My Terminal Setup in 2026: Ghostty, tmux, and Neovim

Everything runs on macOS (Apple Silicon) with a consistent Catppuccin Mocha theme across all tools.

Here’s a deep dive into how it all fits together.

Ghostty: The Terminal Emulator

#

I switched to Ghostty from Kitty a while back and haven’t looked back. It’s written in Zig , GPU-accelerated, and buttery smooth.

My key configuration choices:

# ~/.config/ghostty/config
theme = catppuccin-mocha
font-family = "Hack Nerd Font Mono"
font-size = 14
background-opacity = 0.75
background-blur-radius = 20

The 75% transparency with 20px blur gives a nice frosted-glass look where my desktop wallpaper bleeds through — purely aesthetic, but it makes long coding sessions more pleasant.

Quake-style Drop-down Terminal

#

keybind = global:super+grave_accent=toggle_quick_terminal
quick-terminal-position = top
quick-terminal-screen = main
quick-terminal-animation-duration = 0.1

I use it constantly for git operations, running tests, and quick file checks.

Split Panes

#

keybind = super+shift+d=new_split:right
keybind = super+d=new_split:down
keybind = super+shift+enter=toggle_split_zoom

These mirror my tmux bindings closely, so muscle memory works regardless of whether I’m in a tmux session or not.

tmux + sesh: Session Management

#

tmux is the backbone of my workflow. I use Ctrl+A as my prefix (classic screen users will relate) and sesh for smart session management.

Core Configuration

#

# Prefix
set -g prefix C-a
unbind C-b
bind C-a send-prefix

# Start windows and panes at 1, not 0
set -g base-index 1
setw -g pane-base-index 1

# Mouse support
set -g mouse on

# True color support
set -g default-terminal "tmux-256color"
set -ag terminal-overrides ",xterm-256color:RGB"

The sesh Session Picker

#

bind-key "T" run-shell "sesh connect \"$(
  sesh list | fzf-tmux -p 55%,60% \
    --no-sort --border-label ' sesh ' \
    --prompt '> ' \
    --header '  ^a all ^t tmux ^g configs ^x zoxide ^d tmux kill ^f find' \
    --bind 'tab:down,btab:up' \
    --bind 'ctrl-a:change-prompt(> )+reload(sesh list)' \
    --bind 'ctrl-t:change-prompt(> )+reload(sesh list -t)' \
    --bind 'ctrl-g:change-prompt(> )+reload(sesh list -c)' \
    --bind 'ctrl-x:change-prompt(> )+reload(sesh list -z)' \
    --bind 'ctrl-f:change-prompt(> )+reload(fd -H -d 2 -t d -E .Trash . ~)' \
    --bind 'ctrl-d:execute(tmux kill-session -t {})+change-prompt(> )+reload(sesh list)'
)\""

I can jump between projects in under a second.

vim-tmux-navigator

#

For seamless navigation between tmux panes and Neovim splits, I use vim-tmux-navigator. Ctrl+h/j/k/l moves between panes regardless of whether they’re tmux panes or Neovim windows.

Session Persistence

#

# tmux-resurrect + tmux-continuum
set -g @resurrect-capture-pane-contents 'on'
set -g @continuum-restore 'on'
set -g @continuum-save-interval '15'

Sessions survive restarts. I never lose my workspace layout.

Neovim with LazyVim

#

I run Neovim via bob (a Neovim version manager) and use LazyVim as my configuration framework.

LazyVim Extras

#

I have 19 extras enabled, including:

Key Customizations

#

-- Transparent background to match Ghostty
{ "catppuccin/nvim", opts = {
    transparent_background = true,
}}

-- Smooth scrolling
{ "karb94/neoscroll.nvim", opts = {
    duration_multiplier = 0.4,
    easing = "linear",
}}

-- Global statusline
vim.opt.laststatus = 3
vim.opt.scrolloff = 10
vim.opt.cmdheight = 0

Claude Code Integration

#

I recently added keybindings for Claude Code directly in Neovim:

-- Toggle Claude Code terminal
vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>ac", function()
  require("snacks").terminal.toggle("claude", { win = { style = "terminal" }})
end, { desc = "Claude Code Toggle" })

-- Send visual selection to Claude
vim.keymap.set("v", "<leader>as", function()
  -- Yanks selection and sends to Claude terminal
end, { desc = "Claude Code Send Selection" })

This lets me highlight code, send it to Claude for analysis, and apply suggestions — all without leaving the editor.

The Full Flow

#

1. Launch Ghostty

   Step 1

   Transparent, GPU-accelerated terminal appears with frosted-glass effect.
2. sesh Session Picker

   Step 2

   Press Prefix + T — fuzzy-search for a project across tmux sessions, zoxide dirs, and configs.
3. tmux Session Loads

   Step 3

   Saved layout restores: editor on the left, terminal on the right.
4. Neovim Opens

   Step 4

   LazyVim with treesitter highlighting, LSP, and AI assistance ready to go.
5. Navigate Freely

   Step 5

   Ctrl+h/j/k/l moves between Neovim and tmux panes seamlessly. Cmd+backtick for one-off commands.

Everything shares the same Catppuccin Mocha color scheme, so the visual experience is cohesive. The transparent backgrounds mean my terminal, editor, and status bars all blend together.

Wrapping Up

#

This setup has evolved over many iterations. The key principles:

1. Consistency — Same theme, same keybindings philosophy across all tools
2. Speed — Every action should take less than a second
3. Integration — Tools should talk to each other (vim-tmux-navigator, sesh + zoxide, etc.)

All my configs are managed with yadm and available on GitHub:

nickboy/dotfiles

Dotfiles

Shell

0

0