Shell Setup
Configure your shell to use shellfirm for command interception
shellfirm works by hooking into your shell's command execution pipeline. You need to add a small snippet to your shell configuration so every command passes through shellfirm before running.
Automatic setup (recommended)
One command detects all installed shells and configures them:
shellfirm initHere's what you'll see:
shellfirm scans for all 8 supported shells — Zsh, Bash, Fish, Nushell, PowerShell, Elvish, Xonsh, and Oils — and appends the appropriate hook to each shell's config file. Shells that aren't installed are skipped.
Restart your shell (or run exec zsh / exec bash) for the changes to take effect.
Installing for a specific shell
If you only want to set up a single shell, pass the shell name:
shellfirm init zshThis is useful when you only use one shell, or when you want to add shellfirm to a new shell without touching the others.
Supported shell names: zsh, bash, fish, nushell, powershell, elvish, xonsh, oils.
Uninstall
To remove the shell hooks from all configured shells:
shellfirm init --uninstallThis removes the shellfirm lines from each shell's configuration file.
Manual removal
If the shellfirm init --uninstall command is not working (for example, if the hook is blocking all commands), you can remove the hook manually by editing your shell's config file.
Open the config file for your shell and remove the lines added by shellfirm:
| Shell | Config file | Lines to remove |
|---|---|---|
| Zsh | ~/.zshrc | eval "$(shellfirm init zsh)" |
| Bash | ~/.bashrc | eval "$(shellfirm init bash)" |
| Fish | ~/.config/fish/config.fish | shellfirm init fish | source |
| Oils | ~/.config/oils/oshrc | eval "$(shellfirm init oils)" |
| Nushell | ~/.config/nushell/config.nu | Full hook block (starts with $env.config.hooks.pre_execution) |
| PowerShell | ~/.config/powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 | Full hook block (starts with if (Get-Command shellfirm) |
| Elvish | ~/.config/elvish/rc.elv | Full hook block (starts with if (not ?(which shellfirm) |
| Xonsh | ~/.xonshrc | Full hook block (starts with import subprocess) |
Look for the comment # Added by shellfirm init and remove everything from that line through the end of the hook.
After editing, open a new terminal window for the changes to take effect. See Troubleshooting for more recovery steps.
Verifying the setup
⚠ Restart your shell before continuing
Run exec zsh, exec bash, or open a new terminal window. shellfirm won't work until the shell is restarted.
Once restarted, run:
shellfirm statusOr try a command that shellfirm will intercept:
Enter to continue Esc to cancel ›If you see a challenge prompt, shellfirm is working correctly. Press Esc to cancel.