Terminal Optimization: A 2026 Refresh

A comprehensive terminal optimization covering security fixes, modern tooling, and performance improvements
terminal
productivity
macos
tools
Author

Nipun Batra

Published

January 3, 2026

Terminal Optimization: A 2026 Refresh

After years of accumulating cruft in my terminal configuration, I finally did a complete audit and optimization. Here’s what I found and fixed.

The Problems

A quick audit of my .zshrc revealed several issues:

1. Exposed API Keys (Critical!)

# DON'T DO THIS - keys visible to anyone with file access
export GEMINI_API_KEY="sk-..."
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="sk-..."

API keys sitting in plaintext in a dotfile that might get committed to a dotfiles repo or shared. Not good.

2. Dead Code from Deprecated Tools

# Fig was sunset in 2023 - these do nothing
[[ -f "$HOME/.fig/shell/zshrc.pre.zsh" ]] && source "$HOME/.fig/shell/zshrc.pre.zsh"

Fig (now Amazon Q) was deprecated, but these references were still cluttering the config.

3. Redundant Conda Initialization

I had conda init blocks in both .zshrc (for mambaforge) and .bash_profile (for miniconda3). Since switching to uv for Python environment management, neither was needed.

4. Missing Tool Integrations

I had installed modern CLI tools but never configured them: - fzf - installed but not integrated - zoxide - installed but not activated - bat, fd, eza - not aliased

5. Slow Prompt

The agnoster theme in oh-my-zsh, while pretty, adds noticeable startup latency.

The Solutions

Secure API Key Management

Created a separate secrets file with restricted permissions:

# ~/.zsh_secrets (chmod 600)
export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key-here"
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="your-key-here"

Then in .zshrc:

[ -f ~/.zsh_secrets ] && source ~/.zsh_secrets

The secrets file should be: - Added to .gitignore_global - Set to mode 600 (owner read/write only) - Never committed to version control

Starship Prompt

Replaced oh-my-zsh’s agnoster theme with Starship:

brew install starship

In .zshrc:

ZSH_THEME=""  # Disable oh-my-zsh theme
eval "$(starship init zsh)"

Starship is: - Written in Rust (fast) - Cross-shell compatible - Highly configurable - Shows only what’s relevant

My ~/.config/starship.toml:

add_newline = false
command_timeout = 1000

format = """
$directory\
$git_branch\
$git_status\
$python\
$cmd_duration\
$line_break\
$character"""

[character]
success_symbol = "[❯](bold green)"
error_symbol = "[❯](bold red)"

[directory]
truncation_length = 3
truncate_to_repo = true

[git_status]
ahead = "⇡${count}"
behind = "⇣${count}"
staged = "+${count}"
modified = "!${count}"

Modern CLI Tool Aliases

Replaced legacy commands with modern alternatives:

# In ~/.zshrc

# Modern ls with icons and git status
alias ls='eza --icons'
alias ll='eza -la --icons --git'
alias lt='eza --tree --level=2 --icons'

# Better cat with syntax highlighting
alias cat='bat --paging=never'

Tools installed: - eza - modern ls replacement with git integration - bat - cat with syntax highlighting - fd - faster, friendlier find - ripgrep - faster grep - zoxide - smarter cd

Before vs After: Real Examples

Let’s see these tools in action on a sample Python ML project:

dummy-project/
├── config.yaml
├── data/
│   └── readings.csv
├── docs/
├── README.md
├── src/
│   ├── model.py
│   └── train.py      (modified)
└── tests/
    └── test_model.py

ls → eza: Directory Listing

Before (/bin/ls -la):

total 16
drwxr-xr-x@  9 nipun  staff  288  4 Jan 06:54 .
drwxr-xr-x@  3 nipun  staff   96  4 Jan 06:54 ..
drwxr-xr-x@ 12 nipun  staff  384  4 Jan 07:01 .git
-rw-r--r--@  1 nipun  staff  104  4 Jan 06:54 config.yaml
drwxr-xr-x@  3 nipun  staff   96  4 Jan 06:54 data
drwxr-xr-x@  2 nipun  staff   64  4 Jan 06:54 docs
-rw-r--r--@  1 nipun  staff  235  4 Jan 06:54 README.md
drwxr-xr-x@  4 nipun  staff  128  4 Jan 06:54 src
drwxr-xr-x@  3 nipun  staff   96  4 Jan 06:54 tests

After (eza -la --git):

drwxr-xr-x@   - nipun  4 Jan 07:01 -I .git
.rw-r--r--@ 104 nipun  4 Jan 06:54 -- config.yaml
drwxr-xr-x@   - nipun  4 Jan 06:54 -- data
drwxr-xr-x@   - nipun  4 Jan 06:54 -- docs
.rw-r--r--@ 235 nipun  4 Jan 06:54 -- README.md
drwxr-xr-x@   - nipun  4 Jan 06:54 -M src        ← Modified!
drwxr-xr-x@   - nipun  4 Jan 06:54 -- tests

Notice the -M flag showing the src/ directory contains modified files. Git status at a glance!

ls -R → eza --tree: Tree View

Before (/bin/ls -laR): Nested, hard to read output spanning many lines.

