Terminal Cheatsheet

Last updated: January 2026

This is a reference sheet for the terminal workflow I use daily — Ghostty as the terminal, zsh with modern command replacements, and Claude Code and Codex for AI integrations. I’m testing other tools which I’ll share and update after I’ve added to my actual workflow.

The Stack

This seems like a lot of tools, but they work together seamlessly and have leveled up my productivity by allowing me to stay within the terminal for longer periods of focused work. Much of this stack is inspired by Omarchy, but adapted to work on my Macbook.

Terminal: Ghostty — fast, GPU-accelerated, great splits
Shell: zsh with Oh My Zsh
Editor: LazyVim (Neovim distro), Zed for deeper reviews
AI: Claude Code and Codex CLI
Git: lazygit — terminal UI (TUI) for git
Docker: lazydocker — TUI for docker
Navigation: zoxide — smarter cd
Files: yazi — terminal file manager
Search: fzf — fuzzy finder for everything

When to Use What Editor

LazyVim for most editing — it’s fast, stays in the terminal flow, and the keybinds become muscle memory.

Zed when you need:

Multi-file review with better visual diffing
Side-by-side comparisons
Longer reading sessions where GUI comfort helps
Pair programming or screen sharing

The zed command opens the current directory. I’ll often zed . after Claude or Codex makes a batch of changes to review everything before committing.

When to Source vs When to Exit

I’ve found that this can be tricky to remember, but here is a helpful rule:

Run source ~/.zshrc when you change:

Shell aliases or functions
Environment variables
Ghostty config
Neovim config
Any tool that runs in the terminal (lazygit, Starship, etc.)

Run /exit in Claude Code when you change:

Claude hooks or skills
Claude config files
Slash command definitions

Sometimes Claude won’t refresh skill changes without a full /exit. This is why the /rename + /resume flow is useful — you can exit cleanly and resume your session with the new config.

# Before exiting, name your session
/rename my-feature-work

# After relaunching Claude
/resume my-feature-work

Here’s the quick reference for which command to run:

# After editing .zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

# After editing Claude config
/exit  # then relaunch claude

My Ghostty setup uses vim-style navigation with Cmd+Shift as the modifier.

Action	Keybind
Navigate left split	`Cmd+Shift+H`
Navigate right split	`Cmd+Shift+L`
Navigate up split	`Cmd+Shift+K`
Navigate down split	`Cmd+Shift+J`
Toggle split zoom	`Cmd+Shift+Z`
Equalize splits	`Cmd+Shift+=`
New split (default)	`Cmd+D`
Quick terminal	Cmd+``

The quick terminal (`Cmd+“) opens a dropdown pane from the top of the screen. Useful for quick commands that don’t need a persistent split.

Resizing splits:

Action	Keybind
Resize left	`Cmd+Shift+←`
Resize right	`Cmd+Shift+→`
Resize up	`Cmd+Shift+↑`
Resize down	`Cmd+Shift+↓`

Shell Aliases

Modern replacements for classic commands (using bat, eza, and zoxide):

Alias	Runs	What it does
`cat`	`bat`	Syntax-highlighted file viewing
`ls`	`eza`	Better directory listing
`ll`	`eza -l`	Long format
`la`	`eza -la`	All files, long format
`tree`	`eza --tree`	Tree view
`cd`	`zoxide`	Smart directory jumping

Quick access:

Alias	Action
`v`	Open neovim
`lg`	Open lazygit
`lzd`	Open lazydocker
`y`	Open yazi (cd on exit)

Smart navigation with zoxide:

Zoxide learns your habits. Visit a directory a few times and it remembers. Then you can jump with partial matches:

cd seeds      # jumps to ~/Documents/.../jonathanprozzi/seeds
cd dot        # jumps to ~/Documents/.../dotfiles
cd ai         # jumps to ai-research
cd int        # jumps to intuition project

No aliases needed — zoxide figures out what you mean based on your history.

Clipboard Helpers

These make piping to/from clipboard trivial:

Alias	Action
`c`	Pipe to clipboard (`pbcopy`)
`p`	Paste from clipboard (`pbpaste`)
`cpwd`	Copy current directory path
`fzfc`	Fuzzy find and copy selection

Quick path sharing for Claude:

The combo of zoxide + cpwd is great for quickly grabbing paths to share with Claude or paste into conversations:

cd seeds && cpwd    # jump to vault, copy full path
cd dot && cpwd      # jump to dotfiles, copy full path

Now you can paste the full absolute path into Claude or a message without typing it out.

fzf Integration

Keybind	Action
`Ctrl+T`	Fuzzy find files
`Ctrl+R`	Search command history
`Alt+C`	Fuzzy find and cd to directory

Notes Integration

Command	Action
`notes`	Open vault in neovim
`note`	cd to vault
`fn`	Fuzzy find notes with preview
`dn`	Open today’s daily note

Git Shortcuts

Alias	Command
`ga`	`git add`
`gc`	`git commit`
`gs`	`git status`
`gch`	`git checkout`
`gb`	`git branch`

Or just use lg to open lazygit for everything.

Config Quick Edits

Alias	Opens
`zshconfig`	`~/.zshrc`
`gconfig`	Ghostty config
`claudeconfig`	Claude config

The Hyper Key

Via Karabiner-Elements, Right Command becomes a “Hyper” key — Cmd+Ctrl+Opt+Shift all at once. This opens up a whole namespace of shortcuts that never conflict with anything.

Also:

Caps Lock (held) → Control
Caps Lock (tapped) → Escape

Putting It Together

A typical flow:

Cmd+`` — quick terminal for a fast command
cd web — jump to web-projects (zoxide remembers)
lg — open lazygit, check status
Cmd+D — split terminal
Cmd+Shift+L — navigate to new split
claude — start Claude Code session
Work, make changes
Cmd+Shift+Z — zoom Claude’s split when focusing
Cmd+Shift+H — back to lazygit to commit

If I change shell config mid-session:

source ~/.zshrc

If I change Claude hooks:

/exit
# relaunch

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