I use MAC OS 90% of the time for Development work, Trying to also be proficient at Windows Development and hone in similar settings on Windows that I use for MAC. I installed Git Bash instead of using Powershell or CMD so I could keep muscle memory workflows.
I have spent countless hours building out a custom .bashrc file instead of using ZSH (because I wanted to learn) that will give me a custom terminal prompt that I enjoy that includes username, directory and git information. This was all coded by me for learning purposes.
- Username (blue) & Directory (purple)
- Branch Name (Green if branch matches repo, Yellow if changes are found)
- Behind (↓) & Ahead (↑) Status
- Staged (+) & Unstaged (-) Status
- Untracked (?) Status
- Nerd Font Glyphs - Removes standard status icons and uses Nerd Font Glyphs instead. Need to install Nerd Font to work
- Debug Mode - Outputs branch & all status counts to terminal
- Test Mode - Shows all status icons & counts with sample values
- Simple Mode - Turns off all status icons & counts, Only showing a red X next to branch indicating not clean. Keeping branch color settings (green for clean, yellow for changes)
- Compact Mode - Turns off all status icons & counts, Shows a colored
❱at end of prompt for each status instead of the symbols. Keeping branch color settings (green for clean, yellow for changes) - Fully Configurable Options - Able to toggle each individual or all status icons or counts on/off
- Windows Terminal (https://github.com/microsoft/terminal)
- Warp for Windows (I've been loving the AI features) (https://www.warp.dev)
- Download
.git_prompt.shscript and make sure the script executable by entering the following in your terminal:
chmod +x ~/.git_prompt.sh- In your
.bashrcor.bash_profilefile make sure to source the script by:
# Source the git prompt script if it exists
if [ -f ~/.git_prompt.sh ]; then
. ~/.git_prompt.sh
fi- Append Git prompt to your
PS1by:
# Add git information if available
local git_info=$(get_git_prompt)
if [ -n "$git_info" ]; then
PS1+="$git_info"
fiSee my .bashrc for a working example of how I'm using it.
✌️ Hope you enjoy! ✌️:
- Separate Prompt Logic to be more modular
- Move Git Logic to it's own shell script
- Update .bashrc to only include basic logic
- Source any extra logic and append to PS1
- Move Staged Changes inside parentheses
- Move Untracked Changes inside parentheses
- De Clutter visually when multiple cases are true (color code better? Or better separation?)
- Configuration Section - Make all colors, symbols and individual status configurable, Will make it easy to maintain and change values
- Configuration in
.basrcto change username and directory color - Configuration in
.bashrcto toggle which standard non git options you want to show - Colors - Remove hard coded colors in
.git_promptmain code, replace with variables that are configured at top - Status Symbols - Remove hard coded status symbols in
.git_prompt, replace with variables that are configured at top - Show Status on/off Toggle - Create config at top of
.git_promptto show/hide individual status - Create a
Test Modeconfig in.git_promptthat will allow me to turn everything on for testing, all status will show even if none are true. - Create a
Debug Modein.git_promptconfig that will output the count of each status
- Configuration in
- Implement Nerd Font Icons
- Add Config to toggle these on/off OR use standard ↑ ↓ icons
- Add more Nerd Icon sets to pick from (Group 1, Group 2, Group 3)
- Expand Color Options (Had 3, now have 7)
- Replace variable names with more descriptive names (ex:
prompt_componentsvs.git_info) - Add detailed comments to explain each part/section for others
- Play around with Background Color option vs no background and colored letters
- Add a Simple Mode Setting that will turn off all status Icons & Counts, Only show a red X next to branch indicating not clean. Still keep the basic two color setting for green for clean, yellow for not clean with red X.
- Add an option with compact mode to show Colored > at end of prompt for each status.
Screenshot of COMPACT_MODE Setting that will turn off all status Icons & Counts, Shows a Colored ❱ at end of prompt for each status.
Screenshot of SIMPLE_MODE Setting that will turn off all status Icons & Counts, Only show a red X next to branch indicating not clean. Still keeping the basic two color setting for green for clean, yellow for not clean.
Screenshot of Nerd Font Glyphs set, plan to add more glyph sets to choose from
Screenshot of DEBUG_MODE & TEST_MODE turn on not inside a git branch, DEBUG_MODE echos out status variable values to the terminal while TEST_MODE sets up fake variable values to test all status so you don't have to recreate each scenario
Screenshot of DEBUG_MODE turned on but TEST_MODE turn off inside a working git branch, Green branch name = no changes found, yellow branch name means changes found with included status for each found
Screenshot of work done today to create and separate configuration options from implementation logic
- Removed arrow on right side of prompt to clean up prompt, didnt feel like it was needed and looks cleaner without.
- Cleaned up redundancy between the compact mode and normal mode code.
- Implemented
SIMPLE_MODESetting that will turn off all status Icons & Counts, Still keeping the basic two color branch name setting (green for clean, yellow for not clean) - Created
SIMPLE_MODEconfig option to toggle mode on/off - In
SIMPLE_MODEsince all status Icons & Counts were gone, added a Red "X" on right side of branch name when there is branch changes to visually see your not in sync.
- Implemented
SIMPLE_MODESetting that will turn off all status Icons & Counts, Still keeping the basic two color branch name setting (green for clean, yellow for not clean) - Created
SIMPLE_MODEconfig option to toggle mode on/off - In
SIMPLE_MODEsince all status Icons & Counts were gone, added a Red "X" on right side of branch name when there is branch changes to visually see your not in sync.
- Implemented Nerd Font Glyphs
- Created config to toggle Nerd Fonts Glyphs on/off vs. standard icons
Today was a big day! 🔥 Added/Changed a lot with the below progress.
- Added Configurability
- Added dedicated configuration section with clear header comments for easy modification
- Separated configuration options from implementation logic
- Added
Show Statustoggle config to turn each status on/off - Added
SHOW_COUNTStoggle to control displaying numeric values vs. symbols only - Added
DEBUG_MODEthat outputs all variables to stderr for troubleshooting - Implemented
TEST_MODEwith configurable test values for easy visual testing
- Reorganized & Improved Code Structure
- Grouped related functionality together for better code organization
- Added detailed comments explaining purpose of each section
- Improved spacing between status components for better readability
- Created consistent formatting approach using helper functions
- Added Color Options
- Expanded color definitions beyond the original green/yellow/blue
- Added distinct colors for different repository states
- Implemented consistent color application logic based on repo status
- Changed color assignments to ensure each git status has a unique color
- Improved Status Display
- Fixed issue with staged/untracked indicators appearing outside parentheses
- Removed confusing
DIVERGED_SYMBOLin favor of separate ahead/behind indicators
- Enhanced Maintainability
- Replaced generic variable names with more descriptive ones (
prompt_componentsvs.git_info) - Implemented array-based approach for cleaner string building
- Standardized error handling and redirection across git command
- Replaced generic variable names with more descriptive ones (
- Improved Performance
- Added conditional execution for expensive remote status checks
- Implemented early return for directories not under git control
- Reduced redundant command executions
- Added "On" before branch name if found
- Separated prompt logic to be more modular
- Moved Git Logic to it's own shell script called
.git_prompt - Updated
.bashrcto only include basic logic - Source
.git_promptand append to PS1 - Moved Staged Changes inside branch parentheses
- Moved Untracked changes inside branch parentheses