bashprompt4devops

A three-line prompt for Bash and zsh with Git status, command runtime, exit status and an optional Kubernetes context.

The prompt adapts long paths and branch names to the terminal width, highlights SSH sessions, and shares Bash history between terminals.

Installation · Configuration · Prompt legend · Behavior · Troubleshooting

Preview

Bash: changed files, ahead/behind, command runtime and Kubernetes context

zsh: failed merge and conflict status

These are new captures of the current script in isolated demo repositories. See capture details for the scenarios and rendering setup.

Installation

Requirements

• An interactive Bash or zsh session. Tested with Bash 3.2.57, Bash 5.2.26 and zsh 5.9 on macOS.
• Git for the Git segment; oc or kubectl for the optional Kubernetes segment.
• Standard Unix utilities. Neither bc nor GNU date/gdate is required.
• A UTF-8 terminal. A Nerd Font is recommended for the branch glyph and other symbols.

Install and try

git clone https://github.com/c8m6/bashprompt4devops.git "$HOME/.local/share/bashprompt4devops"
source "$HOME/.local/share/bashprompt4devops/bashprompt4devops.sh"

source runs the script in your current shell. Executing it as a separate process does not configure the prompt.

Load on startup

Add this line once, near the end of ~/.bashrc for Bash or ~/.zshrc for zsh, after other prompt configuration:

source "$HOME/.local/share/bashprompt4devops/bashprompt4devops.sh"

For Bash login shells, make sure ~/.bash_profile loads ~/.bashrc if your existing configuration does not already do so:

if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
  source "$HOME/.bashrc"
fi

Open a new terminal to verify the startup configuration. Startup file behavior is described in the Bash manual and zsh manual.

Configuration

All settings use the same convention: true disables the feature. Unset variables and false keep it enabled. Values are case-sensitive.

Variable	Default	Effect when set to true
BP_DISABLE_CLOCK	false	Hide the clock.
BP_DISABLE_EXITSTATUS	false	Hide both the exit status and command runtime.
BP_DISABLE_GITFETCH	false	Stop automatic background fetches; keep the local Git status visible.

For example, add these settings before the source line in your shell's startup file:

export BP_DISABLE_CLOCK=true
export BP_DISABLE_EXITSTATUS=false
export BP_DISABLE_GITFETCH=true
source "$HOME/.local/share/bashprompt4devops/bashprompt4devops.sh"

You can also change a setting in an open terminal. It takes effect at the next prompt; there is no need to source the script again.

Prompt legend

The first line shows a failed command's exit status and any nonzero runtime. The second line contains user@host, the current path and the available status segments. The third line is reserved for typing commands.

Display	Meaning
! 1	The previous command failed with exit status 1.
2s, 3m 05s, 25h 01m 01s	Command runtime in whole seconds. Time spent waiting at the prompt is excluded.
user@host	Current user and host; a red user indicates root, a yellow host indicates an SSH session.
~/p/project/	Current path, with intermediate directories abbreviated when it is long. The repository directory is highlighted.
Branch icon followed by main	Current Git branch. Long names are shortened; a detached HEAD appears as (detached).
✔	The local working tree is clean. It can still be ahead of or behind its upstream.
✎2	Two changed tracked entries, including staged and unstaged changes.
⚛1	One untracked entry. Git may group an untracked directory into one entry.
☠1	One unresolved merge conflict.
↑2 / ↓1	Two commits ahead of / one commit behind the upstream's last fetched state.
HH:MM	Local time in 24-hour format.
☸ staging-eu	Current Kubernetes context.
$ / #	Command entry marker for a regular user / root.

The Git segment is green when clean and synchronized, yellow for local changes or ahead/behind differences, and red for unresolved conflicts. Ahead/behind counts require a configured upstream branch.

Behavior

Git and automatic fetches

Automatic fetching is enabled by default. Displaying a prompt inside a Git repository can start git fetch --quiet against its configured default remote. The fetch runs in the background and is throttled to at most one attempt every five minutes. This is triggered by prompt activity, not a timer running while the terminal is idle.

Worktrees share a fetch lock and throttle. Failed attempts are also throttled, and fetch output is suppressed. Existing Git authentication still applies; interactive Git credential prompting is disabled for these fetches.

The visible counters use locally stored remote-tracking refs. A completed fetch is reflected when the next prompt is displayed. Fetching does not merge or modify your working-tree files.

To control when remote information is refreshed:

export BP_DISABLE_GITFETCH=true
git fetch

Kubernetes

The script automatically prefers oc when available and falls back to kubectl. The context comes from config current-context, respecting KUBECONFIG and merged kubeconfig files. This reads local configuration; it does not query the Kubernetes API server. The segment is omitted if both commands are unavailable or there is no configuration or current context.

History and shell integration

Bash writes new history entries and reloads the shared history file before each prompt. Sessions using the same HISTFILE can see each other's commands. HISTSIZE continues to limit the in-memory history. Synchronization is skipped when HISTFILE is unset, empty or /dev/null.

zsh keeps its existing history configuration. This script does not enable zsh history sharing.

Existing Bash PROMPT_COMMAND hooks and DEBUG traps are retained. zsh uses precmd_functions and preexec_functions. Bash with bash-preexec (including iTerm2 shell integration) uses its existing hook arrays. The script sets PS1 before each prompt, configures prompt expansion and only initializes once per shell. Noninteractive sessions are ignored. Conda's environment prefix (such as (base)) is hidden; environment activation continues to work normally.

Troubleshooting

• Missing symbols or square boxes: select a Nerd Font in your terminal's font settings. For uncommon Unicode symbols, a font such as Noto Sans Symbols 2 may be needed as a fallback. Emoji appearance also depends on the terminal and fallback fonts; there is no need to remove system font packages.
• The old prompt is still visible: check the startup file for the shell you are actually using. Load this script after other prompt themes or frameworks.
• Remote counters look stale: they represent the last fetched state. Run git fetch to refresh it immediately, and check that the branch has an upstream.
• No Kubernetes segment: run oc config current-context (or kubectl config current-context) and check your KUBECONFIG or ~/.kube/config.
• Script changes do not appear after sourcing again: open a fresh shell; repeated sourcing intentionally skips initialization. Configuration variables can still be changed in the current session.
• No colors: TERM=dumb intentionally disables the color sequences.

Updating and removing

Update your installed checkout, then open a new terminal:

git -C "$HOME/.local/share/bashprompt4devops" pull --ff-only

To stop using the prompt, remove its source line and any BP_DISABLE_* settings from your startup file, then open a new terminal.

Development

Basic checks from the repository root:

bash -n bashprompt4devops.sh
zsh -n bashprompt4devops.sh
git diff --check

Syntax checks do not replace interactive testing. Verify command failures, runtime, long paths and input lines, clean/dirty/conflicted repositories, ahead/behind counters, worktrees and existing hooks in both shells.