ghostty

ghostty

Terminal emulator configuration and management.

Config location

• user config: ~/.config/ghostty/config
• terminfo: ~/.config/ghostty/term.tic
• binary: /Applications/Ghostty.app/Contents/MacOS/ghostty

Common actions

validate config

ghostty +validate-config

Validates configuration syntax and reports errors for unknown fields or invalid values.

show current config

ghostty +show-config

Displays the effective configuration, including defaults and user overrides.

list available options

Common configuration categories:

• window: window-decoration, window-theme, maximize, fullscreen
• fonts: font-family, font-size, font-style
• appearance: background-opacity, theme, cursor-style
• behavior: shell-integration, mouse-hide-while-typing, clipboard-write
• macos: macos-option-as-alt, macos-non-native-fullscreen
• keybindings: keybind = <key>=<action>

other useful commands

ghostty +list-fonts          # show available fonts
ghostty +list-themes         # show available themes
ghostty +list-keybinds       # show current keybindings
ghostty +list-actions        # show available actions for keybindings
ghostty +edit-config         # open config in editor

Config format

Plain text file with key = value syntax. Comments start with #.

# window settings
window-decoration = false
window-theme = "dark"
maximize = true

# fonts and appearance
font-size = 14
theme = "GitHub Dark Colorblind"
cursor-style = "block"

# keybindings
keybind = cmd+v=paste_from_clipboard
keybind = cmd+c=copy_to_clipboard

Common settings

window modes

• maximize = true - start window maximized (fills screen, not fullscreen)
• fullscreen = true - start window in fullscreen mode
• window-decoration = false - hide window title bar
• macos-non-native-fullscreen = "padded-notch" - fullscreen with notch padding

shell integration

• shell-integration = "zsh" - enable shell integration for zsh
• terminfo must be installed: tic -x ~/.config/ghostty/term.tic

keybindings

Format: keybind = <modifier>+<key>=<action>

Modifiers:

• cmd / super - command key
• ctrl - control key
• shift - shift key
• alt / option - option key

Use unbind to remove default bindings:

keybind = cmd+t=unbind

Troubleshooting

config validation fails

Run ghostty +validate-config to see specific error messages. Common issues:

• unknown field names (check spelling, refer to documentation)
• invalid values for enum types
• missing quotes around string values with spaces

changes not taking effect

• restart ghostty completely (not just new window)
• check ghostty +show-config to verify effective configuration
• ensure no typos in config file path

PATH setup

Already added to ~/.zshenv:

path=(
  "/Applications/Ghostty.app/Contents/MacOS"
  $path
)

Documentation

Official docs: https://ghostty.org/docs