---
id: acfad6b5-9a2c-4e51-9525-04b4c4112e69
type: decision
title: "Decision: fish config.fish exports SHELL=/bin/bash for tool compatibility"
tags: [fish, bash, dotfiles, workstation, shell, config]
importance: 0.6
confidence: 0.8
created: "2026-02-27T05:55:50.719305+00:00"
updated: "2026-02-27T05:55:50.719305+00:00"
---

# Decision: fish config.fish exports SHELL=/bin/bash for tool compatibility

## Decision
`~/.config/fish/config.fish` has `set -x SHELL /bin/bash` on line 1.

## Rationale
Tools that spawn subshells based on `$SHELL` (tmux panes, editors like Neovim, some scripts) will use bash rather than fish. Fish is the interactive shell for Cal's terminal experience, but bash remains the scripting/subshell language. This avoids breakage in tools that assume POSIX-ish shell behaviour when they read `$SHELL`.

## Scope
- Fish is the **interactive** login shell (set via `chsh`)
- Bash is the **subshell/scripting** shell (exported via `$SHELL`)
- Claude Code is **unaffected** — it spawns its own internal bash regardless of the user's `$SHELL`

## Do Not Change
Do not update this line to `/usr/bin/fish`. If tooling issues arise with bash subshells, investigate the specific tool rather than removing this override.

## File
`/home/cal/.config/fish/config.fish`, line 1