diff --git a/graph/decisions/fish-bash-hybrid-shell-strategy-fish-interactive-bash-for-sc-66bac9.md b/graph/decisions/fish-bash-hybrid-shell-strategy-fish-interactive-bash-for-sc-66bac9.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..67e3a5e8110 --- /dev/null +++ b/graph/decisions/fish-bash-hybrid-shell-strategy-fish-interactive-bash-for-sc-66bac9.md @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +--- +id: 66bac9cf-1b1e-42f5-903d-d28a9d5e1e1a +type: decision +title: "Fish + bash hybrid shell strategy: fish interactive, bash for scripts/tools" +tags: [fish, bash, shell, claude-code, architecture, decision, homelab, shell-config, nobara] +importance: 0.6 +confidence: 0.8 +created: "2026-02-27T05:33:08.745935+00:00" +updated: "2026-02-27T05:33:08.745935+00:00" +--- + +# Fish + Bash Hybrid Shell Strategy + +## Decision +Use fish as the interactive shell for its superior autocompletion and syntax highlighting, while keeping bash as the script executor for all tooling. + +## Implementation +Set `set -x SHELL /bin/bash` inside fish's `config.fish`. This makes `$SHELL` report `/bin/bash` to any tool that checks it (Claude Code, scripts, CI helpers) even though the interactive session is running under fish. + +## Rationale +- Fish provides excellent interactive UX: autosuggestions, syntax highlighting, smart completions — out of the box, no plugins needed +- Fish is POSIX-incompatible, so it cannot safely be used as a script executor +- Bash is the lingua franca for scripts — universally compatible, no subtle edge cases +- Zsh was considered as alternative (nearly POSIX-compatible + plugins like zsh-autosuggestions + zsh-syntax-highlighting), but "nearly" POSIX-compatible creates subtle issues and requires plugin management overhead + +## Affected Tools +- Claude Code Bash tool: uses `$SHELL` → gets bash, works correctly +- Shell scripts with `#!/bin/bash`: unaffected by interactive shell choice +- Starship prompt: works identically in fish, zsh, bash + +## Trade-offs +- Fish config syntax (`set -x VAR val`, `if status is-interactive`) must be learned — it is not bash-compatible +- Two shell configs to potentially maintain (`~/.config/fish/config.fish` for interactive, and any bash rc for login/script contexts) +- Benefit: interactive experience is dramatically better than plain zsh without plugins