Why Ghostty?
The default Mac Terminal works, but Ghostty is what most modern developers use. It's:
- Fast — GPU-accelerated, renders instantly even with lots of output
- Beautiful — great font rendering, themes, and transparency
- Configurable — one plain-text config file controls everything
- Native — built specifically for macOS, feels right at home
Step 1: Install Ghostty
brew install --cask ghostty
After it installs, open Ghostty from your Applications folder (or Spotlight: ⌘ + Space → "Ghostty"). From now on, use Ghostty instead of the default Terminal.
Step 2: Create a config file
Ghostty works great with zero config, but a few tweaks make it even better. Create the config folder and file:
mkdir -p ~/.config/ghostty
Now open the config file in your editor:
open -e ~/.config/ghostty/config
Paste this starter config:
font-family = "JetBrains Mono"
font-size = 14
theme = dark:catppuccin-mocha,light:catppuccin-latte
window-padding-x = 10
window-padding-y = 10
copy-on-select = false
confirm-close-surface = false
macos-titlebar-style = transparent
Save the file and restart Ghostty. The changes take effect immediately on next launch.
Exploring available fonts
Ghostty has many built-in fonts. To see what's available:
ghostty +list-fonts
If you want JetBrains Mono specifically (a great coding font), install it with:
brew install --cask font-jetbrains-mono
Themes
The config above uses Catppuccin Mocha (dark) and Latte (light) — popular themes that look great and are easy on the eyes. Ghostty has many built-in themes. Run ghostty +list-themes to browse them.
Step 3: Set Ghostty as your default terminal (optional)
Go to System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Default web browser — wait, wrong place. For the terminal, you'll just get used to opening Ghostty instead of Terminal. You can keep it in your Dock by right-clicking the Ghostty icon → Options → Keep in Dock.
All remaining lessons assume you're using Ghostty.