Bash Fish Tide Atuin Oh My Posh

After installing Ubuntu Server, whichever version you chose, the first thing you need to do after logging in via SSH is run the update commands.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y 

and then you reboot when done.

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BASH

Step 2: Verify Bash is installed or install if needed

command -v bash

This command will indicate whether bash is installed on your server. In my case, it was, which is normal for a regular Ubuntu install.

If you need to install it, you can do so with the following command. Once installed, verify it using the next command:

sudo apt install -y bash

bash --version

NOTE: At this point, bash and bash-completion, which is where you type a bash command like ‘sudo apt [space]’ and then ‘[tab] [tab]’ and you will see options for the next word or words you can add to sudo apt such as update or upgrade, etc.

Step 3: Add Bash Auto-Suggestions

NOTE: This has been more helpful to me than the basic bash [tab][tab] completion because it automatically displays old commands you previously entered as you start typing a new command. Then, you can hit the right arrow on your keyboard, completing the rest of the command. This process quickly and accurately finishes longer or repetitive commands.

UPDATE & CORRECTION:

Bash does not have an add-on for adding auto-suggestion to the prompt like Fish does.

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FISH

Step 1: Update server

sudo apt update

Step 2: Install Fish

sudo apt install -y fish

Step 3: Verify installation

fish --version

should return fish, version 3.x.x

Step 4: Start Fish terminal session

fish

will see a new prompt, slightly different. Colors different mark@test-vm ~>

NOTE: The next command is not required, but you can run it to see which shells exist on the system that you can change without adding them. These are the shells installed by default in Ubuntu server 24.04 that you can switch to.

cat /etc/shells

Will list Bash, Fish, Tmux, etc. All we care about is that Fish is there.

Step 5: Make Fish default shell

chsh -s /usr/bin/fish

It will prompt for your password because you are making changes to the user settings.

NOTE: This only changes the shell for you, not system-wide.

Step 6: Begin a new session to start up the Fish shell

exec fish

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OH MY POSH

Step 1: Update curl and client certificates

sudo apt update && sudo apt install --reinstall ca-certificates curl -y

Step 2: Install Unzip - needed for installation

sudo apt install -y unzip

Step 3: Install Oh My Posh for Linux

curl -s https://ohmyposh.dev/install.sh | bash -s

Step 4: Add Oh My Posh to $PATH

export PATH=$PATH:/home/mark/.local/bin

Step 5: Add Oh My Posh to Your Fish Configuration

set -Ux fish_user_paths /home/mark/.local/bin $fish_user_paths

Step 6: Verify installation

oh-my-posh --version

Returns something like 25.x.x if successful

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PROMPT MODIFICATION

Step 1: Download Nerd Fonts

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts && cd ~/.local/share/fonts
wget https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/latest/download/FiraCode.zip

Makes local directory ~/.local/share/fonts and downloads the nerd fonts.

Step 2. Extract the font files

unzip FiraCode.zip
rm FiraCode.zip

Step 3. Install fontconfig

sudo apt install -y fontconfig

Step 4. Refresh the fonts cache

fc-cache: succeeded

Step 5. Set the Nerd Font in GNOME Terminal

Open GNOME Terminal settings:

-Click on Edit → Preferences

-Select your active profile - mine was Everforest Dark Hard

Change the font:

-Find the “Text Appearance” section.

-Click on the “Custom Font” checkbox.

-Select FiraCode Nerd Font (I did not select the mono one)

Save and restart GNOME Terminal.

Reconnect to your Ubuntu Server via SSH.

Step 6. Test if Nerd Fonts are working

oh-my-posh print primary

You should see something like this:

[insert prompt image here]

Step 7: Choose a Theme from those downloaded with Oh My Posh

ls ~/.cache/oh-my-posh/themes/

Preview Themes at: https://ohmyposh.dev/docs/themes - or - https://github.com/JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh/tree/main/themes (up to date)

Step 8: Test theme temporarily

oh-my-posh init fish --config ~/.cache/oh-my-posh/themes/theme-name.omp.json | source

Replace theme-name with one you chose

Step 9: Make Permanent

echo 'oh-my-posh init fish --config ~/.cache/oh-my-posh/themes/theme-name.omp.json | source' >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish

Replace theme-name with one you chose

PROMPT MODIFICATION with Tide using the Fisher plugin for Fish

Step 1: Install Fisher (the Fish Plugin Manager)

curl -sL https://git.io/fisher | source && fisher install jorgebucaran/fisher

Step 2: Install Tide Prompt for Fish

fisher install IlanCosman/tide

Step 3: Configure Tide

tide configure

This runs the Q&A wizard to set the prompt based on the answers you give to the questions

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Install Atuin for added history search functionality

Step 1: Install Required Dependencies

sudo apt install curl git -y

Step 2: Run Atuin installation script

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ellie/atuin/main/install.sh | bash

Step 3: Add Atuin to your PATH. This is a Fish-specific command, different from Bash or Zsh.

source $HOME/.atuin/bin/env.fish

Step 4: Test installation

atuin --version

Step 5: Make PATH change permanent

echo 'source $HOME/.atuin/bin/env.fish' >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish

HERE is the correct CONFIG.FISH & PATH for this setup.

‘if status is-interactive”
atuin init fish | source
end
set -Ux PATH /usr/local/bin /usr/bin /bin $HOME/.local/bin
source $HOME/.atuin/bin/env.fish

Run:

nano ~/.config/fish/config.fish

And make sure config.fish is the same as the above

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NOTE: For Bash - add the following to make Atuin persistent

source $HOME/.atuin/bin/env

echo 'source $HOME/.atuin/bin/env' >> ~/.bashrc

Summary: After working with Bash, changing to Fish, adding Oh My Posh and Tide to make custom prompts, and finally adding Atuin for Auto Suggestion—which is the key for an easy terminal experience — here are my preferences.

FISH + TIDE + ATUIN AND drop Oh My Posh. Nice but not a must-have

UPDATE: In a hurry? Just install Atuin in the normally default Bash shell