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Desktop App

fish shell

A friendly command-line shell that suggests and highlights as you type.

Visit fish shell4.6
  • Rating

    4.6 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Beginner

  • Works on

    macOS, Linux

Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com

What is fish shell?

fish is a smart and user-friendly command-line shell for macOS and Linux. It has syntax highlighting, suggestions as you type and tab completions that work without any configuration. It generally works like other shells such as bash or zsh.

Third-party open-source projects. We are not affiliated with their authors; repositories are provided as-is by their maintainers. Review each project's license, code and security before installing. See our Disclaimer.

Pros: what fish shell does well

  • Useful out of the box with no setup
  • Suggestions as you type
  • Free and open source

Cons: where it falls short

  • Some scripts written for bash need changes
  • Mostly for people who use a terminal

Who fish shell is for

Anyone who wants a more helpful terminal without tweaking config files.

Who can skip it

People who never open a terminal.

fish shell alternatives

Not sold on fish shell? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

Nushell

Focus: data pipelines. Shares shell and command line with fish shell. Adds Windows and Offline. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

zoxide

Focus: navigation. Shares terminal and command line with fish shell. Adds Windows. Rated 4.7 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux

fzf

Focus: fuzzy finder. Shares command line and shell with fish shell. Adds Windows and Offline. Rated 4.8 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

Atuin

Focus: shell history and sync. Shares terminal and command line with fish shell. Adds Windows. Rated 4.7 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux

WezTerm

Focus: multiplexer. Shares terminal and command line with fish shell. Adds Windows. Rated 4.5 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

Free alternatives to fish shell

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Kando

Focus: pie menu, launcher and shortcuts. Shares open source and github with fish shell. Adds Windows and Offline. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS

Kanata

Focus: keyboard remapping, shortcuts and ergonomics. Shares open source and github with fish shell. Adds Windows and Offline. Rated 4.5 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

Wox

Focus: app launcher, keyboard shortcuts and plugins. Shares open source and github with fish shell. Adds Windows and Offline. Rated 4.5 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

navi

Focus: cli, cheatsheet and fuzzy finder. Shares terminal and open source with fish shell. Adds Windows. Rated 4.8 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

bat

Focus: file viewer and developer tool. Shares command line and open source with fish shell. Adds Windows and Offline. Rated 4.7 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

btop

Focus: system monitor and processes. Shares terminal and open source with fish shell. Adds Offline. Rated 4.7 (fish shell: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
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