Transform Your macOS Terminal with iTerm2, oh‑my‑zsh, and Custom Themes

Effect

Below is the author’s preferred terminal appearance, demonstrating a visually appealing theme; many other color schemes and themes are also available.

iTerm2

iTerm2 is a more powerful replacement for the default macOS Terminal.

item2: https://www.iterm2.com/

After installation, the window looks similar to the default Terminal, but with a black background.

oh‑my‑zsh

Installing oh‑my‑zsh actually installs the Zsh shell, which provides attractive themes (default is robbyrussell).

Run the following command to install:

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

After installation the terminal changes appearance.

Color Scheme

Clone the color‑scheme repository or download the zip: git clone Repository: https://github.com/mbadolato/iTerm2-Color-Schemes

In iTerm2 open Preferences ( cmd + ,) → Profile → Colors → Color Presets → Import and select a scheme (e.g., Atom).

After importing, choose Atom to apply.

Theme

Set the Zsh theme to agnoster by editing .zshrc:

# Open .zshrc file
vim ~/.zshrc

Change ZSH_THEME to agnoster and save ( :wq).

Reload Zsh ( zsh) or restart iTerm2; the theme changes but may show garbled characters.

Install Powerline fonts to fix the issue:

# clone
git clone https://github.com/powerline/fonts.git --depth=1
# install
cd fonts
./install.sh
# clean‑up
tcd ..
rm -rf fonts

Then select a Powerline‑compatible font in iTerm2 (Preferences → Profile → Text → Change Font), e.g., Roboto Mono for Powerline.

More Convenient Layout

Disable the native full‑screen option (General → Window → Native Full Screen Windows) and set the window style to Full‑Width Top of Screen (Profile → Window → Style).

After restarting iTerm2, the terminal appears at the top of the screen; press cmd + enter to toggle full‑screen.

Hot Key

Configure a global hot‑key (e.g., option + i) in Preferences → Keys → Hotkey to quickly show or hide iTerm2.

Shortcut Keys

Useful shortcuts include: cmd + enter: toggle iTerm2 size Hotkey: show/hide iTerm2 cmd + d: split pane vertically cmd + D: split pane horizontally cmd + t: open new tab control + u: clear current input control + a: move cursor to line start control + e: move cursor to line end control + b: move cursor backward control + f: move cursor forward cmd + 1,2,3,4: switch tabs option + 1,2,3,4: switch split panes