantic prompt detection, cursor shape control, and improved sudo/SSH workflows. Integration is automatic for supported shells.

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Supported Shells

Shell integration is available for:
  • Bash (requires Bash 4.0+, automatic integration requires standard Bash)
  • Fish (automatic)
  • Zsh (requires Zsh 5.1+, automatic)
  • Elvish (manual import required)
  • Nushell (automatic)

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Features Provided

Semantic Prompts

OSC 133 sequences mark prompts, commands, and output for better navigation and selection

Cursor Control

Automatic cursor shape changes: bar at prompt, block during command execution

Sudo Integration

Automatically preserves terminfo when using sudo

SSH Integration

Copies terminfo to remote hosts for proper terminal behavior

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Setup by Shell

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Bash

Shell integration is automatic for standard Bash installations. Ghostty starts Bash in POSIX mode with the ENV environment variable set to load the integration script.No manual configuration needed.

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Fish

Automatic integration via XDG_DATA_DIRS. Ghostty prepends its shell integration directory, and Fish automatically loads configuration files from <XDG_DATA_DIR>/fish/vendor_conf.d/*.fish on startup. No manual setup required.

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Zsh

1

Check if automatic integration works

Automatic integration works by temporarily setting ZDOTDIR to Ghostty’s integration directory.If your environment doesn’t set ZDOTDIR in system-wide files like /etc/zshenv, automatic integration should work.
2

Manual setup (if needed)

If automatic integration doesn’t work, add this to your ~/.zshrc:
if [[ -n $GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIR ]]; then
  source "$GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIR"/shell-integration/zsh/ghostty-integration
fi
Requires Zsh 5.1 or later (released September 2015).

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Elvish

1

Understand automatic module loading

Ghostty prepends $GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIR/src/shell-integration to XDG_DATA_DIRS, making the ghostty-integration module available.
2

Import the module

Add to your ~/.config/elvish/rc.elv:
if (eq $E:TERM "xterm-ghostty") {
  try { use ghostty-integration } catch { }
}
Elvish integration is community-supported. The Ghostty team distributes it but does not officially support it.

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Nushell

Automatic integration using Nushell’s vendor autoload mechanism. Ghostty automatically imports the module using the -e "use ghostty *" flag. Manual loading (if shell integration is disabled): 
source $GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIR/shell-integration/nushell/vendor/autoload/ghostty.nu
use ghostty *

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Shell Integration Features

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Controlling Features

Customize which integration features are enabled:
~/.config/ghostty/config
# Disable specific features
shell-integration-features = no-cursor

# Enable only specific features
shell-integration-features = sudo,title
Available features:
  • cursor - Automatic cursor shape changes
  • sudo - Terminfo preservation for sudo
  • title - Window title updates

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Cursor Behavior

With cursor integration enabled:
  • At prompt: Cursor becomes a bar (vertical line)
  • During execution: Cursor returns to default (usually block)
Disable cursor integration if you prefer manual control: 
shell-integration-features = no-cursor

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Sudo Integration Example

The sudo feature wraps the sudo command to preserve $TERMINFO: 
# Without integration:
$ sudo vim
# May have terminal compatibility issues

# With integration:
$ sudo vim  
# Automatically preserves Ghostty terminfo

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SSH Integration

The SSH features help copy terminfo to remote hosts: 
# Terminfo is automatically copied when connecting
ssh user@remote-host

# On the remote host, Ghostty's terminfo is available

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Prompt Markers (OSC 133)

Shell integration uses OSC 133 sequences to mark semantic regions:
  • OSC 133 A: Prompt start
  • OSC 133 B: Prompt end (command start)
  • OSC 133 C: Command execution start
  • OSC 133 D: Command end
These markers enable features like:
  • Selecting entire command output
  • Scrolling between prompts
  • Visual prompt indicators

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Environment Variables

Shell integration sets these environment variables:
VariableDescription
GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIRPath to Ghostty’s resource directory
GHOSTTY_SHELL_FEATURESComma-separated list of enabled features
GHOSTTY_BIN_DIRPath to Ghostty binary directory
TERMSet to xterm-ghostty

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Troubleshooting

Check if $GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIR is set:
echo $GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIR
If empty, you’re not running in Ghostty or automatic integration failed. Use manual setup.
Ensure cursor integration is enabled:
echo $GHOSTTY_SHELL_FEATURES | grep cursor
Check your config doesn’t have shell-integration-features = no-cursor.
Verify the sudo feature is enabled:
echo $GHOSTTY_SHELL_FEATURES | grep sudo
Ensure $TERMINFO is set:
echo $TERMINFO

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Disabling Shell Integration

To completely disable shell integration:
~/.config/ghostty/config
shell-integration = false