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7 Tricks To Tame Your Terminal

Given how much we use the terminal, any friction to get an action done is multiplied hundred of times resulting in a lot of wasted time. Optimizing the way we use the terminal will give us a decent productivity boost. In this post I share with you some common pain points that I faced before and found solutions for.

1. My terminal theme and colors are confusing!

Solution: Oh My Zsh.

  1. sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
  2. Pick a theme in ~/.zshrc (for oh-my-zsh, set ZSH_THEME="agnoster" or similar).
  3. Open a new terminal to see your fancy prompt.

.. or pick a dedicated color scheme like Solarized, Gruvbox, or Dracula.

2. I keep hunting for my terminal window!

Solution: Find a shortcut to hover a terminal whenever you need it.

For MacOS:

  • Install iTerm2 if you haven’t already.
  • Enable hotkey window:
    1. In iTerm2 > Preferences > Keys, set up a “Hotkey” (e.g. ⌘ + `).
    2. Turn on the “Hotkey Window” option.
    3. Now press your hotkey, and a terminal drops down instantly—press it again to hide.

For Linux, use a drop-down terminal like Guake, Yakuake, or Tilda:

  1. Install e.g. sudo apt-get install guake (Ubuntu) or sudo dnf install guake (Fedora).
  2. Launch Guake, then press F12 (default) to summon or hide it.
  3. Customize the hotkey in Guake’s preferences if you want a different shortcut.

3. It’s slow to navigate directories!

Solution: z

Use z (autojump-like) or zoxide:

  1. Install z: brew install z (Mac) or sudo apt-get install z.
  2. Source it in your shell config (.zshrc, .bashrc), e.g. eval "$(zoxide init bash)".
  3. After a day or two of normal usage, type z <partial-dir-name> to jump instantly.

4. I find myself writing the same commands lots of times!

Solution: zsh-autosuggestions or quickly search the history.

For zsh-autosuggestions:

  1. brew install zsh-autosuggestions (Mac) or use your distro’s package manager.
  2. Add plugins=(zsh-autosuggestions) in your ~/.zshrc (if using oh-my-zsh).
  3. Watch as your previous commands appear in lighter text—press right arrow to accept.

5. I Don’t Know the Right Command!

Solution: use a LLM CLI tool to ask it for commands.

  1. Install llm via pip.
  2. Either install a free LLM locally or provide API keys (i.e., llm keys set openai)
  3. Check the available LLMs you have via llm models
  4. Add this to your ~/.bashrc: alias please="llm -m gpt-4o 'Give me a short macOS terminal command to'"
  5. Then just run please "How do I find all .txt files and remove them?"

6. I’ve got five tasks at once, but each new shell is a hassle

Solution: persist sessions with tmux and learn shortcuts for pane/window management.

For MacOS:

  1. Use iTerm2 with split panes or multiple tabs:
    1. Press ⌘ + T for new tab, or ⌘ + D / ⌘ + Shift + D to split panes.
    2. Keep tasks running in separate tabs/panes.
  2. Try tmux if you like multiplexing within one terminal:
    1. brew install tmux
    2. Run tmux, open new windows/panes with Ctrl+B c (new window) or Ctrl+B % (vertical split).

7. The cursor is slow!

Solution: adjust the cursor speed and learn shortcuts to jump around text quickly.

For MacOS:

  1. Increase keyboard speed in System Settings > Keyboard. Slide “Key Repeat” to Fast, “Delay Until Repeat” to Short.
  2. Set up Option + ← / → to move by word in Terminal:
    • In iTerm2, under Preferences > Profiles > Keys, map Option+Left to Esc+b (move back one word) and Option+Right to Esc+f (move forward one word).

For Linux:

  1. Adjust keyboard repeat rate: e.g. xset r rate 200 50 (200 ms delay, 50 repeats/sec) in your .bashrc or .profile if you want it permanent.
  2. Terminal shortcuts often already exist: Try Ctrl+Left or Alt+Left to jump word-by-word. If needed, add them in your Terminal Preferences or use your .inputrc.

Little tweaks can remove loads of friction and drastically boost your terminal productivity. We can (and should) find similar tricks around the software we use most: Browser, IDE, OS, etc.

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