How to migrate to iterm2 with customisations?

I have been using the default Terminal application in Mac OSX from a while and was always skeptical about moving to iterm2, until I recently experienced it.

Current configuration

A pretty decent terminal with

• oh-my-zsh
• Robbyrussell Theme
• loads of command aliases for ease(I will share these too!)

and it looks like:

iTerm2

iTerm2 has various features, my favorite is split panes. You can actually split the panes in two parts vertically, one with vim and another with terminal(geeky!!).

Installation

To install iterm2 using brew:

brew install iterm2

Post successful installation, go to launcher and open iTerm

We see that it has taken current zshrc configruations.

Using Agnoster Theme

Try switching themes? Another popular theme is Agnoster

• Step 1: Install prerequisite: Powerline Fonts:

    git clone https://github.com/powerline/fonts.git
    cd fonts
    ./install.sh
  

• Step 2: Edit ~/.zshrc and set theme as agnoster:

  

  to

  

  Ah, seems broken?

  

• Step 3: Use Meslo font in terminal settings:

  iTerm2 > Settings > Profiles > Text > Change font

  Set: “Meslo LG DZ for Powerline”

Yay!! Agnoster is ready! Have a look :)

Using Powerlevel10k Theme

I personally, like robbyrussell or powerlevel10k. Installation steps for powerlevel10k:

• Step 1: Clone and install

    git clone https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git $ZSH_CUSTOM/themes/powerlevel10k
  

• Step 2: Set theme in ~/.zshrc

    ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"
  

• Step 3: Exit terminal and open again or source ~/.zshrc to configure powerlevel10k

  • 3a: type y to install Meslo Nerd Font

    Once, installed it will ask you to quit and open iTerm to continue.

  • 3b: type y if you see the correct diamond

  • 3c: type y if you see the correct lock

  • 3d: type y if you see the correct arrow

  • 3e: type y if you see icons fit between crosses

  • 3f: select prompt style as you like, I’m selecting 3

  • 3g: select character set as unicode 1

  • 3h: set your preference for time, I don’t need it so n

  • 3i: set your preference for prompt separator, 1

  • 3j: set your preference for prompt heads, 1

  • 3k: set your preference for prompt tails, 1

  • 3l: set your preference for prompt height, 1

  • 3m: set your preference for prompt spacing, 2

  • 3n: set your preference for icons, 2

  • 3o: set your preference for prompt flow, 1

  • 3p: would you like to enable prompt transient, n

  • 3q: would you like to enable prompt transient, n

  • 3r: enable prompt mode as verbose, 1

  • 3s: apply changes to zshrc, 3

And all set!

VSCode font settings

Oh snap! I just realised that the VSCode Terminal does not display any icons in prompt. To fix this, go to VSCode settings or settings.json and add following:

"terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "MesloLGS NF",

This worked for me :)

Split panes in action

Happy bashing!