Starship — Minimal Blazing-Fast Customizable Shell Prompt

What Starship Does

• Git info — branch, status, stash, upstream
• Language versions — Node, Python, Rust, Go, Java, Ruby, PHP, .NET, etc.
• Cloud — AWS/GCP/Azure profile
• Kubernetes — current context + namespace
• Docker context — show active context
• Package version — auto-detect package.json, Cargo.toml, pyproject.toml
• Command duration — show time for slow commands
• Exit code — red on non-zero
• Custom modules — run any command and display output

Architecture

Starship runs as a subprocess on each prompt. Reads TOML config, collects context from environment + git + language detection + cloud CLIs, renders using a single starship prompt call. Aggressive caching keeps it below ~50ms.

Self-Hosting

CLI tool, self-contained Rust binary.

Key Features

• Universal (any shell)
• Single TOML config
• 100+ built-in modules
• Nerd Font symbol support
• Command duration
• Right prompt support
• Conditional rendering
• Highly customizable colors and formats
• Lightning fast (<50ms)

Comparison

FAQ

Q: What about Powerlevel10k? A: p10k is slightly faster in zsh (no subprocess), but it's zsh-only. Starship is cross-shell with simpler config. Both are good choices.

Q: Do I need a Nerd Font? A: The default config uses Unicode symbols. A Nerd Font (JetBrainsMono Nerd Font, etc.) gives a nicer icon experience.

Q: What's the performance like? A: Written in Rust; typical benchmarks are 20-50ms. If it's slow, use starship timings to diagnose which module is the bottleneck.

Sources & Credits

• Docs: https://starship.rs
• GitHub: https://github.com/starship/starship
• License: ISC