> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Bash-it : Bash Framework to Make Your Terminal Cool - URL: https://itsfoss.com/bash-it-terminal-tool/ - Published: 2016-12-13T13:22:57.000Z - Updated: 2025-05-16T06:10:59.000Z - Description: Like Oh My Zsh but for Bash. Beautify your Linux terminal while keeping your favorite bash shell with Bash-it framework. Learn all about using it. - Author: Sreenath - Tags: CLI Tools Have you ever thought the default appearance of your terminal to be a little mundane? Or ever wished for having a bit more control over your terminal workflow? We have a [detailed video on beautifying your terminal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffmm80%5FCii4&ref=itsfoss.com). Like the video above, many Linux users resort to [Zsh](https://linuxhandbook.com/why-zsh/?ref=itsfoss.com) with its [Oh My Zsh plugin](https://linuxhandbook.com/install-oh-my-zsh/?ref=itsfoss.com). But if you want to stick with the evergreen bash shell, I have got just the right tool for you, Bash-it. 📋 This article is intended for at least intermediate level Linux users who would know their way around Shell and its configuration. Beginners may try it at their own risk. ## Bash-it Features [Bash-it](https://github.com/Bash-it/bash-it?ref=itsfoss.com) is a Bash framework for using, developing and maintaining various shell scripts, custom commands, aliases and more. It is a community-driven project on GitHub. So, everything you find in it is used & tested by thousands of people and developed by many contributors. ✋ Just ensure that you are running Bash shell. Run the following command and see if you see YES: `[ -n "$(echo $BASH)" ] && echo YES || echo NO` ### Aliases Bash-it comes with a huge collection of aliases used by the community. Currently, 48 alias scripts are available. To list all the aliases, use: ``` bash-it show alias ``` You can enable/disable them by: ``` bash-it enable alias apt bash-it disable alias git ``` ![Some alias for apt commands has been added to the bashrc file by Bash_it.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/03/apt-aliases-added.png) Alias for APT added You can search for any aliases for a particular programming language or environment using: ``` bash-it search apt ``` ![Bash-it search for available alias/completions for APT command.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/03/search-alias-apt.png) Search for APT Alias/Plugins/Completions ### Completion Typing the whole command every single time is painful. Most of the command-line tools on Linux enable completion while installing them. So, that if you write the first two or three letters on the terminal and hit TAB, it is auto-completed. But not all of them have it enabled. For many command-line tools, the completion scripts are written by the community developers rather than the official source. Bash-it has a collection of those, and it gives you an easy way of enabling/disabling them: ``` bash-it enable completion ssh bash-it disable completion pip ``` You should enable *system* completion for loading completion scripts provided by the system and *bash-it* for bash-it command completion. Like alias, you can search if completion exists for a particular tool using: ``` bash-it search pip ``` If there is a completion available, it will be listed. ![List completions available for a tool. Here, pip completions are listed. Note that, there is also some plugins available for pip, but we are looking at completions.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/03/list-completions-bash-it.png) List Completions/Plugins/Aliases Similarly, you can list all the completions and there enabled/disabled status using: ``` bash-it show completions ``` ![List all the completions available along with the enable/disable status in Bash_it.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/03/bash-it-show-completions.png) Show Completions ### Plugins Bash-it comes with a bunch of plugins for various tools and purposes. Currently, there are 83 plugins available. Generally, plugins may contain: - Helper functions for performing various complex tasks easily. E.g.: *extract*, *git*, *rails*, *ssh* etc. - Initialization & configuration scripts that prepare tools to be ready to use. E.g.: *fasd*, *go*, *node*, *nvm*, *rbenv* etc. - Dependencies for other parts of bash-it. E.g.: *alias-completion*, *base*, *battery* etc. The *alias-completion* plugin is needed to be enabled for the completion scripts to work properly. Also, you should enable the *base* plugin as some other plugins depend on it. To list all the available plugins along with the enabled/disabled status, use the command: ``` bash-it show plugins ``` ![List all the available plugins along with the enabled/disabled status in Bash-it.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/03/bash-it-list-plugins-1.png) Show Plugins Now, the commands for enabling/disabling plugins are similar to what we saw before. ``` bash-it enable/disable plugin ``` A cool plugin in `sudo`: ``` bash-it enable plugin sudo bash-it reload ``` What it does is, insert `sudo` to the beginning of the current or previous command. All you have to do is, press ESC key twice. 0:00 /0:21 1× Bash-it sudo plugin. Press the ESC key twice to add sudo to the current or previous command ### Themes This is the cool part. Bash-it currently has several themes available by default for your Bash prompt. Here’s how the Ubuntu vanilla Bash prompt looks like: ![Vanilla Bash_it theme is bobby.