After (eza --tree --git-ignore):

dummy-project/
├── config.yaml
├── data
│   └── readings.csv
├── docs
├── README.md
├── src
│   ├── model.py
│   └── train.py
└── tests
    └── test_model.py

Clean, visual hierarchy. Automatically ignores .git/ and other gitignored files.

cat → bat: Syntax Highlighting

Before (/bin/cat src/model.py):

"""Neural network model for energy prediction."""
import torch
import torch.nn as nn

class EnergyPredictor(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self, input_dim=10, hidden_dim=64):
        super().__init__()
        self.layers = nn.Sequential(
            nn.Linear(input_dim, hidden_dim),
            nn.ReLU(),
            nn.Dropout(0.2),
            nn.Linear(hidden_dim, 1)
        )

    def forward(self, x):
        return self.layers(x)

After (bat src/model.py): Same content but with: - Syntax highlighting (keywords, strings, classes colored) - Line numbers - Git integration (shows modified lines) - Automatic paging for long files

find → fd: Finding Files

Before (find . -name "*.py" -not -path "./.git/*"):

./tests/test_model.py
./src/model.py
./src/train.py

After (fd -e py):

src/model.py
src/train.py
tests/test_model.py

fd is: - ~5x faster on large codebases - Ignores .git/, node_modules/, etc. by default - Cleaner output (no ./ prefix) - Colored output in terminal

grep → rg: Searching Content

Before (grep -r "torch" . --include="*.py"):

./tests/test_model.py:import torch
./tests/test_model.py:    x = torch.randn(8, 10)
./src/model.py:import torch
./src/model.py:import torch.nn as nn
./src/train.py:import torch
./src/train.py:    optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters(), lr=lr)

After (rg "torch"):

README.md:pip install torch pandas numpy
tests/test_model.py:import torch
tests/test_model.py:    x = torch.randn(8, 10)
src/train.py:import torch
src/train.py:    optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters(), lr=lr)
src/model.py:import torch
src/model.py:import torch.nn as nn

ripgrep is: - ~10x faster than grep - Respects .gitignore automatically - Searches all file types by default (found the README match!) - Smart case sensitivity

fzf Integration

Finally configured fzf properly:

# Install shell integration
$(brew --prefix)/opt/fzf/install

# Configure in .zshrc
export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --hidden --follow --exclude .git'
export FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND="$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND"
export FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND='fd --type d --hidden --follow --exclude .git'

Key bindings: - Ctrl+T - fuzzy find files - Ctrl+R - fuzzy search command history - Alt+C - fuzzy cd to directory

zoxide - Smart Directory Navigation

eval "$(zoxide init zsh)"

Now z remembers frequently visited directories:

z blog      # Jumps to ~/git/blog
z posts     # Jumps to most frequently accessed "posts" directory
zi          # Interactive selection with fzf

Ghostty Configuration

Updated my Ghostty terminal emulator config:

# ~/.config/ghostty/config

# Font
font-family = "JetBrains Mono"
font-size = 16
font-thicken = true

# Appearance
theme = GruvboxDark
background-opacity = 0.95
window-padding-x = 10
window-padding-y = 10
macos-titlebar-style = tabs

# Performance
scrollback-limit = 50000
cursor-style-blink = false

# Keybindings
keybind = super+k=clear_screen
keybind = super+shift+enter=new_split:right
keybind = super+alt+enter=new_split:down

# Shell integration
shell-integration = zsh
shell-integration-features = cursor,sudo,title

The Final .zshrc

Here’s the cleaned up configuration (~85 lines vs ~160 before):

# Oh My Zsh
export ZSH="$HOME/.oh-my-zsh"
ZSH_THEME=""
DISABLE_UNTRACKED_FILES_DIRTY="true"
plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting)
source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh

# Starship prompt
eval "$(starship init zsh)"

# PATH (consolidated, with duplicate removal)
typeset -U PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/uv/python/shims:$PATH"
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/ruby/bin:$PATH"
export PATH="$HOME/Library/TinyTeX/bin/universal-darwin:$PATH"

# Tool integrations
[ -f ~/.fzf.zsh ] && source ~/.fzf.zsh
eval "$(zoxide init zsh)"

# Aliases
alias ls='eza --icons'
alias ll='eza -la --icons --git'
alias cat='bat --paging=never'

# uv environment
[ -f ~/.uv/base/bin/activate ] && source ~/.uv/base/bin/activate

# Secrets (API keys)
[ -f ~/.zsh_secrets ] && source ~/.zsh_secrets

Results

Metric Before After
Lines in .zshrc ~160 ~85
Shell startup time ~800ms ~300ms
Exposed secrets 3 0
Dead code blocks 4 0
Modern tools integrated 0 6

TL;DR Checklist

If you want to optimize your terminal:

  1. Security audit: Move all API keys to ~/.zsh_secrets with chmod 600
  2. Remove dead code: Delete Fig, old conda init, unused PATH entries
  3. Install modern tools: brew install starship eza bat fd ripgrep zoxide fzf
  4. Configure integrations: fzf keybindings, zoxide init, starship prompt
  5. Add useful aliases: Replace ls with eza, cat with bat
  6. Clean PATH: Use typeset -U PATH to deduplicate
  7. Update terminal emulator: Ghostty has great defaults, just needs minor config

Happy terminal-ing!