Nushell

Nushell is a powerful and modern non-POSIX shell written in Rust

Installation

See Command Shell example if you want Nushell as your default shell

❄︎ /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

{
  pkgs,
  ...
}:
{
  environment.shells = [
    pkgs.nushell
  ];
  users.users.myuser= {
    shell = pkgs.nushell;
  };
}

Configuration

Nushell can be configured with Home Manager

Example

A configuration with Starship prompt and autosuggestion support with carapace or fish shell:

❄︎ ~/.config/nixpkgs/home.nix

{ lib, pkgs, ... }:
{
  programs = {
    nushell = {
      enable = true;
      # The config.nu can be anywhere you want if you like to edit your Nushell with Nu
      configFile.source = ./.../config.nu;
      # for editing directly to config.nu 
      extraConfig = ''
        # Common ls aliases and sort them by type and then name
        # Inspired by https://github.com/nushell/nushell/issues/7190
        def lla [...args] { ls -la ...(if $args == [] {["."]} else {$args}) {{!}} sort-by type name -i }
        def la  [...args] { ls -a  ...(if $args == [] {["."]} else {$args}) {{!}} sort-by type name -i }
        def ll  [...args] { ls -l  ...(if $args == [] {["."]} else {$args}) {{!}} sort-by type name -i }
        def l   [...args] { ls     ...(if $args == [] {["."]} else {$args}) {{!}} sort-by type name -i }

        # Completions
        # mainly pieced together from https://www.nushell.sh/cookbook/external_completers.html

        # carapce completions https://www.nushell.sh/cookbook/external_completers.html#carapace-completer
        # + fix https://www.nushell.sh/cookbook/external_completers.html#err-unknown-shorthand-flag-using-carapace
        # enable the package and integration bellow
        let carapace_completer = {{{!}}spans: list<string>{{!}}
          carapace $spans.0 nushell ...$spans
          | from json
          | if ($in | default [] {{!}} where value == $"($spans {{!}} last)ERR" {{!}} is-empty) { $in } else { null }
        }
        # some completions are only available through a bridge
        # eg. tailscale
        # https://carapace-sh.github.io/carapace-bin/setup.html#nushell
        $env.CARAPACE_BRIDGES = 'zsh,fish,bash,inshellisense'

        # fish completions https://www.nushell.sh/cookbook/external_completers.html#fish-completer
        let fish_completer = {{{!}}spans{{!}}
          ${lib.getExe pkgs.fish} --command $'complete "--do-complete=($spans {{!}} str join " ")"'
          | $"value(char tab)description(char newline)" + $in
          | from tsv --flexible --no-infer
        }

        # zoxide completions https://www.nushell.sh/cookbook/external_completers.html#zoxide-completer
        let zoxide_completer = {{{!}}spans{{!}}
            $spans {{!}} skip 1 {{!}} zoxide query -l ...$in {{!}} lines {{!}} where {{{!}}x{{!}} $x != $env.PWD}
        }

        # multiple completions
        # the default will be carapace, but you can also switch to fish
        # https://www.nushell.sh/cookbook/external_completers.html#alias-completions
        let multiple_completers = {{{!}}spans{{!}}
          ## alias fixer start https://www.nushell.sh/cookbook/external_completers.html#alias-completions
          let expanded_alias = scope aliases
          | where name == $spans.0
          | get -i 0.expansion

          let spans = if $expanded_alias != null {
            $spans
            | skip 1
            | prepend ($expanded_alias | split row ' ' {{!}} take 1)
          } else {
            $spans
          }
          ## alias fixer end

          match $spans.0 {
            __zoxide_z {{!}} __zoxide_zi => $zoxide_completer
            _ => $carapace_completer
          } {{!}} do $in $spans
        }

        $env.config = {
          show_banner: false,
          completions: {
            case_sensitive: false # case-sensitive completions
            quick: true           # set to false to prevent auto-selecting completions
            partial: true         # set to false to prevent partial filling of the prompt
            algorithm: "fuzzy"    # prefix or fuzzy
            external: {
              # set to false to prevent nushell looking into $env.PATH to find more suggestions
              enable: true 
              # set to lower can improve completion performance at the cost of omitting some options
              max_results: 100 
              completer: $multiple_completers
            }
          }
        } 
        $env.PATH = ($env.PATH {{!}} 
          split row (char esep) {{!}}
          prepend /home/myuser/.apps {{!}}
          append /usr/bin/env
        )
      '';
      shellAliases = {
        vi = "hx";
        vim = "hx";
        nano = "hx";
      };
    };
    carapace.enable = true;
    carapace.enableNushellIntegration = true;

    starship = {
      enable = true;
      settings = {
        add_newline = true;
        character = {
          success_symbol = "[➜](bold green)";
          error_symbol = "[➜](bold red)";
        };
      };
    };
  };
}

Legacy config:

❄︎ ~/.config/nixpkgs/home.nix

programs = {
    nushell = { enable = true;
      # The config.nu can be anywhere you want if you like to edit your Nushell with Nu
      configFile.source = ./.../config.nu;
      # for editing directly to config.nu 
      extraConfig = ''
       let carapace_completer = {{{!}}spans{{!}}
           carapace $spans.0 nushell ...$spans {{!}} from json
       }
       $env.config = {
        show_banner: false,
        completions: {
        case_sensitive: false # case-sensitive completions
        quick: true    # set to false to prevent auto-selecting completions
        partial: true    # set to false to prevent partial filling of the prompt
        algorithm: "fuzzy"    # prefix or fuzzy
        external: {
        # set to false to prevent nushell looking into $env.PATH to find more suggestions
            enable: true 
        # set to lower can improve completion performance at the cost of omitting some options
            max_results: 100 
            completer: $carapace_completer # check 'carapace_completer' 
          }
        }
       } 
       $env.PATH = ($env.PATH {{!}} 
       split row (char esep) {{!}}
       prepend /home/myuser/.apps {{!}}
       append /usr/bin/env
       )
       '';
       shellAliases = {
       vi = "hx";
       vim = "hx";
       nano = "hx";
       };
   };  
   carapace.enable = true;
   carapace.enableNushellIntegration = true;

   starship = { enable = true;
       settings = {
         add_newline = true;
         character = { 
         success_symbol = "[➜](bold green)";
         error_symbol = "[➜](bold red)";
       };
    };
  };
};

See also

• Command Shell