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/03/default-bash-it-profile.png) Default Bash\_it Theme Bash-it themes can show various useful information in your prompt, like: - Git repository and other version control system information - Python and Ruby version - Time, battery information and so on! Cool, isn’t it? You can visit the official documentation to get a visual overview of all the available themes. [Bash\_It Themes List](https://bash-it.readthedocs.io/en/latest/themes-list/?ref=itsfoss.com) Once you like a particular theme, preview it on your terminal using: ``` bash-it preview ``` To make it permanent, open your `~/.bashrc~` file in a text editor of your choice. ``` nano ~/.bashrc ``` Now, change the value of the `BASH_IT_THEME` variable to the name of the theme you have chosen. Change Bash-It Theme Once done, use the command below to reload. ``` bash-it reload ``` That's it! The new prompt theme will be visible for you. ![Bash-it with an eye-candy theme (Metal) installed](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/03/metal-bash-it-theme.png) Bash\_It Metal Theme ### Some Extra Features Let's see some cool settings to make Bash\_it looks better. #### Command execution duration You can enable the last command execution time by setting the value of `BASH_IT_COMMAND_DURATION` variable to true. In the default configuration, this is true and the minimum time in seconds before command duration is displayed is set to 1\. You can configure this by setting the `COMMAND_DURATION_MIN_SECONDS` variable. 🚧 The theme should support command duration. Example `barbuk` theme. ``` export BASH_IT_COMMAND_DURATION=true export COMMAND_DURATION_MIN_SECONDS=5 ``` ![Command execution duration in Bash_it "barbuk" theme. Here, the minimum time settings was one seconds.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/03/command-duration-in-bash-it.png) Command Duration #### Minimal git details To avoid slowdown of the prompt while working on large git repositories, use minimal Git details: ``` export SCM_GIT_SHOW_MINIMAL_INFO=true ``` ## Installing Bash-it Bash-it is fairly popular but it is not available in the default repository of distribution. You can install it directly from the GitHub master branch. ### Install Bash-it The simplest way of installing Bash-it is running the following commands: ``` git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/Bash-it/bash-it.git ~/.bash_it cd ~/.bash-it ./install.sh ``` Install Bash\_it in Ubuntu 🚧 In the above video, we have followed the default and installed Bash\_it by overwriting the current bashrc. You can choose the "y" option to append the bash-it templates at the end. Bash-it can be used and installed in various fashion. For example: - Simply use the cloned repository (shown above). - Fork it on GitHub, clone it and modify it as you see fit. - Use it with a dotfiles manager, like – [dotbot](https://github.com/anishathalye/dotbot?ref=itsfoss.com) (that’s a discussion for another day). You have to experiment with it to see how you feel comfortable. For additional information, you can check the [README](https://github.com/Bash-it/bash-it/blob/master/README.md?ref=itsfoss.com) file & [Wiki](https://github.com/Bash-it/bash-it/wiki?ref=itsfoss.com). Even their GitHub page has plenty of information and instructions on using it. [Bash\_it GitHub](https://github.com/Bash-it/bash-it?ref=itsfoss.com) ### Updating Bash\_it To update Bash\_it, you can use the `bash-it update` command. If you have installed from the GitHub master branch as described in the article, you have the dev version. So, to check for update, run: ``` bash-it update dev ``` If you have installed it using the stable release from GitHub releases section, use: ``` bash-it update stable ``` ## Uninstall Bash-it If you don't like Bash-it, you can remove it very easily. Open a terminal and run: ``` cd $BASH_IT ./uninstall.sh ``` Once the process is completed, remove the Bash\_it folder you have cloned during install. Uninstall Bash\_It ## Essential Bash\_it commands Now that you know how to install and use Bash\_it, let's revise some important Bash\_it commands: | Commands | Description | | ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | bash-it update dev/stable | Update the Bash\_it installation | | bash-it search | Find out which of the plugins, aliases or completions are available for a specific scenario. | | bash-it reload | Reload your Bash profile | | bash-it restart | Restart/rerun your shell (Bash) | | bash-it doctor | Reload your bash profile and print out logs of various parts in Bash-it | | bash-it profile save my\_profile | Save current profile | | bash-it profile load default | Load default profile | | bash-it profile load my\_profile | Load custom profile | | bash-it show | Show a list of available (alias/completion/plugin). Also gives enabled/disabled status. | | bash-it enable | Enable an alias, completion, etc. Here, is alias/completion/plugin | | bash-it disable | Disable an alias, completion, etc. Here, is alias/completion/plugin | | bash-it preview | Preview the mentioned theme | ## Is it worth trying? You are kidding, right? Of course, it is. It might take you a while to figure out the workflow with Bash-it. But, in the long run, it helps a lot. Are you going to give it a try? Have you tried Bash-it before? Share your thoughts with us.